Dark Horse Books kicks off a new line of collector's edition books under the banner of Dark Horse Ultimates. The first item in the Ultimate series is The Making of Assassin's Creed: 15th Anniversary Ultimate Edition.
While the 15th Anniversary artbook has already been recently released, Dark Horse aims to give the product a total facelift by giving its Ultimate Edition a sleek, exclusive design that leverages the black and gold motif the series had adopted.
The book is written by Alex Calvin with plenty of content for fans to dig into, including exclusive concept art, behind-the-scenes interviews, and commentary from team members for every entry in the legendary franchise. The exclusive Ultimate additions include a clamshell case with an embedded metal coin, gilded pages, a satin bookmark, and a lithograph art set. The product is limited to 1000 copies and costs $199.99, which is a pretty decent price for such an artfully constructed set. The preorder page is live with preorders still available at the time of this writing. While the Ultimate Edition is limited, the original run is still in circulation, meaning fans have plenty of avenues to order the book.
In a statement regarding the announcement, Senior Editor Ian Tucker expressed his excitement for what the new Ultimates line can bring to fans: "Dark Horse has a reputation for having produced some of the highest-quality books in popular culture, and we’re thrilled to grow that reputation with our expanding line of Ultimate Editions through Dark Horse Direct. As fans and collectors ourselves, we’re obsessed with offering a superlative reading experience—not just in regard to masterfully created content—but with exotic printing treatments, intricate packaging, exciting pack-in collectibles, and more. We’re living in the golden age of fandom, and Dark Horse Direct can’t wait to celebrate".
What future items the Ultimates line holds is unknown, but Dark Horse has tons of franchises to draw from, such as Alien Vs Predator, The Mask, and The Strain. It is also one of the Western publishers for Berserk, so it is possible that the storied manga epic could receive an Ultimate print in the future.
This isn't Dark Horse's first foray into the Assassin's Creed franchise either as the comic publisher also released several supplementary comics for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which are available now.