Throughout the video, we get a look at the original combat system, which revolved around counter-attacks, and how it evolved and got refined with 2009’s Assassin’s Creed 2, 2010’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and 2011’s Assassin’s Creed Revelations. 2012 would bring a major change in the system with the release of Assassin’s Creed 3, which gave protagonist Connor more weapon variety to fight with, as well as a bow. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag would bring in another shift in 2013 with the inclusion of guns as part of Edward’s arsenal.

While much of the same combat system would be seen in 2014’s Assassin’s Creed Rogue, the year also saw another shake-up with Assassin’s Creed Unity, which made combat slower-paced and raised the difficulty. In 2015, the same system would be further refined in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which placed quite a bit of emphasis on brawling with its two protagonists—Jacob and Evie Frye.

While the series would see a bit of a break after Syndicate, just a couple of years later, it would see its biggest shift in combat mechanics with the release of Assassin’s Creed Origins. The 2017 title introduced deeper RPG-styled mechanics, with weapons and armors having their own distinct stats and special effects, which could be used by Bayek in his quest to hunt down the Order of the Ancients. The same system would get expanded with the release of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in 2018, which brought in even more weapon types as well as deeper RPG mechanics. The last game where we would see this system, at least for now, would be 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which introduced a posture system for its enemies.

In 2023, the series would go back to some of its older styles of combat with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, with players taking on the role of Basim and fighting foes in the streets of Baghdad. Most recently, the franchise introduced further refinements to its combat systems with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which provided two distinct styles of play thanks to its deuteragonists—the action-oriented Yasuke and the stealth-focused Naoe.

While Ubisoft hasn’t recently made any major new announcements for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, rumors have been flying around of a remake for Black Flag, which is believed to be titled Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. The overall themes of synchronization in the video would indicate that there might be a deeper connection between it and the much-awaited announcement. The company had confirmed that such a remake was in the works last month.

In the meantime, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has continued to get updates a year after its release, with the most recent one bringing in support for PSSR 2 on PS5 Pro, and mouse and keyboard controls on Nintendo Switch 2. Check out our review of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and its Claws of Awaji expansion for more details.

As per the studio’s Q3 FY2025 financial report, which you can peruse here, Shadows’ Switch 2 debut has been a boost to its active player counts, as has the release of an insightful look into Basim’s past in Valley of Memories. With Shadows taking the franchise back to feudal Japan for some good, old-fashioned parkour and stealth, and with Naoe and Yasuke blending their distinct playstyles into the gameplay loop, it’s safe to say that the long wait for the Assassin’s Japanese story was well worth it.

CEO Yves Guillemot expressed satisfaction with the company’s performance last quarter, doubling down on the restructuring plans that have been at the center of a lot of discussion recently. “We delivered a solid third-quarter performance, with net bookings growing at a double-digit rate year-on-year, exceeding our expectations. This performance reflects the strength of our portfolio and the breadth of player engagement across our core franchises, supported by recent releases and live content updates that continue to resonate with players.”

Although Assassin’s Creed was named explicitly, the Switch 2 version of Shadows has been mentioned as a factor in the last quarter’s success. With the title being rather make-or-break for the studio after a string of mediocre releases, it’s indeed heartening to know that The Brotherhood has been able to bring it some much-needed good news.

“Game producer with 13+ years of experience across AAAA development, strategic partnerships, and media management,” read the LinkedIn profile of Yakovlieva before it was changed. The producer went on to mention Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Assassin’s Creed Shadows as being the AAAA games in question.

“At Ubisoft Sofia, I have contributed to several flagship titles in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, including Origins, Valhalla, Mirage, and Shadows,” the profile continued. “I have successfully led cross-functional teams through large-scale productions and milestone delivery, with direct collaboration with Apple on industry-first initiatives.”

It is worth noting that, for its part, Ubisoft hasn’t really brought up the concept of a quadruple-A release since Skull and Bones, likely in no small part thanks to the title failing to make much of a dent in the ever-crowded live-service multiplayer market. Whether Yakovlieva earnestly meant to describe both Mirage and Shadows as quadruple-A games through excitement for the releases, or whether it was simply a typo remains unknown.

