Chances are you’re all caught up on the news by now. Sony shared an in-depth look at Sucker Punch’s upcoming open world samurai game last week, and it looks incredible. A gorgeous, sprawling land to explore, brutal combat, and the ability to pet foxes. This game clearly has it all.

For the most part, fans seem to be into what they’ve seen. Especially the fox-petting. It’s not hard to see why, of course, and I’m super excited to get my hands on this game when it hits PS4 on July 17th. But what really surprised me is that really seems to be filling a void for an awful lot of Assassin’s Creed fans.

As I’m sure you’ll know, Assassin’s Creed has drifted away from its stealth-action roots to become more of an RPG franchise. This started with , continued inand looks to be taking its final form in . Whether or not this is a good thing is the subject of some debate, but even the people who enjoy the new games miss the “old” Assassin’s Creed. Enter , which many are seeing as something of a “spiritual successor”.

As it turns out, even Sucker Punch was kind of aware of the inevitable Assassin’s Creed comparisons. Back in June 2018, Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman described the concept of Ubisoft announcing a Feudal Japan setting for its next Assassin’s Creed game as a “worst nightmare” (thanks, GamesRadar).

Indeed, it’s no secret that fans of Assassin’s Creed have been hungry for the franchise to tackle the exact period and setting that has gone for. With taking the series over to 9th century England, that dream has once again been pushed back for a few years.

That’s not to say Ubisoft won’t take Assassin’s Creed to Japan… but for now, I guess we can just be happy that Sucker Punch is taking us there – and with a game that’s less of an RPG and more of a stealth-action adventure with a strictly historical setting. I’ve no doubt will be more than able to carve out its own identity for itself when it releases, but if some gamers want to see it as the Assassin’s Creed game they’ve been clamouring for? Well, that’s one hell of a sales pitch.