Oh, you thought because E3 starts tomorrow that you’d escaped the pre-conference speculation articles? How wrong of you. For shame. One conference that has flown under the radar this year, at least for us anyway, is the Ubisoft conference. They always have a big presence at E3, and 2018 looks set to be no different.
As is always the way with big announcements, some of them have unfortunately been leaked ahead of time, but it wouldn’t be E3 without a surprise announcement or two, and Ubisoft certainly have the capacity to pull that off. Let’s take a look at what games we can expect to see during their briefing.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed came back in a big way last year with Origins, completely redefining the series with new gameplay, characters and an ancient Egypt setting. Lots of gamers loved it, as it gave an ailing franchise renewed focus, a focus that Ubisoft are looking to apply to Ancient Greece with Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
In classic Assassin’s Creed tradition, Odyssey was leaked via a picture of a piece of merchandise; a keychain to be specific. Previously, Black Flag was leaked via a promotional posters, whilst Origins got rumbled when pictures of a t-shirt featuring Bayek surfaced. Anyway, expect plenty of coverage of Odyssey during the conference.
The Crew 2
After the mediocre release of the first game a few years back, Ubisoft are keen to offer something new and interesting with The Crew 2, and all footage shown so far shows that to be the case. The inclusion of boats and planes gives The Crew 2 something that the rest of the genre isn’t really doing right now, and the ability to switch between vehicles instantaneously allows for an unprecedented level of exploratory freedom. Potentially, anyway. The game could launch with huge issues, who knows?
With The Crew 2 launching at the end of June, it’s likely that any coverage the game gets at the show will focus more on how Ubisoft is planning to support the game post-launch. You know, because all games are a service now. Either way, we’re still pretty excited about this one, though it’ll have a tough time dragging us away from ONRUSH.
The Division 2
Ubisoft have already confirmed that The Division 2 will be making an appearance at E3, and like The Crew 2, will be eager to distance itself from some of the negative connotations that surround the original game. Given some of the improvements that have been made to the first game, there’s some optimism for the next game, but we all said that about Destiny.
Details are still thin on the ground about what we can expect from the second game, but it’s likely that the sequel will retain the same core tenets of The Division, including 4 player co-op, cover based shooting and an emphasis on loot. Ubisoft apparently saw the first game as the first step of a much bigger saga, so we might even see how the Green Poison/Dollar Flu affected cities other than New York.
Beyond Good & Evil 2
The sequel to one of sixth console generation’s greatest hits, Beyond Good & Evil 2 looks to be taking the game into a completely different direction. Instead of a single player adventure game, we’ve got pirates, multiplayer space battles, big melee fights and a monkey with a potty mouth. No, we’re not entirely sure either, but it looks quite fun.
A developer livestream from last month revealed a tonne of details about the game, along with the promise that we’ll get more information at E3. Most likely, there’ll be hands-on for those in attendance, more gameplay footage for the peons at home (including us, unfortunately) and perhaps even the elusive release date.
Skull And Bones
From future pirates to regular pirates, Skull and Bones will plonk players into the middle of a battle for supremacy in the Indian Ocean and task you with rising to the top. No pressure or anything. In order to become the pirate king of the seas, you’ll have to form gangs with other players in order to increase your influence, only for you to betray them so you can have the loot for yourself.
It was announced about a month ago that Skull And Bones suffered a delay, pushing the release window into the 2019-2020 fiscal year, so an appearance at this year’s E3 might not be on the cards, with Ubisoft instead deciding to focus on more recent releases. The luxury of doing this article last minute is that we won’t have to wait long to find out.
Watch Dogs 3
Of course Ubisoft would be working on a new Watch Dogs game. Though the first game left a lot to be desired, the sequel introduced a more light-hearted nature to the game’s presentation whilst adding some relevant satire into the mix, making it a much more well-received game. It stands to reason that Ubisoft would be keen to repeat that success.
There’s been some teasing, or leaking, over on Ubisoft’s end too, with Sam, the in-built AI for Ubisoft’s mobile app, saying to users: “Watch Dogs 3 is not finished yet, but from the last early build I tried it’s very solid.” One thing is certain though: if the game is real, you better expect GDPR jokes every ten seconds.
Splinter Cell
Under normal circumstances, we’d say this was a shot in the dark and that we’ve lost our minds, but there may very well be some truth to it. A new Splinter Cell game was featured on the Walmart Canada leaked list of games, which also included the likes of Just Cause 4 (which got leaked again as I was writing this), Rage 2, the new Assassin’s Creed, Lego DC Villains and more.
Aside from Splinter Cell, and a couple of Xbox exclusives like Gears 5 and a new Forza Horizon game, every game on that list has turned out to be real. It stands to reason that the same could be said of Splinter Cell. The return of Sam Fisher in Ghost Recon: Wildlands earlier in the year stoked the flames for a comeback, but now it seems like it’s all but confirmed.
MORE E3:
– Ubisoft at E3 2018: Games, Start Time & What You Need to Know
– E3 2018: Press Conference Schedules For Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo & More
– E3 2018: Xbox Needs Less PR Babble, More Games
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