Ubisoft have generally been a highlight of the E3 schedule, where they’re always the wildcard. You never quite know what they’re going to do next, whether it’s a big musical number to showcase the new Just Dance, Jon Bernthal bringing his dog on stage, or Shigeru Miyamoto and Yves Guillemot playing with some toy guns on stage. This year like many other publishers, they shifted to an online-only format for the big new games showcase, in what is set to be an ongoing series of presentations. This year marked the first-ever Ubisoft Forward live stream, but Ubisoft ended the show with confirmation that there will be another Ubisoft Forward before the end of the year. We don’t have an exact date, but perhaps towards the end of the year, before all the big end of year releases are on the horizon would make a lot of sense.
Overall the show was solidly executed, if unremarkable. From what I could tell it was all pre-recorded, which helped them keep things moving at a decent pace, and meant that it felt quite slick and polished, but it was perhaps lacking in personality in terms of the structure and presentation style, especially when compared to Ubisoft’s own previous E3 appearances.
There was a hiccup with their planned Watch Dogs 2 freebie, where many users, myself included, couldn’t log on to uPlay during the stream, instead just getting an error message. Ubisoft acknowledged the technical issue and then pledged to make sure that everyone will be able to participate in the giveaway. They’ve addressed this by giving out the game to people who missed it during the stream on this page, so go and register for your free copy of Watch Dogs 2 here if you’re interested.
I wasn’t sure whether Ubisoft would address the massive shake-up they’ve been going through following multiple allegations of unprofessional conduct by people in management positions at Ubisoft. Just 24 hours before this stream, we heard the news that three of their most senior employees have resigned following serious allegations against them. I thought perhaps there would be some kind of attempt to clear the air, or comment on this situation, but it felt like Ubisoft saw this event only for promoting their game, not for any kind of wider dialogue with their players. There’s no quick fix to a situation like this, and they’re going to need to make a sustained commitment to improving, but these personal changes are a good sign that they intend to take decisive action, but it’s a long road that they’re just starting to walk down.
If you want to check out the entire thing, it’s been archived here on Ubisoft’s youtube page, including pre and post-show game demos. But we’ve clipped out all the key details and most interesting announcements here for you if you just want the highlights.
Watch Dogs Legion
We got a couple of new trailers for this upcoming open-world hack ‘em up. These expand somewhat on the system whereby you can recruit and then play as any character in the game, and showcases some of the unique abilities that each character will have. It’s an interesting mechanic, and I can’t wait to see just how far you can push it. Tonally it’s hard to tell exactly what kind of vibe the game is going for when it’s invoking some very serious subject matters like rebelling against a totalitarian state, hyper-surveillance, and private militarized policing. But these are offset with goofier comedic elements and a playful vibe. Not sure how those two sides will reconcile in the full game, but these two trailers at least give us a taste of what to expect.
Cinematic trailer
Gameplay trailer
Brawlhalla
Nothing massively earth-shattering here, but there’s the pleasant news that this 2D fighting game is now available for iOS and Android, and that all versions have now been updated to offer cross-platform multiplayer.
Rainbow Six Siege
Kinda crazy to think that this game came out five years ago, and it’s now bigger than ever. Perhaps this is the poster child for games that did OK out of the gate, but then with proper support and a sustained push from the publisher, grew to be a much bigger success. Ubisoft shared this video as a tribute to the players that helped Rainbow Six Siege become the success it is today.
Hyperscape
We’d already had the announcement of this game, so they took this opportunity to showcase a few of the different abilities and mobility options you’ll have, plus they fleshed out a lot of the backstory, even if to be honest it’s a fairly generic sci-fi setup. There are some cool melee weapons and attacks, plus some fun looking long-range weapons.
Cinematic
Gameplay
In the classic tradition of announcing something that can be played immediately, they have just launched the PC beta for Hyper Scape, grab it now over here.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Perhaps this was less exciting than it could have been, due to the leaks having already given us an idea of what to expect. Ubisoft gave us a “deep dive” into the various different systems that come into play in this new twelfth Assassin’s Creed game. I was somewhat struck with how far this series has strayed from being about assassinations, but this trailer does still look pretty interesting, with a lot of different types of gameplay showcased.
There is also a lengthier gameplay demo as part of the post-show, with larger unedited chunks of gameplay plus commentary.
Far Cry 6
The surprise announcement that we were all expecting. There’s no gameplay footage yet, but we got a full cinematic trailer. It’s a stylishly framed cinematic, with imagery of a country in upheaval, and a very tense moment between Giancarlo Espisito’s President Anton and his son Diego, across a backdrop of increased tension between law enforcement and the people. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect since Far Cry is a series that has to some extent been in a repeating cycle since Far Cry 3. I’m guessing we’re going to be skinning animals and clearing out checkpoints in this game. Or perhaps they’ll be shaking up how things play, they just didn’t get around to showing that yet.
Did any of these big announcements resonate with you? Were you the target audience for the dumb-looking mobile game I deliberately skipped over? Was there anything you were hoping for that didn’t show up? Let us know in the comments what you thought of Ubisoft’s very first Ubisoft Forward.