Ubisoft had referred to Skull and Bones as being a quadruple-A release to justify the pirate game’s $70 price tag leading up to its February 2024 release. Responding to a question about limiting the potential player base for the multiplayer game thanks to its high price tag during an earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot said: “You will see that Skull and Bones is a fully-fledged game. It’s a very big game, and we feel that people will really see how vast and complete that game is. It’s a really full, triple… quadruple-A game, that will deliver in the long run.”

Whether Skull and Bones managed to live up to these lofty ambitions depends on who you ask. In our review of its release version, we called Skull and Bones an average game that, while featuring an appealing aesthetic and fun combat, was plagued with repetitive objectives and mission structure, questionable design choices, and a forgettable story with bland characters. Since then, however, Skull and Bones has seen quite a few substantial updates. Read more details here.

Interestingly, Ubisoft isn’t the only company to have claimed that a game would be of quadruple-A quality. Back in 2022, leading up to the release of Striking Distance Studios’ The Callisto Protocol, Krafton had referred to the survival horror title as a AAAA game that would have the “highest level of quality” and would offer the “maximum horror experience” with “distinguished action mechanics”. For details on how it would actually turn out, check out our review.

Critically acclaimed Skate Story by Sam Eng is also available on the service, and from December 16th, you can also access Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Released after years of delays, the action RPG follows Gran/Djeeta as they venture to the Zegagrande Skydom and deal with a dangerous cult.

Other notable additions include Planet Coaster 2 and LEGO Horizon Adventures on PS5, the latter also recently added to PlayStation Plus Essential. Cat Quest 3 is playable on PS5 and PS4 alongside not one but two Paw Patrol titles – Grand Prix and World.

As for Premium subscribers, they receive exclusive access to Soulcalibur 3 on both platforms. Based on the PS2 version, it includes quick save, custom video filters, rewind, and more.

Along with this, Ubisoft has also noted that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to reach an even wider audience thanks to the upcoming December 2 launch of the title on the Nintendo Switch 2. Aside from Shadows, the older games in the franchise have also seemingly performed quite well.

Sales and player numbers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows were helped by the fact that Ubisoft has continued to release free updates for the title, complete with new additions like the New Game+ mode. Along with this, Ubisoft has also credited the release of Claws of Awaji back in September as contributing to continued player interest in the game.

“[Assassin’s Creed] Shadows benefitted from the launch of the New Game+ mode, which was widely anticipated by the community and introduced greater difficulty and new challenges for players,” said the company in its earnings report. “The Claws of Awaji expansion released on September 16 and contributed to re-engaging players. It was praised as a solid addition to the base game, offering new unique boss fights in a beautiful and dark atmosphere. Looking ahead, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will reach a broader audience with its launch on the Nintendo Switch 2 on December 2.”

When it comes to the future, Ubisoft has great expectations from Assassin’s Creed Mirage picking up steam again thanks to its recently-released Valley of Memory update. The company noted that initial feedback has been quite positive, and has confirmed that the title managed to grow its “player activity” by double, and hitting the 10 million players mark.

The company has spoken quite positively about the performance of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as The Division 2 and the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Star Wars Outlaws. However, it also noted that Rainbow Six Siege has seen a dip in player activity and spending. The company has attributed this to “a temporary surge in cheating”, and has confirmed that it has established a plan to tackle the issues that have been discovered.

In the same earnings report, Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot also spoke about the deal that the company had made with Tencent, which is valued at €1.16 billion. As part of this deal, Tencent will become a minority stakeholder in the recently-established subsidiary Vantage Studios, and the deal is set to close “in the coming days”.

“The transaction with Tencent is on track to close in the coming days,” wrote Ubisoft in its earnings report. “All conditions precedent have been satisfied. At closing, the €1.16bn investment will deleverage the Group. It will also enable the acceleration of Vantage Studios’ IP growth, support selected investment opportunities across the rest of the Group, and facilitate ongoing reorganization efforts.”

For more details about Assassin’s Creed Shadows – available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S – check out our review. Also check out details about Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s Valley of Memory update while you’re at it.

While you can check out the full list of changes in the patch notes below, some of the highlights include the addition of the Engineer 2 skill tree, the ability to dodge a Shakiriyya attack after being parried, increased window of opportunity to perform kicks, improved trigger condition of ejects, and a variety of UI enhancements.

