More Assassin's Creed Side-Scrollers Under Consideration

Assassin's Creed Chronicles could become a franchise, according to Ubisoft. The first entry in the side-scrolling series, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, is not even released yet, but Ubisoft now says it is optimistic about creating more entries in the series in the future.

"We really liked the side-scrolling idea, like Mark of the Ninja, and we thought it would be a really great way to explore some of the other universes we've created," Assassin's Creed Unity creative director Alex Amancio said in an interview with Eurogamer.

The 2.5D Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is set in 16th century China, and it stars an Assassin named Shao Jun, a female character fans met in the Assassin's Creed Embers animated movie. The game features an art style inspired by traditional brush paintings of era in which it is set. Amancio said he would like to carry this idea forward for future games.

"One thing that's really cool is that every one of the chapters of this game will be in the art style representative of that era in time," he said. "This is why Shao Jun's game is like Chinese ink--very black and red. Once we have other characters and timeframes the art style will completely change to match that specific character."

Amancio wouldn't give specifics regarding whether future Assassin's Creed Chronicles would be released as expansions to Assassin's Creed Chronicles China or as standalone, downloadable games. However, he did tease that "fan-favorite" characters could appear in future games.

"I don't want to spoil the surprise," Amancio said. "But the idea is that we have this rich universe--we're going to use it."

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is currently in development at Climax Studios, which most recently released the PC version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Currently, the only way to get Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is to buy Unity's $30 DLC pass.