Every few months, the same thread pops up on Reddit. You’ve seen it. A fan posts a grainy concept art of a hooded figure standing over a Union camp, and suddenly the entire community loses its mind. Honestly, it makes sense. The idea of an Assassin's Creed Civil War entry has been the "white whale" of the franchise for over a decade, right up there with feudal Japan—which we’re finally getting with Shadows. But while Japan feels like a natural fit for ninjas, the American Civil War presents a messy, complicated, and utterly fascinating challenge for Ubisoft’s writers.
It’s a weird gap in the timeline. We’ve done the Crusades, the Renaissance, and the American Revolution. We even did the Victorian era in Syndicate. But that four-year stretch from 1861 to 1865? It’s mostly been relegated to side mentions in the lore or brief segments in the comics.
The problem with an Assassin's Creed Civil War setting
People always ask why Ubisoft hasn't touched this yet. It’s not because the history is boring. Far from it. The real issue is the tech. By the 1860s, firearms weren't just clunky flintlocks that took thirty seconds to reload; we’re talking about the birth of modern warfare. Minie balls, rifled muskets, and early Gatling guns change the math of a stealth game.
If you’re playing an Assassin's Creed Civil War story, how do you keep the "Blade in the Crowd" feel when everyone has a repeating rifle? It’s a design nightmare. If the AI is realistic, you get sniped from 200 yards away before you can even draw your hidden blade. If the AI is "video game dumb," the setting loses its teeth.
Ubisoft faced a similar hurdle with AC3. Remember Connor? He was a powerhouse, but the "line of fire" mechanic where you had to use human shields to survive musketry was... polarizing. Expanding that to the scale of Gettysburg or Antietam requires a total rethink of how an Assassin actually moves through a battlefield.
What the lore actually says about the 1860s
Most fans don’t realize that the Assassin's Creed Civil War era isn't a blank slate. According to the Assassin's Creed: Reflections comics and various database entries in the games, the Brotherhood was deeply embedded in the conflict. We know that the Assassins were generally aligned with the Union, specifically the abolitionist movement.
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It wasn't just about North vs. South.
In the lore, the Templars were—shocker—trying to manipulate both sides to maintain a "stable" New World Order. There are references to the Templars supporting the Confederacy not necessarily because they agreed with the cause, but because a fractured America was easier to control than a unified one.
The Lincoln assassination: The ultimate Templar hit?
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. John Wilkes Booth. In the AC universe, he wasn't just a disgruntled actor. He was a Templar.
Actually, the lore gets even weirder here. According to the "The Truth" puzzles in Assassin's Creed II, Abraham Lincoln was targeted because he was becoming too much of a symbol for individual liberty—the Assassins' bread and butter. The Templars needed him gone to ensure that the post-war Reconstruction served their interests. Imagine a mission where you’re frantically trying to reach Ford's Theatre, not to save the President from a lone gunman, but to stop a Piece of Eden from being used to consolidate power in Washington.
It writes itself.
But there’s a risk of being too "Forest Gump" about it. You don't want your protagonist just stumbling into every major historical event. That was the main critique of AC3. Connor felt like he was just checking boxes at the Boston Tea Party and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A successful Assassin's Creed Civil War game needs to feel like a shadow war, not a history textbook.
Stealth in a world of gunpowder
Think about the Bayou in Assassin's Creed Liberation. That atmosphere worked. It was spooky, cramped, and rewarded verticality. Now, transpose that to the Siege of Vicksburg.
You’ve got trenches. You’ve got ironclad ships on the Mississippi. You’ve got the first real use of telegraph lines for military intelligence.
- The Telegraph Saboteur: Imagine a mission where you have to infiltrate a Confederate camp to swap out a coded message. You aren't killing everyone; you're just changing one word in a telegram.
- The Ironclad Infiltration: Sneaking onto the USS Monitor or the CSS Virginia while they’re actively exchanging fire. The noise of the cannons masks your footsteps. The steam creates natural cover.
- The Underground Railroad: This is the most compelling narrative hook. Working alongside historical figures like Harriet Tubman—who, let’s be real, should absolutely be a Master Assassin in this universe—to move "packages" (people or artifacts) through enemy lines.
The gameplay needs to lean into the "Commando" vibe. Less "superhero in a hood," more "partisan fighter in the woods."
Why the setting hasn't happened yet
Ubisoft is a business. A global one. The American Civil War is a deeply sensitive topic, especially in the current political climate. It’s hard to make a "fun" game about a conflict defined by slavery and such extreme domestic trauma without either being too lighthearted (which is offensive) or too grim (which kills the fun).
I spoke with a narrative designer a few years back who mentioned that the "internal pitch" for an Assassin's Creed Civil War game often gets stuck on the protagonist. Who are they? If they’re a Union soldier, it’s too much like a standard shooter. If they’re a civilian, why are they at the Battle of Bull Run?
The best path would be someone on the fringes. Maybe a scout or a spy. Someone like Mary Bowser, the Black Union spy who worked in the Confederate White House. That is an Assassin's Creed story waiting to happen.
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What you can do to scratch that itch right now
While we wait for Ubisoft to finally pull the trigger on a full Assassin's Creed Civil War release, there are ways to see how this era fits into the broader narrative.
Check out the Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants novel series. Specifically the first book. It features a "simulation" of the 1863 New York City Draft Riots. It’s the closest we’ve ever gotten to seeing the engine handle the specific tension of that era. The chaos of the riots, the class warfare, and the Templar influence behind the scenes—it’s all there.
Also, go back and read the database entries in AC Rogue. There are hints about the colonial Brotherhood's remnants influencing the early 19th-century political landscape.
If you're a gamer who wants this setting, pay attention to the "Hexe" project. While that's rumored to be about the 16th-century witch trials, it shows Ubisoft is finally willing to tackle "darker" and more unconventional periods of history again.
Final takeaways for the lore hunters
If you're tracking the possibility of this game, keep these three things in mind:
- Monitor the "Infinity" Hub: Ubisoft's new platform for AC allows for smaller, experimental "Chronicles" style games. We might see an Assassin's Creed Civil War experience that isn't a 100-hour RPG, but a tighter, 10-hour stealth-focused story.
- Look for the Piece of Eden connections: The lore suggests the "Koh-i-Noor" diamond or the "shards of Eden" were active during this time.
- Study the 1860s tech: If a leak mentions "repeating carbines" or "primitive balloons" in a new AC project, you’ll know exactly where they’re headed.
The Civil War isn't just a backdrop for a war movie. It’s the moment the old world died and the modern world was born. For the Assassins and Templars, that's the ultimate playground.