Update: Videogame animator Jonathan Cooper has taken to Twitter to confirm this video is indeed legit. Cooper, who was Animation Director on Assassin's Creed III, says the Ubisoft team used this target game footage (AKA, it's pre-rendered and not actual gameplay) as inspiration when pitching AC III.

"Wow - haven't seen this in ages. Amazing work from animation director Khai Nguyen (For Honor) and team. This target game footage (pre-rendered game pitch) inspired our own pitch for Assassin's Creed 3 as they did such a great job making it look like real gameplay. "

Original Story: The video you see above is of something called 'Prince of Persia Redemption' - a game that was reportedly in the works at Ubisoft back in 2010 and 2011, but was ultimately cancelled. The footage was uploaded to YouTube a grand total of eight years ago, but has gone largely unnoticed until now (thanks Resetera).

As for its validity, Ubisoft Technical Designer Marc-Andre Belleau seemingly commented on the video a couple of years ago, asking "where did you get that?!". Furthermore, former Ubisoft artist Christophe Prélot noted on his LinkedIn page that back in 2010-11 he was working on "Prince of Persia 'Untitled Canceled'", stating that he "generated an entire level of a Persia city in destruction with scripted events."

If that LinkedIn page was indeed referring to 'Prince of Persia Redemption', the game was apparently in the works for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The footage was uploaded to YouTube on March 1, 2012, and had only received just over 100 views before it was more widely discovered earlier today.

What do you make of the footage? Let us know in the comments.

[source youtu.be, via resetera.com]