Ashraf Ismail, creative director of several Assassin's Creed games, has been formally fired by Ubisoft following an investigation into allegations of misconduct.

Ubisoft Montreal colleagues were told the news yesterday via an internal email obtained by Kotaku.

"Following an investigation by an external firm, it was determined that Ashraf's employment with Ubisoft had to be terminated," the message read. "We cannot provide any details about this confidential investigation."

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Not content with just giving away Grand Theft Auto 5 for free, the Epic Games Store has launched a month-long Mega Sale featuring loads of games at up to 75 per cent off.

To really sweeten the deal, though, you can also claim a free 10 off coupon to put towards anything in the store that costs 13.99 or more. Using that can score you some seriously good bargains on the likes of Borderlands 3, Control and the latest Assassin's Creed games.

Do browse the Mega Sale page to see what else grabs you, but you'll find a few of the highlights below too.These are prices with the coupon applied - where possible - so do remember to claim it before buying.

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The whole going outside and doing stuff thing might be a bit restricted at the moment, but Ubisoft has just the tonic in the form of its latest freebies. For one week, it's giving away Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Origins' marvellous Discovery Tours, so you can get a bit of roaming done, and put some learning in you too.

Ubisoft's first Discovery Tour attempt arrived as part of Assassin's Creed Origins, giving players the opportunity to explore the entirety of the game's sprawling recreation of Ancient Egypt, albeit without the questing and constant peril.

It's designed to be an educational tool, offering informative, entertaining museum-style tours of virtual history, as curated and assembled by actual historians. And so successful was that first attempt, Ubisoft did all again for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, opening the doors of virtual Ancient Greece for similarly engrossing, but considerably enhanced meandering.

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Undoubtedly capitalising on the hype surrounding the newly-announced Assasin's Creed Valhalla, a number of past entries in the Assassin's Creed series are now on sale across PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Let's start off with Green Man Gaming, where you can currently get the last two entries in the series for great prices. You can also pay a little bit more to get the Gold Editions, which come with each game's respective season pass and a few cosmetic extras.

I think Chris would definitely encourage you to pick up Assassin's Creed Odyssey at that price after all the time he's put into it lately. The magic of the game, he found, is in its pure sense of fun.

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Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rainbox Six Siege, Watch Dogs and a handful of other big Ubisoft series on PC are on sale for up to 75 per cent at Amazon.

In most cases, it's the bulkier editions of the individual games that are reduced, so you'll often find they come with extra DLC and season passes already included. Not a bad way to catch up on some of these, then, if you've been waiting for a sale!

Of the lot, the best deal is probably the Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Ultimate Edition for 24. This version of the Grecian stab-em-up includes the Deluxe Pack and season pass as standard to add to the already mountains of content the base game offers. You'll find a whole cache of extra gear, story content and boosts.

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The devil, they say, is in the details. This makes grim sense to me, as I'm being tortured by what seems to be my own personal demon, a foul creature which stabs at me from depths of minutiae that I can never seem to delve into to any satisfying extent. Percentages roar angrily around my head, and numbers course relentlessly through my veins. I wasn't always like this.

I only wanted to play Shadow Of The Tomb Raider.

I hadn't played a Tomb Raider game for about two decades, but I thought I'd give this one a go for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was curious to see how far the series had come over that time. Secondly, it was free with Xbox Games With Gold.

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UPDATE 1.00AM: Ubisoft has confirmed Assassin's Creed Odyssey via a brief teaser clip posted on Twitter, and said it will show more of the game at E3.

The confirmation comes just hours after the Assassin's Creed Odyssey keyring image below leaked online.

The video tease appears to confirm its Ancient Greece setting, and the game's logo also includes the Spartan helmet from the keyring on it.

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The Assassin's Creed comic series has just reached a moment in the franchise's overall story which fans have long awaited - a point the series' plot arc has been building to for nearly a decade.

(If you're not up to date on the Assassin's Creed games up to Syndicate, beware spoilers below.)

Back in 2016, Ubisoft and Titan Comics revealed that the First Civilisation plotline which featured in multiple Assassin's Creed games would instead "culminate" in a new series of graphic novels.

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Ubisoft will hold its annual E3 briefing around the usual time - on Monday 11th June at 9pm UK time, or 1pm Pacific.

It will, again, be at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown LA - a swanky venue with, if memory serves, a lovely chandelier. Or you can watch online.

So, what do we expect? Well, Ubisoft has already said we will see The Division 2 for the first time. Massive's shared world shooter sequel was briefly confirmed earlier this year but as of now remains under wraps.

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Do you want to be like Neo from the Matrix? Maybe you just miss video game cheat codes from olden days? Either way, you'll be able to hack Assassin's Creed Origins on PC later this month via a new customisation interface.

The "Animus Control Panel" will let you fiddle with 75 game options - from changing the game's main character, to finer attributes such as giving you unlimited health, increased speed and improved senses.

Want six tamed animals following you around? No problem. Want to swim like Aquaman underwater? That's fine too.

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