Ubisoft Forward 2020

[FakeSympathy]

Here we go, Ubisoft's take on virtual e3 show. I always found Ubisoft games to have this weird paradox where they introduce us to amazing and interesting worlds, but the actual gameplay ends up somewhat mediocre. During E3 shows, they always had these cringy scripted in-game chats that tried to relate to the players, only to end up making them look like idiots. This year, they had no annoying skits or virtue signaling, which was a good thing.

Once again, here are the games they presented in the order of appearance, and my thoughts on them

Watch_Dogs: Legion
This looks.... actually interesting. I love the concept that the everyday NPC can now be chosen as the player character, and they are dropping the whole "the only one who can save the world" concept. Each of them will have their own set of skills and abilities. I do hope the NPC you recruit/play as won't be another silent/one-dimensional protagonist, and that this is one of those "you make the story" type of game. I also have to wonder how expendable they are? As in, how easy can they die, and how often will they be replaced?

Brawlhalla for mobile devices
Look the game is fun, but I don't think this was that big of a deal to be considered as a showcase material. Moving on

Might and Magic: Era of Chaos
Oh look. Another edgy-sounding mobile game title with supposed millions of playerbase. Don't really care for it. NEXT!

Elite Squad
Another mobile game. A butchered and cartoon version of Rainbox Six Siege? I'll pass

Hyper Scape
Omg, an actual AAA title game? It looks interes-Oh son of a *****, battle royale. NO THANKS

Assassin's Creed Valhalla
It looks fun. The viking raids, exploration, actual stealth, and the setting all look great. I have few issues here;
1. It looks like it will be gear-heavy once again, with different levels of tiers. Hopefully, it won't be another loot-based RPG, with thousands of loots and most of them being trash loots
2. There's a brief moment when they show inventory screen, and one of the menu options shays "shop", indicating MTX. This can't be good

Far Cry 6
Alright, an antagonist played by someone we all can recognize! Hopefully, this guy will be just as evil as Gus was in Breaking Bad. Hopefully there will be more than the standard "climb a tower to unlock points of interest". And actual knife kills this time, please. Don't know what that was missing in FC5

Overall....
Pretty damn good. Compared to last year, I found this to be an improvement. Maybe it's because the presenters aren't pressured by the live audience? I am not sure why Splinter Cell is missing once again this year, but I guess I'll continue to hope. They said they will hold another virtual even similar to this again later this year, so I guess we'll wait and see what's in store

 

[Hades]

It makes sense Ubi wants to go forward. It might stop people from looking backwards in all those assault cases Ubisoft has been sweeping under the carpet.

I'm surprised we didn't see Gods and Myths. It was announced some time ago and parts were leaked so it should be pretty close to completion.

 

[Adam Jensen]

There's a brief moment when they show inventory screen, and one of the menu options shays "shop", indicating MTX. This can't be good

They're also asking $120 for the edition with all the DLC. And then they have the gall to put microtransactions into the game on top of that price.

To make things even worse, they're releasing this demon spawn of late-stage capitalism two days before Cyberpunk 2077. I know it's a pipe dream, but I hope that the game flops hard.

 

[FakeSympathy]

They're also asking $120 for the edition with all the DLC. And then they have the gall to put microtransactions into the game on top of that price.

To make things even worse, they're releasing this demon spawn of late-stage capitalism two days before Cyberpunk 2077. I know it's a pipe dream, but I hope that the game flops hard.

Oh shit, wasn't even paying attention to the release date. Yeah, the only people buying the game are the hardcore fans

 

[BrawlMan]

Once again, Ubisoft has nothing to offer in a presentation. Wake me up when they bother with Prince of Persia. Also, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a no show. That game has been delayed for 11 years now. It, along with Half Life 3 are new Duke Nukem Forever. If I need Far Cry fix, I will just play Instincts or Crysis when it hits consoles.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's been close to a decade since I spent more than fifteen bucks on an Ubisoft title (I didn't even bother with The Division 2 until it dropped to three dollars) and this looks set to continue my streak.

 

[Dalisclock]

It makes sense Ubi wants to go forward. It might stop people from looking backwards in all those assault cases Ubisoft has been sweeping under the carpet.

