Last week we encouraged users to submit to us their ideas for where the Assassin's Creed series should go next. We received 76 comments in this blog. We have since whittled it down to the following 5 submissions that we liked the best.

The criteria for submissions included the following information:

• Time period - What time period would you base this in? Do you believe that Assassin's creed could be compelling as a steampunk-based environment?
• Historical Events - What historical events would you include? As seen in AC3, events like the Boston Tea Party and the Battles of Lexington and Concord are integrated well into the story of Ratonhnhaké:ton.
• Historical Actors - Which historical actors would you include? George Washington, Hitler, Rasputin; the possibilities are endless.
• Reasoning - Why is this setting so compelling to you and how do you think it would make a compelling setting for this series?

• Time period - 500-550 (hard to place an actual time frame)
• Historical Events - Volsunga Saga, Nibelungenlied, Migration Period, Dark Ages, Conquering of the Burgundians by the Franks.
• Historical Actors - Sigmund, Sigruþr, Signy, Odin, Brynhildr, Gunther, Gjúki, Kriemhild, Ragnar Lodbrok. Hǫgni
• Locations - Xanten, Worms, Bornholm
• Reasoning - Sigmund is listed according to the games as one of the people throughout history to have the Sword of Eden in his possession, as he pulled it from a tree in the Volsunga Saga. In the nibelungenlied, Kriemhild had a dream of a Falcon (her future husband) being killed by two eagles. A perfect literary element for assassins.

• Time period – 1268 Japan

• Historical Events - In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China, demanded tribute from Japan. Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded in 1274 with 600 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. A second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate.

• Historical Actors – Kublai Khan, also the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans

• Reasoning – Samurai, Mongols, possibly Ninjas… need I say more? Ok.

• End of the Heian Era / Rise of Samurai Rule: The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its power in 1156, when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war called the Hogen. During this civil war, the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first samurai-led government, or shogunate, with the emperor as a figurehead. The defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital at Kyoto.

• Kamakura Period: The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War (1180-1185), which ended in victory for the Minamoto.

I really wanted to have a first hand sight of the great deeds done by the Assassins in the Sanctuary, thought i doubt they would put in a main game, they could put in a minor one like this: "Abstergo is trying to find out the true cause of the death of some important rulers and decided to capture decendents of Assassins who were suspiciously close to these powerful people and find the truth through the Animus." Something like this. In the end they could all find that the 6 were connected by a same Piece of Eden and find it.

• Time period: Many, since they all lived in different times, we could play about 2 sequences of each Assassins

• Assassinations targets: Powerful men and women united by the ruler that the Assassin is famous for having killed, one sequence would be about killing those people and the other would be about reaching and killling this ruler.

• Historical Actors:The rulers themselves, the secondary assassination targets, since there are different time periods the possibilities are endless

• Historical Events: The conquests of Genghis Khan, Alexander The Great and Xerxes and rule of Cleopatra, Quin Shin Huang and Caligula.

• Reasoning: It could give us insight on how things were and changed betwen the different time periods, the secret Templar vs Assassin wars in that times, the power of the Pieces of Eden...

• Time Period: Tudor England
• Historical Events: The attack of the Spanish Armada would make an awesome Naval battle. And also the execution of Mary Queen Of Scots would be very interesting.
• Historical Actors: Henry VIII , Mary I Of Scotland and Elizabeth I would be AWESOME :D
• Reasoning: So many events took place and it would be very easy to make the Templars and the Assassins if a game was ever made. So many controversies in the royal families and it's a pretty popular time period that almost everybody knows.

• Time period - Like I've said, Germany from 1918, or perhaps a bit before to 1939. City locations could include Berlin, Munich, the Ruhr and parts of the Rhineland. Areas of France, such as Versailles or Alsasce & Lorraine may also be included, as these were important political areas at this time.
• Historical Events - Just as Connor is present at the signing of the declaration of independance, our new Assassin could be present at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles . He could also witness: the Spartacist rebellion ; the Kapp Putsch ; the Munich Putsch ; the remilitarisation of the Rhineland ; both the failed and the succeeded Anschluss with Austria ; the seizing of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia ; and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact ; among other events.
• Historical Actors - Obviously Adolf Hitler first springs to mind when thinking of this time period. Other characters could include: Stalin ; Benito Mussolini ; Georges Clemenceau ; Woodrow Wilson ; David Lloyd-George ; Kaiser Wilhelm II ; General von Ludendorf ; Ernst Rohm ; and Neville Chamberlain ; among others.
• Reasoning - I believe this setting would work as it was a time of tumultuous political upheaval and change both in Germany and in Europe as a whole. It would also be very interesting to follow Hitler's rise to power, as well as to learn how most people felt towards the rise of Communism in Russia. Also, as this is not a wartime period, despite it being a modern setting, it would not be too similar to other games, and very few games have actually done this period rather than World War 2. (It would also sort of help with the History work I'm doing for my GCSEs...)