Along with this, the update is also bringing in two new difficulty options – Hardened Assassin and Ultimate Assassin. As you might expect, the new difficulty options will offer more challenging gameplay. Completing a permadeath run on these difficulty options will also earn players a new reward.

Ubisoft has described the Hardened Assassin difficulty as sitting between Assassin (Normal) and Master Assassin (Hard) in terms the challenge offered. While general gameplay difficulty will be around the same as Assassin, enemies will have higher defense. Ultimate Assassin, on the other hand, will be the new hardest difficulty option. Along with these, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is also getting a new Custom Difficulty preset that gives players more ways to fine tune their experience.

However, the star of the update is the story content being added as part of the Valley of Memory update. The new narrative is set before the events of the Assassin’s Creed Mirage finale, and takes protagonist Basin to the new region of AlUla. The story revolves around Basim learning that his long-lost father might be alive somewhere in the new region, with him setting off to find out more. The region features a host of new points of interest, from the old town of AlUla and the Musa Ibn Msayr fortress to the Valley of Stones and necropolis of Hegra.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and iOS. For more details, check out our review of the base game.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage title update 1.1.0 patch notes:

New Content:

• New Story Content: Valley of Memory
• New Region: AlUla
• New World Activities

Full Game Improvements:

• Animus Sequences (Replayable Missions Feature)
• New Difficulty Settings: Hardened Assassin and Ultimate Assassin
• Tier 3 Tool Upgrades

Parkour and Controls Improvements:

• Free Jump
• Back and Side Ejects
• “Modern” Control Preset

Additional Improvements & Additions

Gameplay

• Added a new skill to the skill tree: Engineer 2 which allows players to equip all tool lvl1 upgrades.
• Added an option to cancel the chain kill once started.
• Added new objects that can only be looted by pickpocketing in AlUla.
• Rebalanced the notoriety system to coincide with new difficulty settings.
• Tool aim assist will now correctly snap to the target’s weak points while behind an enemy. Now you have no excuses…

Combat

• Added an opportunity to dodge a Shakiriyya attack after being parried.
• Modified the Light Attack slash VFX to make the attacks feel more impactful.
• Improved the flinch animation on the NPCs during light attacks.
• Increased the window of opportunity to perform a kick.
• Disabled blend on parry success animation so it feels more responsive.
• Increased the size of the parry VFX.

Parkour

• Improved the trigger condition of the ejects.
• Modified the camera and added a VFX to improve the feeling of speed while sprinting.

UI

• Added a button on the world map to fast travel between Baghdad and AlUla once the AlUla questline starts.
• Updated the objective icons design and descriptions within the quest log to reinforce the differences between the types of objectives.
• Removed the skill point notification remaining on screen when there are available skill points to rely on the “new” notification from skill tab.
• Added an “upgradable tool” icon when a tool can be upgraded. Displayed next to the Bureau icons, on the map & compass for Banu Musa and the Workbench.
• Reduced the size of the Ubisoft Connect notifications.
• Added a new tutorial panel and Codex entry explaining Defense tactics in combat.
• Made various adjustments to improve the Horse mount camera.

List of Bug Fixes

Gameplay

• All claimed rewards are now linked to the player account save. For instance: any reward claimed in Permadeath will now be accessible to all the saves on the player’s account.
• Modified how to access permadeath: it can now only be initiated when starting a New Game+, rather than at any time.
• Prevented players from falling on a specific ledge in Baghdad.

UI

• Resolved an issue where the Options menu would be offset after talking with a merchant with text size set to Large.
• Fixed an issue where the “Assassin’s Creed Franchise” button would lead to a page stating that there is no content available.
• Numbers in some item descriptions are no longer split when the text is displayed as Large in Japanese language.
• Fixed the localization of “Basim Valhalla Costume” in Traditional Chinese.

Visuals & Graphics

• Addressed an issue where the world would look dimmer with almost no highlights after turning on HDR.
• Fixed an issue where the Desync screen on PS5 Pro would display broken visuals.
• The draped golden fabric of the Dhahabi Master Assassin Costume now moves freely like other costumes.

Stability

• Fixed rare issues that could create crashes.

According to Ubisoft, the Valley of Memory update will add up to six hours of additional gameplay and story content to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, with its main narrative set before the events of the base game’s finale. The story for the update starts with Basim learning about his long-last father potentially still being alive in AlUla, and setting off on a journey to see if this is really true. Along the way, Basim will also learn about the dangers faced by the valley of AlUla, as well as the fact that his father, while alive, happens to be missing.

