Assassin's Creed 3 footage boasts new AnvilNext engine

So, Assassin's Creed - they all look the same, right? It's a chap wearing a hood going around stabbing people.

Well, no - Assassin's Creed 3 will take to the waves for segments of ship-bound naval combat. There are also huge land-based battles to encounter, with up to 2000 NPCs shown in a single sequence.

While the last three games (Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood and Revelations) used Ubisoft's Anvil engine, this year's stabathon packs the punch of the company's shiny new AnvilNext technology.

This means 1000 new animations for assassin hero Connor, plus changing seasons, changing weather and various other advancements detailed in the new trailer below.

There's also a very brief look at colonial-era New York, available to explore later in the game.