WATCH: Assassin's Creed trailer

Tracking both the struggles of mixed-race assassin Connor Kenway and an emerging American nation, the first gameplay trailer Assassin's Creed III shows the familiar and new in a novel setting.

Tracking both the struggles of mixed-race assassin Connor Kenway and an emerging American nation, the first gameplay trailer Assassin's Creed III shows the familiar and new in a novel setting.

Connor's quest for freedom takes him through wilderness and old-time cityscape, and while his colors show him siding with American Revolutionaries against the British redcoats, his true loyalties appear to lie elsewhere.

The rooftop clambering of Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood and Revelations is replaced by woodland antics, while Connor puts his bow and arrow, hatchet, knives and hidden blade to good use, with liberal use of enemies' bayonets and even a flying elbow.

Just like ancestor Ezio, Connor's quite the athlete, able to scale rock faces and engage in pursuits in town and, in a first for the series, through houses.

The game is set for an October 30 Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 debut in North America, with European regions following suit the next day, and a Wii U, PC and Mac date to be confirmed.

It's followed by another elimination game with similar conspiratorial themes, Hitman: Absolution, on November 20, while out-and-out shooters Halo 4 and Black Ops II will be standing ground in between.