Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe was just one of many new Assassin’s Creed experiences just announced at Ubisoft Forward. Hexe will be a “very different” type of Assassin’s Creed game, according to one of the series’ most seasoned developers, Marc-Alexis Côté, and its short but distinctive teaser trailer has certainly got tongues wagging. Despite being only 30 seconds long, however, Côté claims that fans should “tear apart” the footage for “secrets”.
Well, it appears that, the case has been cracked already. In the closing moments of the Hexe teaser, the iconic Assassin’s Creed logo appears (this time constructed with twine and twigs) surrounded by what look like symbols or runes. Despite The Loadout’s best efforts trawling through the internet, we couldn’t find out what this mysterious language was – that was until we spotted some extremely speedy research from Game Pressure.
In less than an hour after the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe during the showcase, Game Pressure claims to have solved the teaser trailer’s “secrets”. They have identified the symbols to be that of the Alphabet of the Magi, which was, according to the limited information sources about it on the web, used for inscriptions on religious or magical talismans.
Using this translation tool, they have decoded the message around the outside of the circle into a German phrase: ‘Wir arbeiten im dem tunckel um dem licht zu dienen’. What does that mean? Well, it’s a phrase any Assassin’s Creed fan should recognise: ‘We work in the dark to serve the light’.
There are also a jumble of Magi letters in the sections of an eight-pointed star in the centre of the. According to one Reddit user ‘Alumirus’, these again form three German words if you interpret them as three circles of words. The inner circle spells ‘haus’ (house), the middle spells ‘rache’ (revenge), and the outer spells ‘mephisto’ (no, not the superhero). Mephisto, or Mephistopheles, is a character from a famous German legend known as Faust, and is said to be an agent of the devil.
Using this knowledge that the trailer uses the Magi alphabet, The Loadout has verified all of these translations using this translation tool.
The German language and references to German folklore all point towards the setting for Hexe, and it all lines up with leaks from before Ubisoft Forward from Tom Henderson, who claims it is set “during the witch hunt era in 16th century Europe”. Many have also pointed out that ‘hexe’ is German for witch. Being in Germany at this time would also mean it is set in the Holy Roman Empire.
With the dark atmosphere of the trailer, references to demonic characters, and lots of evidence pointing towards the mania around witches, this could be the most sinister and creepy Assassin’s Creed game yet. Although, you will have to wait a while until the Assassin’s Creed Hexe release date for Infinity.