Assassin’s Creed Presents: Ubisoft Forward
Ubisoft aired the latest installment in their Ubisoft Forward announcement stream over the weekend, events they’ve been broadcasting largely independently following E3’s first absence in 2020. It’s called “Ubisoft Forward” for obvious reasons, but the stream made it clear, if it wasn’t already evident, which franchise dominates the company at the moment. Assassin’s Creed has been one of their most popular brands since the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era, but the combination of how intensive and expensive modern game development can be and mismanagement has led to it becoming by far their most reliable brand. Others have withered while this one has remained perched upon a large obstacle.
The most notable title announced was Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a game where all the information around it was such a poorly-kept secret that it’s a surprise Ubisoft had anything new to reveal. The game will star a young Basim from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in a quest that will take place in Baghdad during the ninth century. The overall experience will be closer to the older Assassin’s Creed games released before Origins turned the series into an RPG one inspired by The Witcher games, the first such game since Syndicate released in 2015. Ubisoft saw Unity’s newfound popularity, following several patches after its embarrassing launch and its largely-accurate depiction of Notre Dame following its burning, and is capitalizing on it.
This will be the kind of experience certain fans have wanted since the release of Odyssey, and further intensified with Valhalla, as both were criticized for being too long and drawn out despite their qualities. It’s also a game that will star an actual assassin, though Bayek (from Origins) and Eivor (from Valhalla) eventually become them. Mirage was reportedly planned to be a third expansion for Valhalla, but was robust enough to be turned into a solitary experience. It likely won’t be the only one in the near future. Mirage is due for release sometime next year. Rumors claimed it will release in the spring, and there’s no need to doubt them considering their accuracy thus far.
It took several years and a pile of fan demands, but the AC series is finally going to feudal Japan with the clearly temporarily-titled Codename RED. It’s tough for me not to see the name as a “Code Red,” as the Japanese setting was so in demand that this feels like an “in case of danger, break glass” situation. Given the game development issues the company has dealt with over the years, with more delays than many other AAA game companies even considering the COVID-19 pandemic, and the well-deserved reckoning over employing and protecting bullies and abusers, this sure feels like a response to warning signs that were flashing red. Fan demands have dulled since the release of Ghost of Tsushima, which itself plays like an older AC title. But there’s still demand for this considering it will follow in the footsteps of the post-Origins games in being an open world RPG, being developed by the Odyssey team at Ubisoft Quebec.
Codename RED is likely a while off considering all we have is a name, light details, and concept art. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was ready for launch by fall 2024 considering how quickly the company can develop and release these games. Perhaps by that time, they can assign a director who isn’t a bullying shithead who employees reportedly don’t want to work with to helm the project. Or maybe they won’t. Ubisoft learned their lesson well: Gamers won’t care enough about these problems as long as they can still play the precious video games they make.
This, somehow, wasn’t all. The third title announced was Assassin’s Creed Code HEXE. Ubisoft didn’t provide any details about this one, but rumors, which, again, there’s little reason to doubt, say that the game will take place during the witch trials in Europe during the 16th century. It also won’t be an RPG, as the company would like to make classic and RPG-style projects in the near future.
There were other smaller AC announcements too, as if the brand wasn’t already dominant on this stream. The previous Assassin’s Creed Infinity announcement, which drew intense fear about the future of the brand being an entire live service experience (though the RPG titles already qualify), will actually be a hub to connect all the games. Ubisoft is also again not using the China setting to its full potential following 2D experience Assassin’s Creed Chronicles by giving it the mobile treatment with Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, though this one has a bigger budget behind it. There’s also an unspecified mobile game coming to Netflix, perhaps alongside the live-action series they previously announced. Let’s see if that meets the fate of another recent adaptation of a popular franchise on Netflix.
Yes, there were other announcements too. Previews were shown for Mario + Rabbits: Sparks of Hope, which will include Rayman as DLC, the long-in-development Skull & Bones was also showcased, as was Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland. A sequel to the superlative Valiant Hearts was also announced, though only for Netflix’s platform (where it hopefully won’t be exclusive for good). But the breadwinning franchise couldn’t have been clearer. The Splinter Cell remake, the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, and Beyond Good & Evil 2 all didn’t make an appearance.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot claimed that this is “a company that can be proud of itself” following several reports of harassment and bullying that occurred within the company that started in 2020. Yet, Codename RED’s director shows how they weren’t willing to go that far. As I said above, none of this has stopped the audience from buying their games, which is what matters most, even if they’re leaning very heavily on Assassin’s Creed now. They’ll revive those other franchises soon, but for anyone who avoided the company due to poorly addressing internal issues, this made it clear that they’re not going any further.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