I'm surprised we didn't see Gods and Myths. It was announced some time ago and parts were leaked so it should be pretty close to completion.

I suspect you mean "Gods and Monsters" and yeah, I'd like to see what's going on with that. It looks a lot more interesting then everything else that's going on.

 

[Trunkage]

Watch Dogs 2 was my last full price game I ever bought. It was worth the $60 to me

that being said, I don’t usually waste my money like that anymore and even though I like the ide of Legion, I’d doubt I’ll be purchasing it on launch

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Watch Dogs looks kinda interesting, but honestly I'll never be able to reconcile the fact that you're supposed to be a hacker activist rebel whatever, and yet you can run over hordes of innocent people and gun down security guards by the dozens.

AC Valhalla looks BEAUTIFUL. The gameplay also looks like crap. I'll never understand how they can put so much effort into crafting such a detailed and realistic game world, and at the same time have combat that wouldn't look out of place in a free to play mobile game. My friends swear by the gameplay, but ever since Oddyssey the games have looked ridiculously unfun to me. I actually liked the assassin parts of the series. The stealth and the combat were never that good true, but they were at least fun to look at. Watching some Viking cut a dog dozens of times before they die is boring as hell.

 

[Catfood220]

Ummmm... Ubisoft, what has happened to Beyond Good and Evil 2 again. Should I just give up all hope and wait another 10 years until it is given another attempt. I could be dead before this game ever comes out.

Also, I watched Game Grumps play Ass Creed Valhalla and yeah it was a work in progress build of the game. But my God, it looked really fucking dull.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Watch Dogs Legion sounds interesting but from people who've played it worry it's going to get stale. YongYea already pointed out in his 4 hour playtime he ended up doing the same recruitment mission, in the same location fro two different character who also have the exact same lines as one another.

I think what it could use is dynamic missions as something that come up. You know like in Red Dead when you stumble across something happening or I think Skyrim or or some other games had a quest system where an NPC would run up to you and ask you to help them.

Lets say you're going round and you run into some of the security forces hassling and trying to shake down a market store owner. You see it going on and mask up and take out the security forces, the guy then asks about joining up.

Or You're escaping the Police and like in the trailer an NPC randomly helps you either helping you escape or "accidentally" slowing down those trying to chase you. You then have a mission where you have to help them vanish by clearing up their old life or you have to rescue them after they're taken in by the security services.

 

[Adam Jensen]

AC Valhalla looks BEAUTIFUL.

Really? Because it looks a lot worse than Origins and Odyssey. Characters and animations look pretty abysmal for a AAA title. Even if it was a AA title it would look bad. Odyssey was also a step backwards compared to Origins. And I think I know why. I think it's because their animation tech wasn't designed for dialogue options in mind. Now every time a character speaks in a cutscene, they look janky as hell. That never happened in Origins. Origins had amazing and smooth as fuck animations.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Really? Because it looks a lot worse than Origins and Odyssey. Characters and animations look pretty abysmal for a AAA title. Even if it was a AA title it would look bad. Odyssey was also a step backwards compared to Origins. And I think I know why. I think it's because their animation tech wasn't designed for dialogue options in mind. Now every time a character speaks in a cutscene, they look janky as hell. That never happened in Origins. Origins had amazing and smooth as fuck animations.

I was talking about the game world. I don't disagree with you, I also said the combat animations looked like crap.

Although I will say I don't see how any different they are from Origins. I barely remember the game, never played it, but it looked pretty janky to me.

 

[laggyteabag]

I think the standout of the show was Watch Dogs Legion, which is interesting, because it just was not on my radar until now. I knew it was happening, but I just didn't care for it. I like the fact that you can recruit literally anyone, and each person has their own unique abilities, which allows you to complete missions basically however you feel like it. I really like the open-ended design, but I just hope that the plot is good enough to actually make me want to play it.

Then it was a couple of mobile games, eh.

And a AAA Battle Royale game that we already knew about - but it looks pretty interesting in that it is much faster paced, and seems to have a story to it? Still not into Battle Royale games, but I would probably be much more inclined to play this one, before Warzone or PUBG or whatever.

