Patrice Désilets, game director of the original Assassin's Creed and, more recently, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, is very sorry for being responsible for all those towers you've had to climb over the last decade. 

During a panel at EGLX, Désilets was asked if he saw himself as stuck with always being known as the "Assassin's Creed guy," even though he left the series before finishing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Prior to Assassin's Creed, he was also the game director for the superb Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

"I dunno man! Honestly, I don't know," he said. "A little bit! If you're going to spend years on something I hope that happens."

But he does feel responsible for starting the trend of making towers a feature of every open world game—everything from Breath of the Wild to The Crew. 

"Breath of the Wild, wow! That was a game where you could do anything, once you finished the first half hour or so. Now, you're going to just climb towers and unfog the rest of the map. Sorry...it's my fault..."

He's still making games about climbing stuff, though. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey predates the existence of any kind of buildings, but what are trees if not nature's towers? And Ancestors is covered in them. They're a lot easier to fall off than climb, however, and despite the legacy of Assassin's Creed, it's a surprisingly awkward game. 

Cheers, Destructoid.

Ubisoft announced at E3 that it's launching a subscription-based program called Uplay Plus that, for $15/€15 per month, will give its users "earliest available access" to new Ubi games and access to more than 100 that are already out. Today it announced the starting lineup, which can be pretty simply summed up as "everything."

More than 40 games available on the service are "premium editions" that come with additional content such as expansions and DLC. Rainbow Six: Siege on Uplay Plus is the Ultimate Year Four Edition, for instance, which includes all 48 operators currently released. There will be some exceptions, however: The fine print notes, without going into detail, that "where premium or special editions of the game are indicated (for example: Ultimate/Gold/Deluxe Editions), editions included in Uplay+ may not include all premium content."

Uplay Plus is set to go live in September 3, and will be available as a free trial for everyone who signs up until September 30. Note that you'll need to provide a valid credit card in order to take advantage of the offer, and you'll be charged the full $15 for the month unless you cancel prior to September 30. Details are up at uplay.ubisoft.com, and the initial lineup of Uplay Plus games—subject to change at launch and variant by territory—is below.

• Anno 1800 - Deluxe Edition
• Anno 2205 - Ultimate Edition
• Assassin's Creed - Director's Cut
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - China
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - India
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - Russia
• Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry - Standalone Edition
• Assassin's Creed II - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed III + Liberation Remastered
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Gold Edition
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Ultimate Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Origins - Gold Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Origins - Discovery Tour
• Assassin's Creed Revelations - Standard Edition
• Assassin's Creed Rogue - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Gold Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Unity - Standard Edition
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Brothers in Arms: Earned In Blood
• Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
• Child of Light
• Cold Fear
• Far Cry 2 - Fortune's Edition
• Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon (Standalone)
• Far Cry 3 - Deluxe Edition
• Far Cry 4 - Gold Edition
• Far Cry 5 - Gold Edition*
• Far Cry New Dawn - Deluxe Edition
• Far Cry Primal - Digital Apex Edition
• Flashback Origin
• For Honor - Marching Fire Edition
• From Dust
• Gods & Monsters (coming soon)
• I Am Alive
• Imperialism
• Imperialism 2
• Might & Magic IX
• Might & Magic VII - For Blood And Honor
• Might & Magic VIII -Day of the Destroyer
• Might & Magic X Legacy - Deluxe Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes II - Gold Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes III - Complete Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes V - Standard Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VI - Gold Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VI - Shades of Darkness
• Might & Magic: Heroes VII - Deluxe Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VII - Trial by Fire
• Monopoly PLUS
• Ode
• Panzer General 2
• Panzer General 3D assault
• POD Gold
• Prince of Persia (2008)
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - Deluxe Edition
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
• Rayman 2
• Rayman 3
• Rayman Forever
• Rayman Legends
• Rayman Origins
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
• Silent Hunter 2
• Silent Hunter 3
• Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific - Gold Edition
• Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic - Gold Edition
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole - Gold Edition
• South Park: The Stick of Truth - Standard Edition
• Speed Buster
• Starlink - Digital Deluxe Starter Kit
• Steep - X Games Gold Edition*
• The Crew - Ultimate Edition*
• The Crew 2 - Gold Edition*
• The Settlers 1 - History Edition
• The Settlers 2 - History Edition
• The Settlers 3 - History Edition
• The Settlers 4 - History Edition
• The Settlers 5: Heritage of the Kings - History Edition
• The Settlers 6: Rise of an Empire - History Edition
• The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom - History Edition
• Tom Clancy's EndWar
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands – Ultimate Edition*
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint - Gold Edition (coming soon)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Standard Edition
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 - Gold Edition
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege – Ultimate Year Four Edition*
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas II
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Quarantine (coming soon)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent
• Tom Clancy's The Division - Gold Edition
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - Ultimate Edition
• Trackmania Turbo
• Transference - Uplay
• Trials Evolution - Gold Edition
• Trials Fusion - Standard Edition
• Trials Rising - Gold Edition
• Uno
• Valiant Hearts
• Warlords Battlecry
• Warlords Battlecry 2
• Watch_Dogs - Complete Edition
• Watch_Dogs 2 - Gold Edition
• Watch_Dogs Legion Ultimate Edition* (coming soon)
• World In Conflict - Complete Edition
• Zombi

