Assassin's Creed Officially Bringing Back Ezio Auditore For New Game

Published Nov 13, 2026, 1:00 AM EST

Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.

Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.

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Assassin's Creed has had a number of extremely memorable protagonists, ranging from Kassandra to Bayek and beyond. However, one would struggle to argue that Ezio Auditore wasn't Assassin's Creed's best protagonist. Getting an entire trilogy to himself, Ezio served as the principal protagonist for much of Assassin's Creed's early days, cementing the series' legacy as one of the most compelling pieces of historical fiction and tourism.

Since Ezio's trilogy concluded, fans have wanted to see him return in some capacity. So far, a cameo or even starring role in a mainline entry has yet to materialize, but that hasn't stopped Ubisoft from finding a crafty new way of including the legendary character. Indeed, Ezio is finally going to be playable again in an all-new Assassin's Creed experience that is set to be an enjoyable solo or co-operative experience for fans of the long-running franchise.

Assassin's Creed is, once again, getting the tabletop treatment with a brand-new board game from developer Mantic Games. Like many of Assassin's Creed's spin-off projects, Animus aims to bring together the series' sweeping cast in one massive co-operative adventure. Naturally, this means that, alongside the likes of Altair, Connor, and Eivor, players will be able to control the legendary Ezio Auditore. In fact, every protagonist from across the entire Assassin's Creed franchise is represented as a playable character in Animus.

Sure, this isn't a full-blown Ezio-focused game; however, we've seen what a modern rendition of Ezio looks like, and it's somewhat horrifying. Animus instead offers a dynamic experience in which players race through different Assassin's memories and timelines in a bid to complete objectives, garner new items, and avoid desynchronization. It's the ultimate Assassin's Creed experience, albeit stripped from your monitor and slapped onto the tabletop.

There are two editions of Assassin's Creed: Animus. The first is the Standard Edition, which nets you the board game and all its basic components, just four miniatures of the 16 available characters, and four eras to explore. If you want to play as every single character from across the pantheon of Assassin's Creed heroes, then you'll need the Collector's Edition, which comes with the aforementioned components, as well as miniatures for all 16 characters, 10 different eras to explore, and a handful of additional extras that make it feel like a more premium product.

Assassin's Creed: Animus was released on October 30, 2026. Upon launch, it garnered favorable reviews. It currently has a rating of 7.1 on the aggregate site BoardGameGeek.

Both editions of Assassin's Creed: Animus can be purchased from Mantic Games' official website. The Standard Edition costs $65 before postage, and the Collector's Edition costs $229. Of course, with the latter, you're getting an expanded experience in addition to more miniatures, so the increased cost reflects that. However, regardless of which version you opt to get, Ezio is a playable character, and, frankly, that's what's important. If you've been excited about the return of Assassin's Creed's greatest protagonist, then you will want to play Animus.

Assassin's Creed