Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is going to be one of the few games – if not the game – launched this year that could send older PCs on a boat ride across the Styx. The game is graphically demanding to the point where Ubisoft has decided to implement a frame rate cap on the shipping PC version that you can optionally disable. Odyssey is launching for PC on 5 October 2018, which means you have just about three weeks to upgrade your rigs if you’re below the recommended requirements. And they are insane.
In a move that was completely unexpected, Shenmue III was backed and fully funded on Kickstarter in less than a day, breaking all previous records on the platform. Shenmue III is set to continue the story told in the original that was left with several loose ends and cliffhangers, but it’s not due to launch until the end of this year. Thanks to the renewed interest, however, fans of the series started petitioning Sega to release the originals, as Sega maintained the legal right to sell and distribute Shenmue I and II. And now, surprise surprise, Sega has come through with an announcement of a re-release of the originals for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC!
I’m still finding it somewhat surreal that I now live in a world where I have played and completed The Last Guardian. During the seven or so years it took this game to see the light of day, the title had almost taken on a mythical quality; what we saw during those development years felt like trailers for a game that had become lost in time and the perpetual generational shifts of console hardware. In a lot of ways, The Last Guardian had become lost in time: development started in 2007; it was unveiled in 2009; it then disappeared for so long people thought it’d been quietly canned; and then finally it was re-announced for the PlayStation 4. Development was so slow and difficult that The Last Guardian literally missed an entire console generation.
Team ICO created two masterpieces for the PlayStation 2: the almost self-titled ICO and the cult hit Shadow of the Colossus. During the arduous development of The Last Guardian, Team ICO suffered internal problems. Creative director Fumito Ueda ended up leaving, but later returned on a consultative basis to assist Japan Studio in finishing up the game. He resumed under a new studio label, genDESIGN. Much of Team ICO made the move with him, so despite the tumultuous development and lack of Team ICO on the box of The Last Guardian, it’s essentially the same team, just bolstered by SIE Japan Studio. That means the DNA of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus is still everywhere to be seen in The Last Guardian, and that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing to be able to write.
I’ve never played the original Watch Dogs. In truth, I barely know anything about the game, aside from the fact that it’s set in a futuristic version of Chicago where people are governed and monitored by an intrusive, all-encompassing piece of software called ctOS, and that its core mechanics centre on using various hacking techniques to manipulate the world around you, with the end goal being to convince an army of stubborn, Internet-savvy sea otters that you’re their Supreme Intergalactic Leader. Somebody may have lied to me about that last part, but I’m okay with it.
Most importantly, I know that Watch Dogs was almost universally disappointing. Matthew Vice liked it well enough in his review, but popular opinion is that the game simply isn’t anything to write home about, and no amount of adorably goofy sea otters could ever change that. To be fair, Watch Dogs stood no chance of living up to the deafening crescendo of hype generated by its exciting reveal at E3 2012.
Next month, Watch Dogs 2 launches, hoping to right the wrongs of its predecessor. I was recently given the opportunity to get my hands on the first few hours of an unfinished build of the game. My thoughts on it are below.
Okay so maybe Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations aren’t the best Assassin’s Creed games ever. I mean, Black Flag and Rogue were absolutely phenomenal. But out of all the assassins in the series, Ezio Auditore da Firenze is arguably the most interesting, and definitely the most charismatic.
Which is great, because all three games that star him will soon be headed to PS4 and Xbox One in the form of a bundle officially titled Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection. The games will roll out with “enhanced graphics,” and launching this November. Full details and announcement trailer below.