Game supervisor Ashraf Ismail verified this interesting detail in a meeting with Kotaku.

“We proceed with the suggestion that Eivor is not a trained assassin,” Ismail clarified.

Ismail likewise teased that Eivor will certainly be able to make usage of another trick that we haven’t really seen in Assassin’s Creed for a few years now.

“We continue with the idea that Eivor is not a trained assassin,” Ismail explained. “Eivor is a Viking who receives this badass weapon and has to learn very quickly. Early in the experience, Eivor will learn a technique that, with the right timing … can one-shot-kill virtually anybody.”

ditched the blade almost entirely in favour of more RPG-style combat. 2017’s was the last game to feature the weapon prominently, but even there it was clearly being phased out to encourage a less stealthy approach. While it’s clear that the franchise has moved on from what it once was, it’s nice to know the way of the sneaky stab hasn’t been dropped entirely.

Ismail also teased that Eivor will be able to make use of another trick that we haven’t really seen in Assassin’s Creed for a few years now. He explained that social stealth – the act of hiding in crowds – will be back with a cool new twist.

“The idea that a Norse person or a Viking is in a place that they’re not wanted, for them to sort of go incognito and kind of hide in the crowd, if you will, made a lot of sense,” Ismail said.

Ismail previously suggested that we’d be seeing a lot more of in action over the coming months. Hopefully it’s not too long until we get a good long look at gameplay, because I’m to know as much as possible ahead of release.