The sources go on to reveal that Immortals 2 was going to be a big game, and would have been set across a fictional version of Polynesian islands. The game would have been developed with the help of Polynesian consultants to help preserve the rich history of the region. This tracks with rumours from back in 2022, which indicated that the game, codenamed Oxygen, would have left behind its predecessor’s Greek mythology-based setting for a setting based on Hawaiian Polynesian.

The Axios report goes on to reveal that, back in Spring, there was an internal demo with quite a few hours of playable content, though revisions to the Assassin’s Creed engine that the project was being built on meant development was taking longer, while Ubisoft also wanted to keep its team size small. Members of the development team were allegedly “surprised” when the game got cancelled.

The report further claims that players would have been able to customize the playable character’s appearance, body-type, and gender, while earning the favour and new powers of Polynesian gods would also have added new tattoos to your look. As for the setting itself, players would be moving from island to island, each being a fictional version of real-world places like New Zealand, Hawaii, and Tahiti. Players’ actions in gameplay would also have affected the landscape.

Exploration would also allegedly have taken a different approach than what Ubisoft’s games have become known for. Rather than an abundance of in-game map markers, quest markers, compass points, and the like, exploration would have instead relied on diegetic elements, like following the wind, using the positions of stars to navigate the world, and tracking animals.

Narratively, the report claims Immortals 2 would have dropped the first game’s sequel, and would instead have put a greater emphasis on player choice and more malleable storytelling. A much more realistic visual style (as compared to the original’s more stylized look) was also on the table, and at one point, Ubisoft was considering whether to release the game as a new, standalone release instead of a sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising.

Rumours of Immortals 2/Oxygen being cancelled first came up last month, with Ubisoft later confirming that it was reallocating development teams on to other projects. Rumours have also indicated that the game was cancelled due to development priority going to Assassin’s Creed Codename RED.

In the aftermath of the news, Axios’ Stephen Totilo has suggested that the sequel was cancelled so Ubisoft could focus more on the development of Assassin’s Creed Codename RED. Taking to Twitter, Totilo said that though the Immortals sequel’s focus on Polynesian mythology was “promising and being handled well”, Ubisoft instead decided to have its Quebec studio focus on the development of the next flagship Assassin’s Creed title.

According to Totilo, with Ubisoft expanding its focus on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it was decided that Assassin’s Creed Codename RED needed more people working on it (as, interestingly enough, did Codename HEXE, which is being made by Ubisoft Montreal). VGC’s Andy Robinson, who originally broke the story on the cancellation of Immortals’ sequels, also chimed in, saying that the leads on the cancelled title’s development team are “pushing back on being moved” to Assassin’s Creed.

Assassin’s Creed Codename RED will an open world RPG, and will be set in Feudal Japan, though not much else is officially known about the game. Leaks have claimed that it will feature two protagonists – a samurai and a shinobi – and is targeting a 2024 launch.

Notable that Ubisoft's statement says staff is being moved to unannounced projects, which I'm sure is the case for many. But the expectation from people I spoke to close to Ubisoft was that Red could use more people (as does Hexe) as Ubisoft bets on AC for its future

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) July 28, 2023

I’m told that many Immortals leads are pushing back on being moved to AC. Will be interesting to see how that pans out

— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) July 28, 2023

The company says that as part of its “global strategy”, it has decided to “reallocate” several of its development teams at Ubisoft Quebec to “other projects”, and is now instead choosing to focus on further developing its “biggest brands”.

“As part of our global strategy, we are redirecting and reallocating some creative teams and resources within the Quebec studio to other unannounced projects,” the company says. “The expertise and technologies these teams developed will serve as an accelerator for the development of these key projects focused on our biggest brands. We have nothing further to share at this time.”

Ubisoft’s biggest property of all is, of course, Assassin’s Creed, and it’s no secret that the company is looking to invest even more heavily in the franchise. Across all of Ubisoft, over 2,000 people are already working on Assassin’s Creed, but earlier this year, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the company will increase the number of people working on the franchise by 40% in the coming years. Recent leaks have also claimed that currently, there are as many as 11 Assassin’s Creed games in some stage of production at Ubisoft.

The sequel was allegedly based on Hawaiian Polynesian culture with a god-like narrator. It reportedly aimed for a 2025 release, but plans for the series are sidelined, as Ubisoft focuses on more “prominent” brands. VGC also understood that most sales for the first game were from discounts and that they came to be 70 percent less in Europe than Assassin’s Creed Valhalla achieved in a similar period.

