"We're really trying to pay off the investment of the people who've been with the franchise since Assassin's Creed 1, or even just somewhere in the middle, to make this guy cool. But at the same time [we] acknowledge those who are just playing Assassin's Creed III. We catch you up on where he's been pretty quickly, and it absolutely works as a standalone game, but the full payoff will be for those who've been with us since the start." - creative director Alex Hutchinson

I haven't played any of the Assassin's Creed games, which makes me nervous to jump in with this one. Even with Ubisoft saying that new players won't be left out, it'll still be a hard place to pick up the series.