Ubisoft has reportedly canceled a concept-phase Assassin's Creed game set in the immediate post-Civil War era. The ill-fated project, which would have marked the first-ever Assassin's Creed title where players fight the Ku Klux Klan, is said to have been canceled due to political climate concerns.
The post-Civil War years (1865–1877), commonly referred to as the Reconstruction era, were a time of political and social upheaval marked by the challenges of abolishing slavery and integrating formerly enslaved people into American society—the very issues at the heart of the Civil War. While no Assassin's Creed game has ever explored this period of American history, one such title is now said to have been greenlit, but subsequently canceled.
Ubisoft Responds to Elon Musk's Assassin's Creed Shadows Criticism
A senior Ubisoft official reflects on Elon Musk's recent suggestion that diversity, equity, and inclusion will 'kill' Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Ubisoft Reportedly Nixed Reconstruction-Era Assassin's Creed Game in 2024
Ubisoft canceled a Reconstruction-era Assassin's Creed entry in or around July 2024, Game File's Stephen Totilo reports, citing multiple company sources familiar with the move. The game is said to have been in pre-production, having already cleared the initial approval from the company leadership, but while still being years away from completion. Longtime Assassin's Creed developer Ubisoft Quebec was reportedly involved in the project.
Canceled Assassin's Creed Game Would Have Had Players Fight the KKK, Sources Claim
Game File's sources claim that the canceled game would have starred a formerly enslaved Black man who would get recruited by the Assassins, then return to the South to fight for equality. On his quest, the unnamed protagonist would have clashed with the first Ku Klux Klan (established at the start of the Reconstruction era, in 1865), as per the same source.
Yasuke Backlash Reportedly Contributed to Anti-KKK Assassin's Creed Game Cancellation
Ubisoft's Paris-based leadership reportedly canceled the game for two reasons: first, the backlash over Assassin's Creed Shadows featuring a Black samurai protagonist, Yasuke, which is said to have been a minor factor; and second, bigger concerns about the increasingly "unstable" political climate in the United States. According to one source cited in the report, the company deemed the game "too political in a country too unstable, to make it short."
Too political in a country too unstable, to make it short.
The stated timing of the Reconstruction-era Assassin's Creed game's cancellation aligns closely with the attempted assassination of then-President-elect Donald Trump. On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle during a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, missing his target but killing one of the audience members, before the Secret Service killed him in response. While word of the Assassin's Creed game cancellation spread through Ubisoft after this event, Totilo reports the decision to nix the project was made shortly beforehand. Though some Ubisoft staffers are said to have been disappointed with the move, the Trump assassination attempt and the September 2025 assassination of far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk underscore the political instability that leadership reportedly cited in canceling the game.