Assassin's Creed: Origins Features A Hidden Watch Dogs Crossover

The speculation that Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed take place in the same universe is essentially a meme at this point. After all, they're both freerunning-focused, open-world, stealthy Ubisoft games featuring main characters who obscure their faces in pretty conspicuous ways. But in Assassin's Creed: Origins, Ubisoft gave fans the clearest sign yet that this is more than just speculation.

Minor spoilers for Assassin's Creed: Origins ahead.

In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the CEO of Abstergo Industries is named Olivier Garneau. He plays a fairly major role in the modern-day sections, before departing for Chicago. In the first Watch Dogs--set in Chicago--Garneau then appears as an Easter egg in a side mission, during which main character Aiden Pearce can kill him.

As reported by Eurogamer, in Assassin's Creed: Origins, if you delve into the laptop during the modern-day sections, you can unearth a security-cam photograph of Pearce standing over the body of Garneau. This strengthens the connection between the two game worlds, even if it is still just a fun nod from Ubisoft. It also keeps the slim hope alive for a real Assassin's Creed/Watch Dogs crossover one day.

In other news, Assassin's Creed: Origins recently received an update that fixes bugs and adds a photo mode. The game was generally well-received when it launched at the end of October; GameSpot gave it a 7/10, with critic Alessandro Fillari writing, "Assassin's Creed has undergone many changes in its long and storied history, and Origins feels like the first step in the start of a new journey. It has its fair share of problems, but the vision for its future is one worth pursuing."