The season of June gaming showcases continues with Ubisoft the next cab off the rank with a stacked line-up of announcements, updates and of course plenty of new trailers.
Ubi had a strong showing this year with a heap of new looks at some of its exciting future line-up, including the just-announced Star Wars Outlaws as well as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and, of course, plenty of Assassin’s Creed.
Read on for a breakdown of everything we saw at the event, and be sure to follow along with all of the links for our direct impressions right out of the event in LA, including hands-on with some of the titles shown.
Ubisoft Forward Showcase 2023
Star Wars Outlaws
Yves Guillemot turned up to close out the huge Ubisoft Forward showcase and introduce creative director, Julian Gerighty, with the first-ever look at gameplay from Star Wars Outlaws. The game will star thief, Kay Vess, and her adorable animal partner Nix, as they seek their freedom and inadvertently find themselves some of the galaxy’s most wanted outlaws with bounty hunters and criminals at their backs.
It’s a fully open-world adventure set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and it looks positively gorgeous in action. We see Kay and Nix work together to make their way through a restricted area with stealth, before being spotted and engaging in some good, old-fashioned blaster combat (with some melee thrown in for good measure), escape on a speeder bike, navigate tense dialogue sequences and then flee the planet out to space for some dogfighting action.
Star Wars Outlaws launches for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2024.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
We finally got our first major look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, including a look at the game’s story, protagonist and proper gameplay footage. It looks visually stunning, and almost like an Avatar-themed take on the modern Far Cry formula – just with more flying around on freaky creatures and touching glowing plants.
We also got a release date of December 7th this year, for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC. Also, James Cameron was there.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Ubisoft introduced a new story trailer for this new Assassin’s Creed title, which takes the series’ gameplay back to its roots and follows Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Basim on as-yet-untold adventures. Sarah Beaulieu, narrative director, describes Basim’s journey in Baghdad and his path to becoming a Hidden One.
This was followed by a nearly-eight-minute gameplay showcase for the title, which goes into detail on Mirage’s back-to-basics approach to gameplay complete with free-flowing parkour and detailed stealth mechanics plus some of the more modern concessions that fans will know from recent games.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage releases on October 12th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Another look at the exciting new direction for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, this time by way of an impressive, stylised cinematic trailer, followed by a deeper introduction to gameplay with game director, Mounir Radi. Radi explains the game’s blend of classic Prince of Persia gameplay and concepts championed by the “metroidvania” genre.
We get a good look at Sargon’s platforming and combat prowess and the game’s incredibly stylish 2.5 visuals. Time powers have returned as well, making for some incredibly cool-looking action and puzzle solving with a focus on creativity in-the-moment.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown releases on January 18 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix
Far Cry 3’s Blood Dragon expansion is being turned into an animated series from Adi Shankar. Pegged as a violent, satirical dystopian fiction with animation from Bobbypill studios and it’s coming to Netflix later this year. This was announced back in 2021, but now we have a new teaser:
The Crew Motorfest
Ubisoft dropped a saucy new sizzle trailer for The Crew Motorfest, before inviting creative director, Stephane Beley, on stage to introduce the game the future of The Crew in depth. It’s all about car culture, and finding fun on the dazzling island of O’ahu in Hawaii. The game will feature a number of Playlists, each with its own atmosphere and unique gameplay feel based on different categories and cultures of racing.
The Crew Motorfest is launching on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC on September 14th. The Crew 2 players will also be able to import their car collection to the new game for free.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
A new trailer was shown for Ubisoft’s VR take on Assassin’s Creed, which we very recently learned has been given the title Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR. It’s coming to Meta Quest at an unannounced date. The game will put players in the virtual bodies of Ezio, Kassandra and Connor.
Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade
In the same breath, Ubisoft re-introduced Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, the new free-to-play mobile RPG. A beta is incoming, and players can register here for a chance to participate.
Skull & Bones
Ubisoft brought a band on stage to perform a shanty-inspired acoustic number, complete with beatboxer. A closed beta for the game is happening from August 25th to August 28th, and keen players can register for a chance to participate here.
The Division Resurgence
A new promo trailer premiered for Ubisoft’s mobile take on The Division, which promises a full-on series experience on-the-go. It does look mighty impressive for something running on mobile hardware, and it’s slated to launch in Spring this year. Pre-registrations are open now with rewards for those that do.
XDefiant
Ubisoft announced it’s holding another beta test for its upcoming online shooter, this time completely open to the public, from June 21st to 23rd in order to get a feel for the improvements made since the closed beta.
The game’s launch season and year 1 roadmap was also revealed, which will roll in new factions, weapons and maps over the course of the game’s first 12 months.