A couple of weeks ago, Assassin's Creed Wiki user AlifMorrisonudin noticed something very interesting in The Division 2: A poster in the game that he thought could be an Assassin's Creed Easter egg. This eventually led to excited conversations on Reddit and at least one YouTube video explaining why it might be significant.   

The poster has a Viking-looking fellow, wearing what could be an Assassin's style cloak, holding a spear and gazing stoically out over what I imagine is the sea, or maybe a winter-swept field or something appropriately Nordic. The word "Valhalla" is plastered across the top, in case there's any doubt about where this guy comes from.   

But what really sells it as an Assassin's Creed tease is the orb he holds in his hand, which bears a distinct similarity to the Apples of Eden, technology created by the humanity-preceding race known as the Isu that are basically deus ex machina gizmos that do whatever they need to, whenever it's needed. If you want to get really deep into the lore, a Viking connection to the Apples of Eden was established all the way back in Assassin's Creed 2 through the Nordic goddess Idun.

Taken altogether, it's pretty convincing, especially since Ubisoft has done this sort of thing previously. But what really seals the deal, at least as much as a deal can be sealed when it's still purely rumor, is this Kotaku report saying that its own anonymous sources said a few months ago that the upcoming game will in fact be about Vikings. Kotaku has a pretty good record when it comes to this sort of thing, and the fact that it's willing to go to print with the rumor lends it considerably more credence.

No other details are known (or rumored) at this point, and probably won't be for quite a while. Ubisoft said last year that the next Assassin's Creed game won't be out until 2020. 

This had the makings of a great game. A fascinating period of history, the American Revolution, to tap into. A half-English, half-Mohawk lead character swept up in a bloody war between proud natives and imperial invaders. Exploring Boston, New York City, and the wild frontier. Hanging out with George Washington and riding with Paul Revere. But when the game was released in the winter of 2012, it sadly failed to live up to the promise of the setting.

Despite having an interesting past and a compelling stake in the world, hero Connor is a charisma vacuum. Stoic, sullen, and hard to love, he's the polar opposite of the previous games' beloved Ezio Auditore. He's dry, self-serious, and humourless: all traits that can be applied to the game itself. The only real spark of wit and charisma is his father, Haytham Kenway, who you play as in the game's extended prologue. If only he was the star.

Then there's the heavily scripted mission design. Most AC games are guilty of relying on insta-fails, but they're so rife here that half the time you barely feel like you're playing it at all. If you dare to try and solve a problem creatively, or take a route through the world the developers don't want you to, it's often a game over. This leaves you feeling stifled, like you're jumping through hoops for the level designers rather than really engaging with anything.

The setting, although beautiful at times, is actually a bad fit for an Assassin's Creed game. Boston and New York, being relatively new cities at the time the game is set, don't have many tall buildings to climb and navigate with. It's mostly short wooden houses, with none of the vast, dramatic architecture of other games in the series. Even the historical figures you meet are pretty dull—especially compared to the fun cameos from the Ezio games.

The stealth, even though it's a major part of the game, is terribly clunky and limited. The sidequests are mostly tedious, particularly the ones involving chasing pieces of fluttering paper around. The homestead, a ranch that can be upgraded, is a neat idea, but ultimately undercooked. And the story feels curiously unfinished, with a lot of long-winded narration seemingly making up for narrative elements that were cut or never written. It's not terrible or broken; just deeply underwhelming, and a step back.

