E3 2021: all Ubisoft Forward announcements
E3 2021
Ubisoft was ahead of the curve. Knowing that big, bombastic IPs would be announced well before the official launch of E3 2021, he revealed Far Cry 6 gameplay hoping it would stand out despite the arrival of competitors (who today we know are the likes of Elden Ring and Battlefield 2042. ). Rainbow Six Extraction (formerly Quarantine), has lost much of the surprise effect due to a leak that had revealed large portions of its stealth gameplay. Ubisoft Forward therefore had the arduous task of bringing back a bit of curiosity around its stock portfolio.To win over the public in view of the coming year, it has decided to focus on the quantity and concreteness of the proposals. The rumored surprises? They arrived, but they certainly did not overturn the conference. The lack of Rayman, Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil 2 weighed on the final effect. In any case, there is no shortage of news and Ubisoft Milan has once again brought honor to the Italian developers. Here are the juiciest moments and news of this Ubisoft Forward edition.
Rainbow Six Extraction
Extraction will be released on September 16th and will be a cooperative multiplayer focused on PvE. Three operators will have to defeat the mysterious alien species, the Archeans, evolution of the parasites seen in Outbreak. Several specimens were presented, some of which capable of moving close to the ground using a particular slime on the ground. This sticky anomaly called Sprawl will be able to slow down players and signal their presence to enemies.
The gameplay is mostly stealth. By synchronizing the actions, players will have to defeat the Archeans as quickly and silently as possible, using weapons and ultraviolet lights. The maps presented (New York, San Francisco, Alaska) have three main sections, a division that will influence the strategies to be adopted to win. An interesting mechanic connected to the death of the characters: a defeated operator, in fact, will be declared Missing in Action and will have to be recovered in the following game. Find more details in our preview.
Watch on YouTube. Rainbow Six Siege - Thunderbird
Thunderbird is the new operator of Rainbow Six Siege, arriving in the new North Star season. Ubisoft Forward was shown part of her backstory, with a not-so-exciting animated video. On the gameplay side, fortunately, there are no more secrets. Thunderbird, in fact, is fast and as a gadget it uses the Kona Station, an area healing mechanism that will give priority to the most injured operator. This special equipment will also heal beyond the maximum energy limit, although the excess will gradually wear out.
Watch on YouTube. Rocksmith +
Rocksmith + is the new version of a music app to connect to two particular peripherals: your guitar or your bass. Forget the five colored frets of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The purpose of this unique patent is to combine business with pleasure: you can play a real instrument in a playful and dynamic context, learn and improve with the aid of any type of screen, as long as it is in a system capable of making the Rocksmith Workstation.
In a similar way to the well-known rhythm games, the app will create key sequences to be pressed rhythmically and will detect the success of the performance thanks to the microphone. It will be possible to adjust the rhythm and speed of the pieces of music to be performed, changing the difficulty of each composition. Rosksmith will be joined by an ever-expanding library of pieces. Requires a Ubisoft account to be used.
Watch on YouTube. Riders Republic
Riders Republic is a multi-faceted sports game that offers stunt challenges of all kinds to be tackled in teams of up to six players. The playful offer is varied and the trailer has already shown different game modes: snowboard stunts, downhill bike rides, wingsuit flights between canyons, jet pack air races and so on and so forth. The impression is that of a container of minigames that with the right post-launch support could aspire to become a meeting place for extreme sports enthusiasts.
The exploration component at Forza Horizon is interesting: it will be possible to glide over the digitized versions of the towering American national parks, enjoy those views and whiz through the rocky gorges on the back of a BMX. Riders Republic will be released on September 2nd with cross play (even on Amazon Luna) and cross progression. To find out more, please read our preview.
Watch on YouTube. Just Dance 2022
A Ubisoft conference cannot miss the musical component. The announcement of Just Dance 2022 was made by Todrick Hall, a hip hop and blues singer-songwriter also known for his extras on the famous RuPaul show. Inside the game there will be the song by him Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels. It will be present in two versions, one of which is exclusive and created specifically for the gameplay of this umpteenth iteration of the well-known music video game. The release date is set for November 4, 2021.
Watch on YouTube. Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Siege of Paris
The second DLC of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Siege of Paris, will make you relive one of the greatest battles in Viking history. The trailer showed wide natural expanses, ruined castles and lush fields reminiscent of Provence. The Black Box infiltration missions will return, with objectives achievable through different methods and almost complete freedom of approach. There will, of course, be new skills, armor, weapons and opponents.
The DLC will be released this summer, a date yet to be confirmed. Ubisoft has also announced a new Discovery Tour Viking Age, to visit the game's environments outside the dynamics of the assassins: it will be free for those who already own Valhalla. Finally, a lava scenario suggests the theme of the future DLC. It will probably not be the last: post launch support has also been confirmed for the second year of the game.
