An obvious title, I know! But I just couldn’t help myself given what they have shown on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

Now that the Sword of Damoclés is gone (Hi Bolloré/Vivendi!), I believe that Ubisoft is a bit more relaxed and will continue to deliver awesome experiences either through existing IPs or new ones.  While nothing was earth-shattering; the show was pretty damn solid. I like the fact that they meme’d real hard around the keychain leak and just embraced it. Oh, and they had that whack dance/opening that defines their conferences… I’m just sad that Yves Guillemot didn’t pop out of the dancing panda.

 

Favourite moments:

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Origins was among my favourite games of last year (although I found the end a bit… lackluster?), meaning that when I heard about the 2nd game of the trilogy was taking place in Ancient Greece, I was ecstatic! And oh boy, I was in for a ride… What they have shown have instantly launched this game in my most awaited games of the year. The fact that they have taken what worked with Origins, added to it some more RPG-y features (craft, choices etc) and a fully fledged adventure with a woman (Note: Evie Frye is my favourite character of the series) makes me super excited for this. Can we be 5th of October already, please?

Oh and… this:

https://twitter.com/beIrhiti/status/1007184173092823040

 

Beyond Good & Evil 2: Before it’s full reveal last year, BG2E was sliding slowly, but surely, in a very elitist and mythical group: The Last Guardian, FFXV, KH3… However, Michel Ancel and the different studios from Ubisoft have been hard at work and are delivering a 2nd hefty update.

The presentation on stage was interesting and have shown how large the game will be: not only from a world size standpoint but on every single aspect: lore, game design, art etc.  To help them in this endeavour, they are going to work with HITRECORD, a company created by the famous Hollywood actor: Joseph Gordon-Lewitt. This partnership will allow artists from all around the world to work on the game and be rewarded for it.  Last but not least, Ubisoft has announced the BGE Fest, where fans will be able to meet and discuss with developers.

 

Regarding the partnership with HITRECORD, some industry members were not happy with it, and gave their point of view about it. On my side, I am not educated enough on this topic to give a final opinion; I think the idea is cool but we need to see the numbers.

 

Starlink: Battle for Atlas: while the game genre itself isn’t necessarily my cup of tea. I like how they have presented it, and what they are trying to do with it: a new IP? Check. A new business opportunity? check. Working with Nintendo and using their IP? Check. Oh, and Shigeru Miyamoto was there – can’t top that, sorry.

 

 

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle DLC: while I still have to play the original game, I can’t help but be impressed with this DLC. The main reason is the quality of the art they have put together. Donkey Kong looks so good in their engine. This sequence had nothing special, aside from a lady going H.A.M on that guitar.

 

Rainbow 6 Siege: this was notable for a simple reason; when you see where the game was in 2015 during its release and the juggernaut it became, I can’t help but be impressed. Ubisoft avoided a disaster and kept working hard on the game for years; with multiple updates, patches, free content, esports tournaments etc. They have announced that the community was now 35m players and that a documentary was currently in production.

 

The rest of the conference has featured content from:

• The Division 2

 

• Trials Rising (On Switch too!)

 

• Skull & Bones

 

• Transference

 

• For Honor

 

• The Crew 2

 

• Space Junkies

 

• Just Dance 2019 (On Wii too!)

 

Far Cry 5:

 

All in all, a very solid conference, with a good pace and setup. Even if some games aren’t what I’m looking for, I didn’t stop watching or got bored. I am happy to see that Ubi is still doing what they do best: being creative and taking smart risks.

 

To summarize: 8/10