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I had high expectations from this year’s E3. I must admit, Ubisoft is not a company I follow very closely, but wow! Just wow! They managed to nail my expectations and then some. I was genuinely expecting a ten-minute presentation on the next flagship entry of Watch Dogs, Assasins Creed, or more Far Cry details. I mean, of course, all three were present, but we got so much more than I bargained for with E3 2021's Ubisoft Forward.
We were greeted at the door with a few minutes of ‘wow moments’ that gamers have caught on Ubisoft’s games. This included some incredible trick track from Trackmania which left me amazed. There is an official Ubisoft playlist of these here.
But let us hastily move on to the reason why you are here. The games!
Rainbow 6 – Extraction
Let me get one thing straight. Rainbow 6 has never appealed to me. Ever. I am not a fan of generic shooters. Unless it is old school Medal of Honor. But Rainbow 6 Extraction caught my eye straight away. It is a team-based 1-3 player tactical shooter, based in a post-apocalyptic world where a weird alien gloop has taken over. Sign me the heck up, right now!
The alien life form has evolved from a parasite that is ‘always spreading, always evolving’. The missions seem to play out over 3 trials, each of which gives you opportunities to gain research, which in turn opens up upgrades and equipment to use against the enemies. You have the option to exfil or push on between missions. If you push on, and die, however, you not only lose your acquired research and upgrades but your character too!
When you lose your operative, they will be contained in stasis foam and lost to the aliens, until you form a new team and ‘extract’ that character back to safety. I think this is an amazing mechanic! Especially when you factor in that each operative has their own unique abilities and combat specialities.
The enemies all seem to materialise out of this gloop that spreads across the map and uses their own body protrusions as weapons. Some of the aliens you will be going up against are grunts, sprawl, rooters, breachers, spikers, smashers, lurkers, tormentors, and of course, the alphas. Using an array of equipment such as silent grenades that map enemies, decoys, bioluminescent torches and team-based stealth, this game looks very intriguing indeed!
This game is launching on September 16th this year.
Rocksmith +
Ok, so, this one took me completely by surprise. I thought Rocksmith disappeared into the long-forgotten annuls of history. I actually still have my PS3 version of this game from when it first came out 10 years ago.
Rocksmith + aims to make learning guitar even more accessible, and intuitive than its predecessor did. And believe me, from my own experience, the first one did an outstanding job. This passion project looks to bring the accessibility over so that people can use their console, PC, or mobile as a microphone for the app. It enables you to learn to play the guitar at your own speed, whether that is acoustic or electric (there was even a bassist in the video) using your favourite songs.
Rocksmith + not only helps you learn songs, but it also provides you with video lessons, recommendations, an interactive community, tuning and adapts to your progression and taste of music. The most impressive bit of technology however is the technique tracker. This keeps track of your progress using different types of guitar playing, as an ex-guitarist, I can appreciate how outstanding this tool can be for people to utilise. It is an interactive, adaptive music learning surface that boasts the most diverse music collection of any music learning subscription. Turning this from a game on a disc with a bundled Jack lead that needed to plug your guitar into the console, to a subscription-style service to use cross platforms makes absolute sense for this project.
Sign up for a chance to use the BETA here.
Riders Republic
We come straight out of an impressive technical masterpiece, into what seems to be a maddeningly silly game. One that actually looks like it could be a lot of fun!
Riders Republic looks like a love child between the PS1 era Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, the SSX franchise, and Trials Fusions. With a player count that seems to go up to 64, an absolutely bonkers arrangement of things to ‘ride’, challenges, races, exploration etc this looks like it could be a fun party game to compete with the likes of Fall Guys.
Some of the things you can ride in this game consist of bikes, motorbikes, jet skis, snowboards, food trucks, hang gliding suites (including rocket-powered ones), parachutes and skis. And they are just the ones I noticed!
Riders Republic is out on September 2nd.
Rainbow 6 – Siege
Rainbow 6 players were treated today, not only to a new game announcement, but also the promise of continued support for the popular Rainbow 6 Siege. Cross-play has been announced for this game to roll out on June 30th for the Stadia, Lumia, and PC, whereas console players will have to wait until early 2022.
We were also treated to a strange anime introduction to a new operative in the works: Thunderbird. This operative is a pilot and will seemingly use a flare gun. And can manhandle black bears?
Game Updates
Next, we were quickly slammed with a few announcements of updates for existing games.
For Hon0r is getting a new expansion called Mirage. This seems to add neon colours to outfits, weapons, and enemies.
Trackmania got featured here too, it seems to be coming to Ubisoft’s streaming platform.
