Ubisoft is at a crossroads with Assassin's Creed. While the franchise's recent RPG era has been financially successful, it has left a sour taste in the mouths of veteran fans. Assassin's Creed: Shadows aims to fix that by combining the best of both worlds to keep both new and old fans happy,

“Assassin’s Creed” fans have clamored for a chapter set in Japan for years. The concepts mesh well enough. Ubisoft’s assassins lurk in the shadows and try to kill without commotion while ninjas in popular culture have the same MO. It was an ideal combination.

Ubisoft Quebec seems poised to be the first to pull together Assassin's Creed's disparate eras, but we've been here before and it's routinely not worked out.