'Assassin's Creed 3' Release Date: Will Philly Be Left Out Of The American Revolution? Why Ubisoft Struggled With The Setting

By now, it's no secret that Assassin's Creed 3 has found its newest setting in America during the Revolutionary War. There's been a lot of hype about the free-roam cities of New York and Boston, and the new Frontier style maps.

But wait, isn't there another landmark location of the American Revolution that Ubisoft is forgetting? The city of Philadelphia is a historic hallmark of the War of Independence, and seems to have been left out of the picture thus far.

According to The Verge, the way the Pennsylvania city is physically planned will keep it out of the game as a completely explorable space.

Philly's there, Senior Producer Francois Pelland said to The Verge. It's there from a historical point of view. A lot of big things happen there. Declaration of Independence, obviously.

But due to the game's historical context, the developers will tie the city into gameplay despite the difficulties.

That being said, we couldn't make Philadelphia the way we wanted to have it or the way we're making New York and Boston just because of the way it's designed, Pelland also said to the website. It's a gridded city. It would have been really hard, technology-wise, to make it look awesome. So we'll get there, but not as an open world.

Initially, the development team thought the grid-style layout would make for an interesting gaming experience. But after careful thought was put into the matter, it was decided that the city would not work as an open space.

It's an architecturally designed city, so it's on a grid, creative director Alex Hutchinson said to Joystiq. Which at first we thought would be cool-the first city in AC to be designed on a grid-and then you realize...

As Hutchinson trailed off, his colleague picked up for him, telling Joystiq:

Well it's on a grid and its flat, and the avenues are super large. So that's like three things that made us say it doesn't work in an open world.

It is unclear exactly which parts of the city that housed the Continental Congress would actually make it to the Templars vs. Assassins world. But the writers at Geekadelphia suggested a few key locations that should earn a spot in AC3. These included spots such as The Liberty Bell, Patrick's Pub, Hooker's Row at 15th and Locust, Betsy Ross' House, The Walnut Street Theatre and Citizens Bank Park.