As you might have guessed, the entire region of AlUla is among the new content added to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, featuring its own points of interest, ranging from the old town of AlUla and the Musa Ibn Msayr fortress to the Valley of the Stones and the necropolis of Hegra.

The black box missions and contracts added to Assassin’s Creed Mirage through Valley of Memory will be replayable after having completed them once. These can be accessed through the “Animus Sequences” part of the objective board, as well as from directly in the game world. Replaying the missions will offer new challenges, encouraging creativity in how the player tackles them. These will come with their own in-game rewards.

Along with this, the parkour gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Mirage is also getting an upgrade, allowing players to manually jump to then seamlessly weave together parkour sequences that previously used to be impossible. There will also be a brand new control scheme that makes the parkour smoother, as well as the option to customise back and side ejects, which could previously only be done if Basim had access to a clear landing spot or handhold.

Basim’s skill tree is also getting expanded through a new skill dubbed Engineer 2. This skill allows Basim to equip all level 1 modifications to his tools, along with a new level 3 modification being available for each tool as well. Players looking for a higher degree of challenge can also check out the additional difficulty levels that can be used to further customise the gameplay experience.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage was originally released all the way back in October, 2023 on PC (via Epic Games Store and Ubisoft+), PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The title would eventually make its way on to Steam for PC players on its first anniversary last October, before also eventually making its way on to iOS devices powered by Apple’s more recent chips.

For more details about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, check out our review.

However, the biggest headlining release is Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Available for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers on August 7th, the prequel to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla follows Basim in ninth-century Baghdad as he joins the Assassins. Co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam Elite returns to the service on August 12th, while rogue-lite city-builder 9 Kings will be available on August 14th via Game Preview.

Game Pass Standard subscribers also have plenty to look forward to, including Citizen Sleeper: Starward Vectory, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, MechWarrior 5: Clans, and Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap on August 6th. Three titles will leave Game Pass on August 15th, so play them now or purchase them at 20 percent off:

• Anthem (Console and PC via EA Play)
• Farming Simulator 22 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Persona 3 Reload (Cloud, Console, and PC)

With Xbox attending Gamescom in a big way, expect even more Game Pass titles to be announced on August 20th and 21st. Stay tuned for updates until then.

Spotted by @Stealth40k on Twitter, Ubisoft Brazil seems to be teasing Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Rainbow Six Siege for the Nintendo Switch 2. The company’s Brazilian page recently published a tweet asking players which Ubisoft titles they’d like to see for the Nintendo Switch, along with the tweet, using an image showcasing Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Rainbow Six Siege, none of which have been officially announced for the console yet. Also featured in the image is Star Wars Outlaws, which has been confirmed for the Switch 2.

This isn’t the first time Ubisoft’s major recent releases have been rumoured to be headed for Nintendo’s upcoming console. Earlier this year, a leak claimed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Rainbow Six Siege were among several Ubisoft titles bound for the console. Recently, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was also rated for the Switch 2 by PEGI.

Ubisoft Brazil basically confirmed Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin’s Creed Mirage are also coming to Switch 2.

They asked what games people would like to see on Switch 2 and this is the image they used.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was rated by PEGI for Switch 2 already. pic.twitter.com/PsiDd7DabQ

— Stealth (@Stealth40k) May 2, 2025

Speaking during a recent podcast episode, the leaker claimed that Ubisoft has “more than half a dozen” games in development for the Switch 2. These include ports of upcoming games, recent releases, and older titles. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will allegedly be available for the console within its launch window, while a version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is also in development. However, the latter allegedly won’t be ready for release until later. 

The insider also claims Switch 2 versions of Rainbow Six Siege and The Division franchise are in development. The idea of a combined Mario + Rabbids pack containing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has also been internally considered. 

Past leaks have also claimed that Ubisoft also intends to release the next Far Cry for the Switch 2. 

Given the publisher’s support for the Switch, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an increase in efforts for its successor. The Switch 2 itself is allegedly going to be revealed later this week, so we might have more official details sooner rather than later. 

Meanwhile, as per NateTheHate, other major third-party titles like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are also headed for Nintendo’s next console.