Ubisoft’s previously announced Assassin’s Creed Infinity platform is now the Animus Hub, which will launch as part of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
It’s been almost four years since Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Infinity, which was originally pitched as a ‘hub’ designed to ‘unite’ all the games across the franchise.
Ubisoft never explained what it actually was though and it was quietly rebranded into the Animus Hub last year. Now, ahead of the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the company has finally revealed the project – although in a surprising low-key fashion.
As revealed in a new blog, the Animus Hub is essentially a launcher where you can access games, unlock rewards through in-game missions for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and try and unpack the game’s modern day storyline.
The hub is described as a ‘seamless entry point’ into the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which will launch inside Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20, 2025. Weirdly, it is only available inside the game, with Ubisoft stating ‘there are currently no plans’ to make it a standalone download.
The Animus hub is split into four separate areas. Memories is where you can access past Assassin’s Creed titles you’ve purchased, although the only games accessible at launch are Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins. Any games before Assassin’s Creed Origins are ‘not currently supported’, but Ubisoft has teased ‘new features and content’ in the ‘months and years’ to come.
The second area is Projects, where you can access in-game missions for Assassin’s Creed Shadows called Anomalies. If you complete these missions, you’ll unlock exclusive rewards through the platform, including new weapons, gear, data files, and keys.
These keys (which cannot be bought with real-life cash) are used to buy rewards through the Exchange section of the Animus Hub, which is updated with daily rewards tied to Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The last section is the Vault, which appears to be a lore dump for the modern day storyline. Ubisoft has said this will be ‘developed further as the Hub evolves’, although it doesn’t mention if it will recap the very convoluted story from previous titles.
Ubisoft’s blog post describes this as being the ‘first step’ for the Animus Hub, but it still feels incredibly bare bones considering this was first teased four years ago.
Given all the ongoing financial trouble at Ubisoft, coupled with a weirdly understated reveal, it’s hard not to imagine that the Animus Hub has been trimmed down significantly from its original vision.
Back in 2022, the company said it was ‘investigating’ bringing ‘standalone multiplayer experiences’ as part of Infinity, and while these could appear down the line (a multiplayer title inspired by Fall Guys is rumoured), it feels like plans have changed significantly since the original annoucement.
If anything, this Animus hub basically feels like an equivalent of Activision’s launcher for Call Of Duty, which ties together the mainline games to battle royale spin-off Warzone.
Why was Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed?
Following its second pushback from February to March this year, Ubisoft has explained the reasons behind the small delay for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Speaking to IGN, game director Charles Benoit said it was ‘mostly about polishing’ but that the team also needed extra time to refine the parkour system due to the architecture in Feudal Japan.
‘The Japanese architecture, the roofs [are] super complex,’ he said. ‘Probably the most complex thing that I ever worked with if we compared to Odyssey and Syndicate. We needed more specific codes and specific animations to support something super fluid, changing the transition of the parkour to make it even more fluid.
‘So that’s one of the specific feedback that we heard that we wanted to address, and it really improved since the last few months.’
Ahead of the game’s launch, Ubisoft has also announced the first expansion for Assassin’s Creed Shadows titled Claws Of Awaji. A trailer promises 10+ hours of content, including a new region, weapon, and side activities. It’s set to launch later this year.
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