Continuing Namco’s tradition of putting in random characters from other universes in their Soulcalibur games, this iteration’s guest will be none other than Ezio Auditore da Firenze of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. Considering the last entry saw Star Wars characters and stages shoehorned into the otherwise medieval/industrial revolution-era fantasy fighter, Ezio, being from that general era, would seem to be a much better fit.

Behind the scenes, comments made by Namco executives in the marketing department indicated that the move was a mutually beneficial one for both publishers. Namco’s Soulcalibur would get increased recognition in the West where Assassin’s Creed is wildly popular (although I really think Soulcalibur is already a well-loved fighting franchise here), and Ubisoft would get a hefty name drop for Ezio and the Assassin’s Creed brand over in the Eastern markets (where I think it’s not brand recognition that’s the problem, but the general game style doesn’t suit Eastern interests, but hey, name dropping never hurt).

Initial impressions would seem to indicate most of Ezio’s signature moves from Assassin’s Creed are in his Soulcalibur incarnation, so expect to see a relatively varied but balanced fighting style that probably makes it difficult for opponents to predict your patterns. Sabers, daggers, the hidden blades, the crossbow (prominently noted in the trailer), and probably some smoke bombs or the wrist flintlock will round out his arsenal, and it fits that he’d switch from weapon to weapon while fighting since most players did that in Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood anyways.

In other news, no word has been heard about the fate of SC’s venerable Assassin character. It’s been strongly hinted that no one gives a damn.