And you thought 2016 would be Assassin’s Creed–free.

Ubisoft and book publisher Scholastic have announced Last Descendants, a brand new young adult book series based on the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The first novel is set to hit shelves in September, with a second one planned for January 2017. Despite sharing a name and universe with the video games, the books will tell a completely new story. So, even longtime players of the stealth action titles will have a new narrative to explore.

Last Descendants will focus on a teenager named Owen who gets caught up in the ongoing battle between the Templars and Assassins. As per usual, Owen will be sent back in time to 1960s-era New York and the times of the ancient Aztecs to recover some relics. We still don’t know whether this story will somehow connect to the overarching tale being told in the video game series, but it would be great if it did. Maybe these books will become popular enough to warrant a video game adaptation one day.

When the AC series was barely launched, the narrative was much more cohesive and interesting, so I’m hoping there’ll be more of an emphasis on the present day like in the early titles. It would also be great for a deeper look into the history of the feuding factions. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Ubisoft’s new venture.

Are you planning on checking out these new AC stories? Does Owen sound like an interesting character to you? What aspect of the series would you like the novels to explore? Leap with your thoughts into the comments below!

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Image Credit: Ubisoft

HT: UbiBlog