Brawlhalla will be getting a few new characters, courtesy of TMNT.
The Crew 2 will be getting a live update. Whatever that means, I could not tell you.
And Watch Dogs Legion will also be getting a new expansion!
We were also given a snippet of news from Ghost Recon development, in the form of ‘20th anniversary reveal coming SOON’.
Just Dance 2022
Yes. You heard it here first folks. That game that just will not die, is still not dead.
Just Dance 2022 features an exclusive track and performance by Todrick Hall. First rising to fame on YouTube, Todrick Hall is a singer, dancer, actor, director and choreographer! As a reoccurring guest on RuPaul's Drag Race and icon in the LGBTQ+ community, his single 'Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels' is coming to Just Dance 2022. With exclusive lyrics just for the game, Todrick is sashaying his way onto consoles very soon! Ubisoft has chosen a great fit for promoting the next entry into this franchise as he brought with him exhilarating energy and passion.
The game will feature 40 new songs and is out on November 4th.
If you are interested in participating in a collaboration for Todrick Hall’s new music video, this link is for you.
Assasins Creed Valhalla
We all knew that this was going to make an appearance. And for good reason! Valhalla has been Ubisoft’s strongest ever AC release. They have hinted that the story of Valhalla is ‘far from over’ with Eivor having a ‘long journey ahead’.
Ubisoft are committed to making this the best AC game it seems, with development for both free and paid-for DLC well underway. We can look forward to new one-handed weapons in the near future, along with a new expansion soon. The expansion is ‘The Siege of Paris’, which is self-explanatory but will feature new abilities, weapons, gear and enemies.
We are also being treated to a ‘Discovery Tour’ Which allows us to take control of the humble folk from the Viking era in their day to day lives. I think this will offer an interesting relief from raiding churches and chopping zealot’s heads off.
Ubisoft are already working on expansions that will be released ‘well into the second year’ of the game.
Movies & TV
Oh yes, people, it seems Ubisoft does not want to just have control of our gaming lives.
A second season of Mythic Quest is headed to Apple TV. This is a comedy based on the lives of video game developers.
Werewolves Within is a film that is going to be in cinemas this summer. Self-advertised as a film based on a game nobody has heard of. And, quite appropriately advertised too.
Far Cry 6
We got to feast our eyes on a new trailer for Far Cry 6. Let us be honest, those that are buying this game really did not need another trailer, but I am sure they loved it. This one shows off just how ruthless the new antagonist Anton is, and what sort of iron fist he has over the people and his own son.
We were also shown snippets of what seemed like a possible multiplayer mode? Separate game? Update to an older game? In the form of playing as iconic enemies Vaas, Pagan and Joseph in what seems to be Hell. This reveal was really confusing when it was followed by the fact that the Gold Edition of FC6 will be launching with Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. Which makes little sense to me. Ubisoft really needs to allow some things to be left in the past and move on to some bigger, better things.
Mario & Rabbids – Sparks of Hope
As a surprise to absolutely nobody, this game will of course be a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Merging the worlds of Mario and the Raving Rabbids, we get a unique looking platforming game where we get to take control of a whole host of characters in an explorative game coupled with strategic gameplay in a quest to save the galaxy!
More information is promised to be released soon, and we can expect to play this game sometime in 2022.
Avatar – Frontiers of Pandora
This is it, guys. The big-ticket item everything else was just a steady diversion for. A brand-new game in the works with the Avatar IP attached to it. Thankfully, we are far from the days where IPs could be slapped on games a dozen a month at cheap cost, simply as a cash grab move. This game looks unbelievably amazing! Possibly going as far as to say, it is the best-looking game I have ever seen! I do not even like the Avatar movie, but I was in absolute awe of this reveal. Honestly, I even stopped taking notes for this article, and just stared at the screen, mouth ajar. I may have even dribbled on myself a little, I do not know, I do not care.
We got to see a few things in this trailer. From the lushest forest I have ever set my eyes on, to a beautiful river, fantastical creatures big and small, massive landscapes, mechs, riders of beasts both on land and in the air. AH. This game looks and feels like it is going to be a game-changer! And I really hope it is. The gaming landscape is ripe for a brand-new triple-A masterpiece to take reigning centre stage.
Wrap-Up
And there we have it. Everything you need to know about the Ubisoft Forward from E3 2021. There was so much more than I was expecting! And most of it really did catch my eye. Rainbow 6 Extraction may be the very first Rainbow 6 game I invest in, and I already cannot wait to lose myself in the world of Avatar!
I hope you are enjoying E3 as much as I am, stay tuned here at Zatu for even more E3 coverage!