As disappointing as it sounds for fans, this makes sense from a business perspective. Ubisoft has cancelled several projects over the past few years, including a Splinter Cell battle royale title, competitive shooter Project Q, Ghost Recon Frontline and more.

With Assassin’s Creed being its most successful property, it’s putting all its eggs in one basket with titles like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Assassin’s Creed Codename RED and Assassin’s Creed Codename HEXE. There are even more in the works yet to be announced, and that doesn’t include spin-offs like the mobile-only Codename JADE or VR-focused Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR. Time will tell if the Immortals series gets another shot.

Other titles include Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Haven, Life is Strange: True Colors, Rainbow Six Extraction and Tchia on PS4 and PS5. PS4 players also get Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Life is Strange 2, NEO: The World Ends with You, RAGE 2, Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition, and Untitled Goose Game. Of course, these are all playable on PS5, thanks to backward compatibility.

For Premium subscribers, Ape Escape 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 for PlayStation One are coming along with Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror from the PlayStation Portable era. The latter benefits from up-rendering, quick saving, video filters and a rewind function. Stay tuned for more details when the above titles go live next week.

Immortals Fenyx Rising launched in December 2020 for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia. It stars Fenyx, who arrives on a mysterious island and encounters the Greek gods embroiled in a curse. She must free them from their bonds and use their gifts, battling against mythical creatures like the Cyclops, Medusa, and Minotaur.

Along with the Standard Edition, the Gold Edition will also be available on Steam. It includes the base game and Season Pass with three expansions – A New God, Myths of the Easter Realm, and The Lost Gods. A bonus quest, “When the Road Gets Rocky,” is also included along with extra content like wings, weapon skins, and a character skin.

For more details on the base game, check out our review here.

Leading the pack and grabbing the headlines, as was leaked recently, is Ubisoft’s Immortals Fenyx Rising, which will be added to Game Pass for cloud, console, and PC on August 30. Ubisoft’s open world action-adventure title is among the company’s better games in recent years, so Game Pass subscribers who haven’t already check out the game will want to do so.

On the same day, the service will also add a number of other games, including Commandos 3 – HD Remaster (for cloud, console, and PC), Immortality (for cloud, Xbox Series X/S, and PC), and Tinykin (for console and PC).

Before that, on August 23, Humble Games’ brawler Midnight Fight Express will become available via Game Pass on day one, while on August 25, the service will add Exapunks (for PC only) and Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition (for console and PC). Finally, there’s also Coffee Talk, which is available starting today (for cloud, console, and PC).

Ubisoft’s 2020 open world action-adventure title Immortals Fenyx Rising could be headed to Xbox Game Pass. A listing for the same was spotted recently on the service, with an August 30 release date mentioned, as spotted by @XBOriginals on Twitter.

Of course, Ubisoft is yet to make an official announcement, and if this turns out to be an error, it wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened related to Game Pass- but it would be a solid addition if it does happen.

Recent leaks have claimed that Ubisoft is also working on a sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising that will allegedly have a different visual style and be based on Hawaiian Polynesian culture. Read more on that through here.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Stadia.

https://twitter.com/XBOriginals/status/1559242970850803713

Instead of Greek mythology, the spin-off is based on Hawaiian Polynesian culture. There’s still a God narrator but though it’s visually stylized, the team is aiming to make it appear less like a Breath of the Wild clone. Despite this, it seems a visual reboot has been discussed. Grubb’s source has seen concept art for the same and noted the project to be in early pre-production with a possible 2025 release.

If Oxygen is indeed in such early development, then it may be a while before an official announcement (especially not at the upcoming Ubisoft Forward in September). As for everything else, we’ll have to stay tuned for more details but it should be interesting to see how Ubisoft handles the concept.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Google Stadia. Check out our review for it here.

The Last of Us Remake Gameplay

The Last of Us is one of the greatest games ever made – even if a remake doesn’t make sense, one can’t deny the appeal of vastly improved visuals, gameplay improvements and even more content. There have been rumblings for some time about the remake but more recently, insider Tom Henderson stated it would release in the latter half of 2022. VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb corroborated the same with sources claiming it would launch in Holiday 2022. Sony hasn’t announced a showcase for June, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a bombshell announcement and gameplay at the Summer Game Fest.