Assassin's Creed trailer: Michael Fassbender leaps into his past for video game adaptation

The film sees Fassbender collaborate once more with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel for a visionary thrill ride

Will Assassin's Creed be the first to break the video game movie curse?

That will be in the thoughts of so many after the first trailer for the Michael Fassbender-starring adaptation of Ubisoft's ultra-popular, time-travelling franchise has been released; with its hopes to cure a long history of disappointing video game adaptations in the likes of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Prince of Persia.

The film is dropping the game's protagonist Desmond Miles for Fassbender's Callum Lynch, whose path crosses with the shady Abstergo Industries as their revolutionary technology unlock his genetic memories and allow him to experience the adventures of his ancestor Aguilar in 15th Century Spain; unveiling him as a descendant of the secret society of Assassins who have been locked in a centuries-long battle with the oppressive Templars.

Fassbender here collaborates once more with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel; with Assassin's Creed so far promising a return of Kurzel's intensely visceral, charged visual style. The director's clear skills in stripping Shakespeare's text down to its primitive, driving forces also promises a slick take on what can sometimes be a messy in-game narrative.

Kurzel's also pushed for a sense of realism within the film's narrative; many of the stunts were performed live - including that iconic Leap of Faith seeing a stuntman drop 125 feet - and it's been revealed the film's historical sequences will be entirely in Spanish.

Assassin's Creed is set for UK release 1 January 2017.