Fast forward six years and Ubisoft has just released a remastered version of Assassin's Creed 3, which comes bundled with all the DLC and Liberation, a spin-off set in New Orleans that was originally released for the PlayStation Portable. Yes, really. It's a hefty package, but does it fix any of the problems that blighted the original release? Well, some of them, a little. But for the most part the game's many issues are so deeply ingrained that no amount of remastering, short of a total Resident Evil 2-style remake, could fix them.

The most important change is to the stealth. You can now whistle to lure enemies while hiding in bushes, and take down two at once with a swift double assassination. Small changes, really, but the result is a game that is generally less frustrating. Some mission objectives have been adjusted to be less punishing also: evidence that this is more than just the same game upscaled.

Speaking of shiny things, the remaster looks a little prettier too. Softer shadows, more natural lighting, and warm, gold-tinged colour grading have given the visuals a boost, which is particularly evident in the sun-dappled, snow-covered forests of the frontier. However, some details such as character's faces feel, oddly enough, less detailed. A side effect of the new lighting, perhaps, rather than any kind of texture downgrade. But it's difficult to say for sure. It's no Odyssey, but it's way more handsome than it was six years ago.

Ultimately, AC3 catches the series in a moment of awkward transition. This was the last of the old guard, before Black Flag swept in and changed the way we think about the series: a decision that would eventually lead to the massive Witcher-style RPG that is Odyssey. It's a slow, clumsy game with a lot of creaky set-pieces. The combat feels like you're chaining slick animations together rather than actually fighting. And the story is mostly forgettable, despite having a few standout moments such as the Battle of Bunker Hill.

I was open to giving Assassin's Creed 3 another chance, wondering if time might have been kinder to it than my memories. But all this remaster has done is hammer home the fact that, in the pantheon of the series, this is undoubtedly the weakest link. It's also clear that this remaster was developed primarily for consoles, because honestly, it looked good enough on PC as it was. But hey, if you really feel the need to experience Connor's adventure again, this is a chance to do it with a sprinkling of new features and visual tweaks.

Search for Assassin's Creed 3 on the Uplay store and you'll only see the new remaster. The same is true on Steam but the original version's store page still exists. However, the purchase button has been removed and this text has been added: "Notice: At the request of the publisher, Assassin’s Creed® III is no longer available for sale on Steam." If you already own the game on either service you should still be able to download and play it. (I tested it on Uplay today and it worked fine.)

The same thing has happened with several other remastered games, like Sleeping Dogs for instance. While it's a shame players no longer have the option to save $10 or so by getting the cheaper version, and it's also a shame to lose the historical value of being able to compare both versions, you can see why a publisher wouldn't want players to be confused or accidentally buy the wrong one.

As well as graphical changes, the remastered version features free-aim archery, an improved minimap, more stealth options, double silent assassinations, and apparently the early ship section has been shortened.

"Assassin's Creed 3 system requirements" isn't something I thought I'd ever have to type again, but here we are, six years later, waiting for the imminent launch of Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered. It's due out in a week, so here's what you'll need to run revolutionary America in 4K. 

4K 30 fps

• Operating System: Windows 10 (64bit versions only) 
• Processor: Intel Core i7 4790 @ 3.6 GHz, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X @ 3.5 GHz
• RAM: 8GB
• Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX Vega56 or better
• Video Preset: High

Not too high for 4K, and not surprisingly it's quite a bit lower than Odyssey's 4K requirements, which recommends a GTX 1080. We'll need to wait until launch to see what we need to get a higher frame rate.

Minimum 1080 30 fps

• Operating System: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only) 
• Processor: Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.1 GHz, AMD FX 6350 @ 3.9 GHz
• RAM: 8GB
• Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, AMD Radeon R9 270X (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0)
• Video Preset: Lowest

Recommended 1080 30fps

• Operating System: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2 GHz, AMD FX 8350 @ 4.0 GHz
• RAM: 8GB
• Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 (4GB) or AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB) or better
• Video Preset: High

 Recommended 1080 60fps

• Operating System: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K @ 3.5 GHz, AMD FX 8350 @ 4.0 GHz
• RAM: 8GB
• Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, AMD Radeon R9 290X
• Video Preset: High

As well as a visual upgrade, Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered also changes how you fire arrows, adds more stealth options and throws double assassinations in for fun. There are quite a few changes. 

