Just Dance 2019 opens Ubisoft
Ubisoft kicked things off with a flashy live show, with multiple performers including a dancing Panda. The number finished with a street date announcement for their new Just Dance 2019: October 23, 2018. The game will include 40 new songs.
Beyond Good and Evil 2
All I can say after the first Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer unveil during Ubisoft’s conference is “wow.” The CG looks fantastic and the story seems to have every resource Ubisoft could have thrown behind it. We finally get to see our main character Jade back in action, but it doesn’t look like she’s on good terms with her old friends. The space opera action adventure RPG is playable in single and co-op. All the traversal and combat run seamless from one to another.
They also announced that Joseph Gordon Levitt and HitRecord are partnering with Ubisoft to help collaborate and make content to be put into Beyond Good and Evil 2. Anyone is welcome to join in on the collaboration and can do so at Hitrecord.org/bgegame. At this time, there is still no release date.
Rainbow Six Siege
Ubisoft announced that Rainbow Six Siege has over 35 million players and will be expanding their efforts with even more LAN tournaments and majors. This is to keep the esports scene stable and give security to the players who dedicate their time to it. To showcase even more how much they love their community, they debuted a trailer for a new documentary.
Another Mindset was unveiled as a documentary following eight community members from around the world. For them, Rainbow Six Siege is more than a game, its a way of life. It will fully release August 19th after this year’s Paris Majors.
Trials Rising
Trials: Rising is full of all the death-defying jumps using in-game physics you could hope for. This one is going to be bigger than ever and features iconic landmarks from around the world, like the pyramids of Egypt and what look like the Himalayan mountains. The new obstacles will test even the best Trials players. And for those who are not experts, they can look forward to dying in the most over the top, and explosive ways, including wrecking balls, tar pits, lava, and much more.
There will be a closed beta you can register for now on trialsgame.com. The game will be available all consoles Feb. 2019.
Division 2
Set seven months after the events of the first game, Washington D.C. is ground zero for civilians trying to survive between warring factions. Division 2 looks to have a whole lot more story, showing a camp where a community has started to grow its food, build families, and protect themselves from all the threats.
After finishing the campaign, players get the choice of three new specializations to take team play further by synergizing with others. They have introduced raids where eight players can join together to take on some extremely difficult challenges. All new episodes added will be completely free and spaced between title updates and world updates. There are new tools and stronger enemies that have armor that must be destroyed before damaging their health.
The new trailer depicts the level of devastation in D.C. and it appears The Division agents are its only hope. Division 2 is scheduled to launch March 15th, 2019.
Mario+Rabbids Donkey Kong Adventure
To celebrate the upcoming Donkey Kong expansion for Mario+Rabbids, Ubisoft had a live musical performance open the showcase. It looks like on top of DK we’re also getting a Rabbids version of Cranky Kong, new shark-type giant Rabbid enemies, and some traditional DK challenges. There are beautiful beach areas, ancient ruins, and temples with a snake motif. DK looks like he’s going to be able to utilize bananas as projectiles for his main weapon, as well as the ability to pick up and spike smaller enemies. Cranky Rabbid can put enemies to sleep, and DK has his trademarked bongos to lure people in before pounding them with this rhythmic ground slams.
Skull and Bones
It’s been a year since our hands-on with the competitive pirate game Skull and Bones. It looks to be a whole lot more than just a multiplayer deathmatch game. Now it seems players will fight in the last war to keep piracy on the seas alive. Pirates will form alliances to take on other ships that are bigger and more dangerous than they could have imagined. Piracy is dead in the Caribbean so we will be taking over the Indian Ocean with the goal to take as much gold as possible. Cataclysms, weather, and conflict are three things that can be predicted by your resident fortune teller. It will be a shared world where every encounter matters.
Players can get close enough to send units to board other ships and loot their treasures. As you do enough deeds, you will acquire a bounty. The higher your bounty, the more likely others will target you. Invite others to your fleet to take down bigger targets is as simple as spotting them with your spyglass and holding a button. After taking down big enemies beware as allies can quickly become foes in the hopes for a more significant share of the rewards.
The sea adventure will set sail in 2019.
Transference
Like Skull and Bones, Transference is a title we played last year. It was full of dark, unsettling locations that made us nervous to turn a corner in VR. It takes place inside the memory of another, and this psychotic thriller is hoping to leave players looking over their shoulders each time.
You will be exploring the mind of another and must solve puzzles within this corrupted location to try and figure out what is going on. The world will alter based on which viewpoint you are following, and you will need to swap between them to advance. To keep things extra tense there will also be the looming threat of a digitized monster that attacks intruders within the corrupted mind.
Transference is scheduled to release in the Fall of 2018, for traditional platforms as well as in VR.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Starlink is a new IP shown off last year at E3 looks to have us soaring through space fighting legions of enemies. It is also Ubisoft’s follow-up to the Skylanders playstyle with customizable models to enhance your ships as you play.
Catching everyone by surprise, Ubisoft announced that Star Fox is a playable character in StarLink: Battle for Atlas on Nintendo Switch. It’s the newest collab between Nintendo and Ubisoft; it looks fantastic, its bright colors, and space combat makes me want to do all the barrel rolls.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is scheduled to release on October 16th, 2018.
For Honor
For Honor is expanding from three factions to four. Joining the ranks of vikings, samurai, and knights will be the Wu-Lin faction. The four characters for the Wu-Lin faction will be the Shaolin, Tiandi, Jiang-Jun, and the Nuxia. Each looks to fit into the current archetypes, and have over the top executions that will be as entertaining as they are devastating.
There will also be a new 4v4 mode castle siege Breach. Breach mode is an asymmetrical mode in For Honor, the attacking team must break down the two barricades with the use of rams, and then reach the Kings quarters and eliminate the A.I.-controlled King. The defending team can win by destroying both rams before the gates are destroyed, or by killing enemy players enough time until they run out of tickets.
These will all be available in the For Honor Marching Fire expansion launching March 2019.
The Crew 2
The Crew 2 doubles up on their open-world racing game by adding in planes, boats, helicopters, and bikes. The U.S. is split into four regions each with their own families of mentors, rivals, and challenges. To complete every challenge players will need to master each vehicle, and piece of the environment. The Crew 2 will also work for those looking for a more casual experience, with the size and scope of the world it will give plenty of opportunities to hang out with some friends and see the sights across the US.
The Crew 2 Launches June 29th, with the open beta starting June 21st, and is available to preloaded now.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
We got all the Spartan kicks and shield-bashing we could ever want out of seeing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It also looks to be the most colorful Assassin’s Creed to date, using a vibrant palette. Exploration will still include land and sea for the ancient Greece setting, taking us to areas like Athens and Mykonos.
The final trailer showed a giant minotaur, so we wouldn’t be surprised to fight some other mythological beasts. You will have a loyal hawk similar to Origins. Free running is still a big part of the formula, and final blows look deadlier than ever. There are three skill trees — Warrior, Assassin, and Hunter — each giving distinct bonuses to various playstyles. It also seems that certain decisions can lead you to full wars. Enemies will also have new special abilities. Only time will tell how this will play into the greater AC storyline, but we’re ready to Spartan kick our way to victory.
Oh, did we mention your character can be male or female?
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey scheduled to launch October 5th, 2019.
