Assassin’s Creed Hexe report claims it’s a more linear adventure launching in 2026

Ubisoft has shared very little about Assassin’s Creed Hexe, but a new report has claimed to have learned new information, including its target release window, gameplay details, and a structure that’s more similar to the older Assassin’s Creed titles.

According to Insider Gaming, which has allegedly seen early footage of Assassin’s Creed Hexe in action, the game is aiming to launch in 2026, and is described as being a more linear experience when compared to the modern entries. Ever since Assassin’s Creed Origins, the games became large-scale, open world action RPGs, though the most recent game—Assassin’s Creed Mirage—de-emphasized the RPG elements for a smaller adventure that aimed to return to the series roots.

Assassin’s Creed Hexe sounds like it could be following in Mirage‘s footsteps, since Insider Gaming has said Hexe will only feature “some elements of open world exploration.” What’s more, Hexe‘s protagonist—who is claimed to be a woman called Elsa—will boast supernatural abilities, including one that allows her to possess cats and use them to distract guards. This suggests there’ll be a focus on stealth as well, again more akin to the older games than the modern RPGs.

A previous report from 2022 claimed Hexe will be focusing on the 16th century witch trials. Having a woman protagonist with magical powers would make sense for it, with Insider Gaming’s report adding that the footage they saw featured 16th century soldiers and a “dark and gloomy setting in the cobbled streets of the city.” It’ll apparently also bring back the Fear System from Assassin’s Creed Synidicate‘s Jack the Ripper DLC, which would be a perfect fit in a game all about witches.

While Ubisoft has not confirmed any concrete details about Assassin’s Creed Hexe, Marc-Alexis Côté, vice president executive producer of the Assassin’s Creed brand, did suggest its development would be handled differently when compared to Assassin’s Creed Red, the next entry in the series. In 2022, he said, “One of the things that I want to be clear for our fans and for the people working on it is that we are taking a different approach to innovate in terms of gameplay, so that we have different creative tracks within the franchise to keep surprising people.”

So, with Assassin’s Creed Red expected to be another open world RPG, it seems everything’s pointing to Hexe being a different beast altogether. Hopefully, this spells good things for the series’ future, with Ubisoft not restricting it to one genre over the other. Red and Hexe will also serve as the first two games for Assassin’s Creed Infinity, an upcoming platform that will serve as a central hub for all future Assassin’s Creed release, whatever that means.