Watch on YouTube. Watch Dogs Legion: Bloodline
Bloodline, expansion of Watch Dogs: Legion, is coming. We already knew that Aiden Peirce, star of the first Watch Dogs, would be back. The plot will in fact focus on the relationship between him and his nephew Jackson. The goal will be to infiltrate Broca Tech and steal a device capable of controlling an army of armed robots with a menacing design. The video, in CGI, shows chases on flying drones, holograms, optical camouflage and a masked anarchist villain.
Watch on YouTube. Far Cry 6
A new video adds to what was shown recently and we finally have a more precise picture of the dynamics between the characters of Far Cry 6. Dani Rojas, the new rebel protagonist, will find face with Antón Castillo, cold and unscrupulous villain played by Giancarlo Esposito. Unlike this cruel dictator, his son Diego seems much more compassionate, yet unable to stop the massacre that will involve Rojas and his loved ones.
The thematic direction of the game is curious: it is not clear whether it wants to focus on the tragic or the caciarone. Plot and gameplay seem to follow, in fact, two approaches that seem almost irreconcilable. Dark dramas on the one hand, and bizarre paraphernalia at Saints Row on the other. We will know more on 7 October. Side note: the first expansion, already announced due to the presence of the Season Pass, seems to have a supernatural component. It seems, in fact, that some well-known opponents of the series will return in the form of spirits.
Watch on YouTube. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Ubisoft Milan is finally ready to present the sequel to Kingdom Battle. In this new Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Nintendo and Ubisoft meet once again and move the adventures of their iconic characters from one kingdom to an entire galaxy. In a long, high-quality CGI trailer, we even saw luminous beings surrounded by a decidedly Lovecraftian aura. The plot will focus on the origin of some stellar entities (called Sparks), which will help our bizarre heroes in their fight against the evil Cursa.
The gameplay is an evolution of what we saw in the first chapter of that which is now officially a series. The system, always tactical, appeared in a more streamlined, dynamic, fluid context. The exploration itself takes place in a graphically more ambitious environment. We have no doubt that even in terms of strategic depth and variety it will be possible to reach, if not surpass, the heights of its predecessor.
Watch on YouTube. Ubisoft Film & Television
Ubisoft Film & Television's announcements. Part of the conference was in fact dedicated to the new season of Mythic Quest (on Apple TV +) and to a film based on Werewolves Within (the videogame version of Lupus in Tabula), in cinemas from June 25 and on demand from July 2. Ubisoft, at Netflix Geeked, had also announced an animated series on Splinter Cell and one on Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Sign of a precise strategy to reach the general public.
Watch on YouTube. For Honor: Mirage
The second season of the fifth year of For Honor is coming, accompanied by a trailer that is nothing short of spectacular, including oriental suggestions and hand-to-hand combat. Possessed entities representing Mother Nature's fury will appear in the Mirage maps. By defeating them, you will get power-ups capable of turning the tide of a battle. A new hero will arrive on July 22, but many of the new features are available today, including new variants of armor, terrain and items in the Battle Pass. An excellent opportunity to re-grip your blades.
Watch on YouTube. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
The final announcement of the conference was presented by Guillemot. This is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, developed by Ubisoft Massive in collaboration with Disney and Lightstorm Entertainment. It is the second game based on James Cameron's famous colossal, the highest grossing film in the history of cinema and only briefly surpassed by Avengers: Endgame. The graphics engine will be Snowdrop (The Division). A long CGI trailer took us into the atmosphere of Pandora, between mammoth creatures and endless jungles. Scenarios seen in the now distant 2010 and which will return in 2022, coinciding with the launch of Avatar 2.
As for the gameplay, at the moment we know that it will be a first-person action-adventure. We will control flying creatures in aerial battles against the mecha of human invaders; it is not clear whether the reverse will also be possible. Are we facing an open world or something structurally very different? We will find out in due course. The game will arrive on PC, next-gen console and will also be available on Stadia and Amazon Luna.
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Maybe Ubisoft has revealed too much too soon. The E3 stage was the right time to give an evolutionary change to their marketing strategies, to promise something to long-time gamers and not to casual targets. Also this year, however, it was played on the safe side. Forward was a good conference: many well-packaged titles, a lot of post-launch support, news capable of reaching a more casual audience.
Maybe it's just nostalgia, but longtime gamers on stage expect at least the shadow of Rayman, the prince, Sam Fisher. A conference shot in a gaming environment made up of gaming pillars and mascots, not in a cold Abstergo building.
