Road to E3 2011: Assassin's Creed Revelations

I'll let you know what to expect and what we hope to learn about these games at this year's show. Will we see Gears of War 3's single player? What will Ubisoft reveal about Assassin's Creed Revelations? We'll answer as best we can amidst publishers' E3 secret planning.

What We Know

Well, Ubisoft has spilled some of the beans about Assassin's Creed Revelations already. It's set primarily in Instanbul and continues the story of Ezio, now in 50s. Ezio is in Masyaf seeking out relics that belonged to Assassin's Creed protagonist Altair, so that he can relive his ancestor's memories and find the location of a powerful artifact.

Find the glyphs in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood to help unlock the mysteries of Revelations.

As revealed in the most recent issue of Game Informer, Ezio is suffering a bit from a midlife crisis as he questions his decades long search for revenge and answers. Meanwhile, he's also got a new toy in the form of the curved blade, which can be used to zipline around the city, flip people over, and otherwise mobilize. Ezio also has the ability to make more than 300 (!) different kinds of bombs this time around.
Assassin's Creed Revelations also features a renewed focus on the multiplayer introduced with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. This time, Ubisoft is adding a heavier story element to the multiplayer mode, which involves climbing through the ranks of Abstergo. Players can also now create guilds and their own coats of arms as they learn the ins and outs of the Templars.

What We Expect at E3

We expect that Ubisoft will demonstrate a fairly lengthy story section from Assassin's Creed Revelations campaign, if preview years' E3s are any indication. It's also a safe bet that multiplayer will be available for industry folks on the show floor, like last year. But other than that, it's anyone's guess, and we have lots of questions. How is Ezio leaping into Altair's memories? Who's the chief big bad of Assassin's Creed Revelations? And what's happened to Lucy and the rest of Desmond's team after Assassin's Creed Brotherhood's shocker of an ending?