It's due out on March 29, and you'll receive it automatically if you have the Assassin's Creed Odyssey season pass. 

Assassin's Creed III Remastered is shaping up to be more than just a prettier version of the polarising 2012 instalment: in addition to a range of graphical improvements, tweaks have been made to the way the game plays too, ranging from its approach to stealth through to its UI.

In a new video outlining the remaster, Ubisoft spokespeople confirm that firing arrows is now free-aim, in contrast to the original's finicky lock-on system. Players now have more stealth options too, with the ability to whistle from hidden areas in order to lure enemies. Double silent assassinations have been added, too. The mini-map has been improved too.

That all joins more cosmetic improvements: crowd density has been upped, with better skin shading and more natural, lifelike foliage. It was confirmed last year that the game will support 4K and HDR upscaling, and all original post-launch content will feature in the game, as well as a collection of outfits drawn from later games.

Here's the video outlining the changes, with a comparison trailer below it. Assassin's Creed 3: Remastered releases March 29. 

Ubisoft announced the release date for Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered today. This fancier version of the revolutionary (in setting, at least) third entry and its spin-off, Liberation, will launch on March 29. Check out how much has changed since the original in the comparison trailer above. 

It looks quite a bit nicer, doesn't it? But also, gosh that's a lot of yellow. Someone at Ubisoft is a Deus Ex: Human Revolution fan, clearly. Still, the lighting looks vastly improved, and the higher resolution textures make it easy to forget it's over six years old. There's 4K support and HDR support, too. 

As well as the main game and spin-off, you'll get the DLC, including that one where George Washington tries to become a king. It's good to have ambitions. They've also been updated. 

Season pass owners will get all of this automatically, but it will also be on sale separately. 

If you purchased the Assassin's Creed: Odyssey Gold edition, or purchased the game's season pass, you'll get access to a new remaster of Assassin's Creed 3 this March. First released in 2012, the original game is clearly ageing, so it's nice to see it getting some spit and polish.

According to an FAQ on the Ubisoft website, the remaster will boast higher resolution textures, new character models, a new Physically Based Rendering system for lighting, as well as denser crowds, environments and VFX. On top of all that, you'll be able to upscale the game to 4K and HDR. 

The information sheet also promises improved gameplay mechanics, with "several features being revamped or tweaked". But it doesn't specify what these changes are, as yet.

The remaster will come with all the usual post-launch content, such as Benedict Arnold Missions, the Hidden Secrets Pack, and all three episodes of the Tyranny of King Washington. You'll also get a copy of the Assassin's Creed: Liberation remaster, which was formerly a PS Vita exclusive. For more details on all that content, this has you covered. It's so far unclear when the remaster will be available as a standalone purchase, but I'd assume after the March 2019 initial release for season pass holders.

Chris Thursten reviewed Assassin's Creed 3 back in 2012, writing that its "entertaining storytelling and fantastic naval combat [is] marred by terrible mission design and endemic feature creep."

Ubisoft will not release a new Assassin's Creed game in 2019, chief executive Yves Guillemot has confirmed.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is due out this October, less than a year after the release of 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins. But this quick turnaround was only possible because the two games were being worked on simultaneously, Guillemot said. There will therefore be no new entry to the series next year—instead, Ubisoft will concentrate on updating Odyssey "on a regular basis" with "new possibilities for play".

"When you get [Odyssey] this year, you're going to get in for a couple of years, actually," he said at Gamescom. "On Assassin's, we had a game [in 2018] and we have one this year, but we are not going to have a full-fledged Assassin's next year. It's just because the team were working separately, so we have two games now, one year after the other. But next year you're not going to have a fully fledged one."

It's not entirely surprising: there was no major Assassin's Creed game in both 2016, between Syndicate and Origins, and 2008, between the original and second games. Odyssey is also "much longer" than Origins, and has probably required more resources to make.

Ubisoft released a new Odyssey trailer yesterday, featuring plenty of fighting and an appearance by a snake-haired Gorgon. 

Thanks, Gamespot.