Assassin’s Creed Nexus To Launch This Holiday, New Trailer Reveals
Nearly three years ago, then-Oculus & Ubisoft promised Assassin’s Creed & Splinter Cell titles would be in development for virtual reality. While ambitious, it was some time before the developer announced it would be pulling the plug on the operation. Saddened by the news, many assumed the ambition would be forever lost in time since the statement made in July 2022. However, that apparently was not the case – at least not entirely. Yes, Splinter Cell would not be facing any love on the Meta Quest. However, Assassin’s Creed remained in development according to Insider Gaming. The report told ‘Codename Nexus’ would also anticipate a sequel already. And at the Meta Quest Showcase, Ubisoft properly announced Assassin’s Creed Nexus with more information come the Ubisoft Forward press conference. During the showcase on Monday, Ubisoft issued a complete gameplay trailer for Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR and shared a holiday release is planned for the new title. You can watch the trailer in the video below: “Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, which made its debut during Ubisoft Forward 2023, will let players embody Assassin’s Creed II’s Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Assassin’s Creed III’s Connor, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Kassandra across an original, centuries-spanning adventure created for virtual reality,” the overview for the game reads. “Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR aims to immerse players in a true Assassin’s Creed experience where they become the Assassin, including climbing, open environments, parkour, and the Leap of Faith.” In the blog post, Ubisoft interviews the developers on the new game which the talent shares exciting details on the upcoming release. What has you most excited for Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR? Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR will ship in holiday 2023 for Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro. Source: Ubisoft
Mobile Game Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade Receives Gameplay Trailer With Closed Testing Sign-Ups Now Live
Looking to the horizon for plans regarding Assassin’s Creed, fans will not be hungry for long. Already, we understand Assassin’s Creed Mirage launches this October. And that is only the beginning for this upward trend. Previously, three other codenamed projects were announced: ‘Red’, ‘Hexe’, and ‘Jade’ are in the pipeline. Elsewhere, reports also mentioned of other unannounced titles that are still in the concept phase or being discussed internally at Ubisoft. Not to mention a new report disclosing that Assassin’s Creed talent is to bolster up immensely with roughly a 40 percent increase, says CEO Yves Guillemot. And the recent Ubisoft Forward does not hesitate on this coming future. At the showcase on Monday, the publisher unveiled a new trailer for Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade. You can watch the footage below: “Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, the first open-world Assassin’s Creed built for iOS and Android, is set in third-century BCE China, following the Warring States period and the unification of China under the Qin dynasty,” Ubisoft explains. “Published by Level Infinite, Codename Jade is chronologically set between Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Origins, and takes place in the first multiethnic feudal state in China.” Executive producer Andrei Chan adds: “This is a very exciting part of China’s history. This is the establishment of essentially the first empire of China. It was also a time when the connection between China and the rest of the world was stronger than ever. Our goal is to provide an authentic Assassin’s Creed experience on mobile, and we are very proud of what we have already. “Fans can expect all the iconic features – assassinations, air assassinations, stealth, parkour, combat mechanics – and we’re keeping it narrative-driven.” Additionally, a closed beta for the mobile release is now available for registration. You can sign-up by heading here. How excited are you for Codename Jade from the new footage? Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade is listed for Android & iOS. Source: Ubisoft
New Trailer Reveals September Launch For The Crew Motorfest
Across the spectrum of racing simulators, Ubisoft with its ‘The Crew’ IP blew up the scale with a fairly proportionate map of the United States. And while the game is not a large enough namesake like Forza or Gran Turismo, the title still faces respect from the industry. Already, we saw The Crew 2 welcome next-generation enhancements for Xbox Series X|S & PlayStation 5 in the past. Moving forward, developer Ivory Tower plans to transition to a new location with its newest entry, The Crew Motorfest. With a brief teaser shared earlier this year, the newest installment brings the energetic racing of The Crew with its familiar world-building to Hawaii. And fans received a closer look at the island of O’ahu in the most recent trailer. During Ubisoft Forward, Ivory Tower shared new footage of the game alongside a September release date for the new game. You can watch the trailer in the video below: “An all-new open-world motorsports game, The Crew Motorfest is set on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, where players can freely explore Honolulu’s streets, off-road down volcanoes, and race more than 610 vehicles (at launch) through rainforests, beaches, and winding mountain roads. A central part of The Crew Motorfest is the introduction of Playlists – multi-event campaigns built around a single car-culture theme, which players can tackle at any time, in any order,” the synopsis reads. Additionally, The Crew Motorfest will be holding a closed beta for the upcoming release. On Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, users can register for the private playtest which will take place between July 23 to July 25. You can sign-up by heading here. What has you eager for The Crew Motorfest? The Crew Motorfest is launching on September 14, 2023 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Luna. Source: Ubisoft
Roller Champions gets a crossover with Jet Set Radio
During the Ubisoft Forward Presentation there was a quick montage that had a couple small announcements for games that are already out. One of them was Master Chief and The Arbiter coming to Brawlhalla and the other one was a Jet Set Radio event coming to Roller Champions. The upcoming Roller Champions event featuring Sega’s Jet Set Radio will come to the rink on June 27. Along with a brand new rink themed around JSF it looks like there will be a special Beat costume who is the main protagonist of the Jet Set Radio franchise. You can download Roller Champions for Free.