AC Valhalla looked alright. I like that you can build your own village, but Im doubtful that it will be particularly in-depth. Other than that, it looked just like how how Odyssey plays, and Odyssey bores me to death. Apparently they have made an effort to ensure that this game isn't quite so bloated as Odyssey or Origins, but we will have to wait and see. I'll probably pick it up on the cheap.

And Far Cry 6. Trailer is pretty. Giancarlo Esposito is always a win, and this game looks to be more urban, compared to the wilderness of the previous games, but hey, there isn't really much to go on, as we haven't seen any of the gameplay.

Overall, I preferred it to Ubisoft's past E3 conferences, and it was night and day better than EA's boring and anticlimactic EA Play 2020 event. Though, there were some curious omissions, from games we know that Ubisoft is making. Apparently though, there will be another one of these events this year, so maybe that is when we see games like Beyond Good & Evil 2. Who knows.

 

[Hawki]

Random thoughts:

-Is it just me, or is there a kind of convergence going on here? Like, Legion and FC6 both deal with popular uprisings of sorts. And intentional or otherwise, Far Cry seems to be in the zeitgeist. FC5? American rednecks, cue references to Trump. FC6? Riots on the streets, and statues coming down.

-Hyper Scape puts the point of no return on climate change in 2023. That's eerily pertinent, since we could reach the 1.5C threshold by 2025. Also, "fictional company making games out of virtual reality." So, er, does this share the same setting as Assassin's Creed? Abestergo? Animus? Anyone? Ubisoft Shared Universe since Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed already share their universe?

-Obligatory message of condolence to all Rayman, Prince of Persia, and Splinter Cell fans.

 

[Chimpzy]

Was pretty much just running it in the background in case BG&E2 got some spotlight, so only watched intermittently, popping in every 10-15 mins to see what was going on.

Got confused a few times, thinking they were still talking about the same game. They weren't. No, not meant as snide "Ubisoft games are all the same" comment.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

-Is it just me, or is there a kind of convergence going on here? Like, Legion and FC6 both deal with popular uprisings of sorts. And intentional or otherwise, Far Cry seems to be in the zeitgeist. FC5? American rednecks, cue references to Trump. FC6? Riots on the streets, and statues coming down.

SHHHHH! Dere's no pawliticks in owuh gamez! Just buy and play mindlessly!

 

[BrawlMan]

Random thoughts:

-Is it just me, or is there a kind of convergence going on here? Like, Legion and FC6 both deal with popular uprisings of sorts. And intentional or otherwise, Far Cry seems to be in the zeitgeist. FC5? American rednecks, cue references to Trump. FC6? Riots on the streets, and statues coming down.

-Hyper Scape puts the point of no return on climate change in 2023. That's eerily pertinent, since we could reach the 1.5C threshold by 2025. Also, "fictional company making games out of virtual reality." So, er, does this share the same setting as Assassin's Creed? Abestergo? Animus? Anyone? Ubisoft Shared Universe since Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed already share their universe?

-Obligatory message of condolence to all Rayman, Prince of Persia, and Splinter Cell fans.

How much you want to bet, that Ubisoft will pull another we're not political statement?

 

[Hawki]

How much you want to bet, that Ubisoft will pull another we're not political statement?

Dunno.

On one hand, having FC6 overthrow a dictator would be much less controversial than taking out a fundamentalist cult. On the other, they've weaseled out of everything else that approaches the real world.

TBH, I don't even mind that much, because at least from what I can tell, the games have never really explored socio-political themes in any meaningful way. Subtext, sure, but reasonably bare bones. But not the person to comment.

 

[Nick Calandra]

Ubisoft has A LOT they're not showing off yet.

Gods and Monsters or whatever it's called now.

Skulls & Bones which has been MIA for years now, I'm thinking they did a complete re-work on it to make it an actual pirate RPG and not just another live multiplayer game because I don't know how you really continue building that out with more ships and stuff like you would R6 siege with new characters and stuff. Having different captains with abilities though, that would be interesting.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 was a next-gen game when we first saw it years ago already, so I'm thinking you'll see more of that at the next Ubisoft Forward

Rainbow Six Quarantine

The Settlers

...yea, I'm guessing most pubs are saving their real next-gen cards till after the Series X showcase in July. Bet by August - September we'll start seeing the big guns.