I've completed Assassin's Creed Shadows' first narrative battle pass, and it seems to be setting up a new Desmond

When Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched last month, I wrote that the game’s Animus Hub felt rather threadbare, but that this was not unexpected. The Hub’s main feature, its battle pass-like “Projects”, are specifically designed to unlock over time and reveal their rewards – a smattering of cosmetic items, in-game resources and new narrative content – at a slow pace, in order to keep you playing over the weeks to come.

A month on, and thanks to early access to the game for Eurogamer’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows review, I’ve now completed the game’s first Project, The Legacy. Doing so was straightforward, and only required about 10 minutes of playtime each week to speed through some simple Animus quests (mostly “go here, kill this guy”). My reward? A shiny new in-game armour set and some fresh Assassin’s Creed lore.

So – what’s the story? Well, over the course of various text logs you’ll discover a new front in the age-old Assassin-Templar conflict, set sometime in the relatively near future, and meet someone who feels suspiciously like they could become the series’ new Desmond – its modern day protagonist. The location is Marrakech, at a time when it is nearly uninhabitable due to rising global temperatures, and the focus is on a small band of Assassins who take in a new member, and strike out at their long-time enemies.

In general, this is a storyline that acts as a soft reboot of Assassin’s Creed’s modern day narrative – one that re-introduces the series’ two main rival factions, emphasises the scrappy underground nature of the Assassins, and includes only a few clues to when it’s actually set.