Review: Loop8: Summer of Gods
Developer – Marvelous Inc. Publisher – XSEED Games Platforms – Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC (Reviewed) Review copy given by publisher It’s hard to stand out as an enticing new game in today’s day and age, especially when so many experiences feel similar to one another. Well developer Marvelous Inc. and publisher XSEED seek to break out of this norm with their newest project Loop8: Summer of Gods, a game that refreshingly combines concepts of visual novels and roguelikes. While I applaud the team for their valiant efforts and extraordinary vision, I can’t help but be disappointed that the overall experience fails to live up to its full potential due to a myriad of bad design choices. You play as a young boy named Nini, who happens to be the last remaining survivor of a space station after it was destroyed by monsters called Kegai. He relocates to a small rural town in 1980s Japan called Ashihara, one of the last remaining safe havens on Earth. There he discovers he has a strange ability called Demon Sight which allows him to reset time back to the beginning of the month so he can prevent the monsters from destroying his home. Despite the impending doom of the world, he spends his summer making friends and developing relationships with the various inhabitants of the island. It’s a coming of age story that doesn’t quite reach the heights of its inspirations. I’ve never played a game quite like Loop8: Summer of Gods. At a high level, it plays like a dating sim visual novel combined with a roguelike JRPG. This isn’t like any typical role playing game, as there’s no attributes to level up, gear to equip, weapons to find, or items to use. You don’t level up your party members through gaining experience points from battle, but rather from getting to know them from conversations. This is where the visual novel dating sim elements come in. Most of it still boils down to clicking through mountains of text, but at least the voice acting is quite nice. Your goal after all is to see the relationship meter with each character go up. Time management plays an important mechanic here because every action you take with your friends sets the clock forward, so you must be strategic with how you form your bonds before time runs out. Once the end of the month rolls around, you get transported into an underworld version of Ashihara, where you must fight demons and monsters to progress the narrative. Oh, I forgot to mention your friends also get possessed by Kegai, which can lead to a character dying. Don’t be fooled by the high school setting, relationship bond system, and turn based combat, because this game is not a Persona-lite. There surprisingly isn’t much combat to begin with, and when you do engage in battle, it’s a complete mess. You can have up to three members in your party, but you can only take control of Nini, as the other characters are controlled by the AI. How your other party members act is based on your social bonds with them, which can vary dramatically depending how you talked to them. Even with relationships fleshed out, don’t expect the computer-controlled party members to do anything smart, as they’ll choose baffling moves that lead you to your demise more often than not. Need a heal because your health is low? Your party members will just buff themselves instead! Oh and if someone dies, they’re permanently gone until the loop resets, which is triggered when Nini falls in battle. Blessings received from the Gods are the only things that remain after each loop, which is seen as the permanent progression in this roguelike gameplay loop. Unfortunately every character’s stats are reset and you must tread through every single line of dialogue over and over again, which becomes increasingly frustrating and tedious. Loop8 isn’t a roguelike game where each run is a matter of minutes, but instead a matter of hours, so you can imagine how much repeated content you are going to have to sit through when you have to restart. There’s just too many loops! I was a bit surprised that there’s no native PlayStation 5 version of the game, as I played it on the PS5 through backwards compatibility from the PS4 version. Maybe a native next-gen version would have improved just how many loading screens there are and how long each takes. Keep in mind I’m already button mashing through the talk button, and seeing a loading screen pop up every few seconds just lowers the overall enjoyment even more. Thankfully there is a fast forward dialogue option that skips over everything, but it would have been nice to see a skip dialogue option to skip through only certain parts. It’s also baffling to not have