Assassin’s Creed Destiny was its working title, report claims
Footage alleged to show a prototype of a cancelled Assassin’s Creed game in action has popped up online. The game, it's claimed, was set in ancient China, went by the working title Assassin’s Creed Destiny, and was a separate project to Chinese-set mobile game Assassin’s Creed Jade. Instead, from the sounds of it Destiny would have been a game aimed at PC and consoles.
MP1st claim to have unearthed this in-development look at AC ThatBungieShooter from developer portfolios and that the game was being headed by Tencent Games subsidiary TiMi Studio Group. Set in the Qin Dynasty period - as the still in the works Jade is - AC Destiny's events would reportedly have taken place in 206 BCE, putting a few years of distance between the two.
The majority of the alleged Destiny footage shows a female assassin fighting her way into a sacred palace that's under siege by real world Chinese warlord Xiang Yu, with possession of a mysterious artefact on the line. Very much an Assassin's Creed game, then. Those hooded roof-jumpers do love their shiny baubles of indeterminate power. There's also some footage of fighting animations playing out in the grey-walled prisons of dev testing environments.
Destiny appears to have gotten the axe following Tencent's decision to scale back from working on big-name Western series in favour of upping their focus on a select pool of big budget games that don't come with chunky royalty fees to other firms.
Assassin's Creed Jade didn't end up getting the axe, but does still remain without a release date as of writing. It was last briefly mentioned by Ubisoft during a March rundown of everything going on Assassin's Creed land from the series' head of content Jean Guesdon.
If you're after an AC game set in China that you can play on PC, 2015's Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China exists. It's a 2.5D spot of stabbing set during the Ming dynasty and stars Ezio-trained female assassin Shao Jun. It's also where I got the featured image for this article, though I must stress it's not one I've played - it lurks within the lengthy list of ACs I might eventually get to if I get time between now and the end of time.