Exclusive: Listen to Riz Ahmed go full video game boss in Audible's Assassin’s Creed: Gold

Assassin’s Creed: Gold, the first Audible Original to delve into Ubisoft’s warring world of Templars and Assassins, has cast some heavy hitters for its first audio foray. We’re talking the same caliber that tried (and failed) to turn the hit video game franchise into a film. Riz Ahmed (Venom) headlines a stacked cast as the era-hopping series heads to Sir Isaac Newton’s 17th-century Britain — where things are about to get bloody during the Great Recoinage of 1696.

SYFY WIRE exclusively announced the series last year, but now we can actually give fans an exclusive clip of Ahmed bringing his video game badass best to his Assassin’s Creed character. Gold’s eight episodes, written by Anthony Del Col (Kill Shakespeare), takes its historical setting, gives it some Assassin’s Creed flavor, and ties it all in to recent uncertain economic times. Aliyah Kahn, a small time criminal who pissed off the wrong man (the mysterious Gavin Banks), has to climb in the Animus and inhabit the memories of her Assassin ancestor, Omar Khaled (Ahmed).

Let’s set the scene for this clip: It’s 1696 and Khaled is meeting in the crypt of a church to see if newcomer Rose Galloway (Gemma Lawrence) is worth training for the Brotherhood of Assassins.

Take a listen here:

Khaled has already captured one counterfeiter with Newton, putting the criminal to death. Now he extends a death-dealing offer to Rose: become an Assassin and put that Eagle Vision (one of the primary gameplay mechanics of the saga's heroes) to good use. Rose's high social status seems like it'll be a major factor in the plot — as long as she and Omar survive the collapsing church, that is.

Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Danny Wallace (Assassin’s Creed Syndicate), and Tamara Lawrence (No Offence) round out the large ensemble when Assassin’s Creed: Gold exclusively hits Audible on Feb. 27.