a text log feature, which most if not all visual novel titles have, so players can sift through potentially missed dialogue. The two aspects that drew me in in the first place are the game’s impeccable visual design and excellent soundtrack. The bright color palettes combined with the crisp character animations make Loop8 an absolute delight to look at. The relaxing and beachy vibes of Ashihara evoke a feeling of warmth and coziness and I’m all for it. The music, on the other hand, really brings the atmosphere together, with soft piano and violin themes that fit the vibes of the fishing village. Even when the world turns upside down, the transitions in instruments effortlessly set the mood for the tone of the narrative. Loop8 is clearly too ambitious for its own good. It had all the great ideas of what could have been a revolutionary experience pushing the boundaries of a new genre of gaming, but it ended up butchering the execution on all fronts. What started off as a compelling coming of age story with an enticing social bond system turned into a laborious and repetitive
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy Releases Early 2024
Capcom showed off the second set of the Ace Attorney Trilogy during the showcase they had today. It features three games, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. The Trilogy will be coming out in Early 2024 for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via Windows and Steam. No it’s not a mistake that it’s listed for the previous generation consoles, but you should still be able to play this trilogy on Series XlS and PlayStation 5.
Master Chief & The Arbiter Are Coming To Brawlhalla
Brawlhalla received another announcement during Ubisoft’s quick montage they tend to do during presentations where they share small news for games already out. One of the big news that came out was Brawlhalla’s latest collaboration. Master Chief and The Arbiter will be coming to Brawlhalla as part of the Brawlhalla: Combat Evolved Crossover. It looks like the famous Forge Monitor will make an appearance as part of this crossover along with the Energy Sword, Assault Rifle, Rocket Launcher and more. This crossover will be coming July 12.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases December 7
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was one of the first games shown off at Ubisoft Forward alongside Just Dance 2024 Edition. Massive Entertainment in collaboration with James Cameron’s production company Lightstorm Entertainment and Disney, gave the first look at gameplay of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. “A stand-alone adventure set within the Avatar universe, you will explore and protect a never-before-seen continent of Pandora: the Western Frontier in first-person. Your Na’vi character is customizable with options including different body types, voices and body paint, and like you, your character will learn how to be a Na’vi, including how to harness your formidable strength and agility while traversing through the stunning and dangerous open world. Add to that your knowledge of humans, their weapons and technology from years of RDA training, and you are uniquely equipped to combat the RDA and protect Pandora. “ Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will release on Xbox Series XlS, PC, PlayStation 5 and Amazon Luna on December 7, 2023. Source: Ubisoft
XDefiant will have an Open Beta from June 21-23 before launching this Summer
Ubisoft Forward featured upcoming first-person shooter, XDefiant where more details were shared about the game. Over 1 million players took part in the closed beta for XDefiant and now they are going to open it to the public for one last test. From June 21 to 23 Ubisoft will be holding an Open Beta for XDefiant before they prepare for launch this Summer. A release date for XDefiant was not given yet during the Ubisoft Forward presentation, but at least we have a window. You can register for the XDefiant Open Beta here. XDefiant will be available for PC, Xbox Series XlS and PlayStation 5.
Just Dance 2024 Edition releases October 24
What better way to start off the Ubisoft Forward presentation than with a Just Dance announcement. Just Dance 2024 Edition will come to consoles on October 24. This edition will feature over 40 new tracks and universes from all genres and eras. Pre-Orders for the Limited Edition are now live at your local retailers and if you do so you’ll receive exclusive additional digital content, including customization items for your Dancer Card, a Victory Celebration, and more. Just Dance 2024 Edition will come out for Xbox Series XlS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
