That could change in the future, as @Kurakasis on Twitter recently discovered two new domains for Might and Magic: FATES. There were also two job listings at Ubisoft Shanghai (currently working on Skull and Bones) for a World Director and Senior Brand Manager. Both are for Might and Magic, but the former asks for experience with open-world titles, while the latter is for marketing a “new Might and Magic AAA game.”

It’s highly likely that the Might and Magic: FATES is an open-world game, which isn’t surprising given that it’s Ubisoft. Whether it will play more like Dark Messiah: Might and Magic or something else remains to be seen, but it’s something for fans of the series to look forward to. Stay tuned for more details and potential announcements in the coming months.

New Might and Magic AAA game is probably called Might and Magic: FATES. Last month Ubisoft registered 2 new domains: https://t.co/OVeXZD7Ck5 and https://t.co/yVHWpwFZq5.

Last year, Ubisoft Shanghai was hiring for a new AAA Might and Magic title, so they are most likely a… pic.twitter.com/d9QKj5HCHN

— Kurakasis (@Kurakasis) December 13, 2023

According to the developer, it’s “still working on the feature” and will only announce a release date “when we are absolutely satisfied with the quality.” The good news is that The Division 2 will have a Year 5 thanks to the support of Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Toronto and Ubisoft Shanghai (which also worked on Year 4). No news yet on what can be expected so stay tuned in the coming months.

As for The Division on mobile platforms, announced in May 2021, there will be an update in the “very near future.” The current roadmap indicates an announcement this month so stay tuned. Red Storm Entertainment is working on The Division Heartland with closed testing ongoing. Those who wish to participate can sign up here with more information coming at a “later date.”

This includes Ubisoft Montreal (which is working on Rainbow Six Extraction), Ubisoft Shanghai, and Ubisoft Pune (currently working on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remaster). Such a collaboration isn’t particularly a new thing for the company – several of its studios have worked together on a number of projects over the years. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, for instance, had 14 different studios collaborating with Ubisoft Montreal for development.

Considering how Far Cry 6 is touted as being an enormous open world with the biggest map in the series, it’s understandable. Time will tell if everything fits together neatly though. The title is out on October 7th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia.

https://twitter.com/EdVaisman/status/1407817111213330432

In Lost on Mars, you play as Nick Rye, one of the main secondary characters of the base game. The story starts off with a cartoonish, animated cutscene, and provides the outlandish base that serves as the setup for the DLC- Hurk, a long running fan-favourite series character who’s the secondary protagonist this time around, somehow gets Nick beamed up from Earth and transported to Mars. Here, Nick must work with Hurk, who’s been decapitated and is now little more than a talking head (but soon becomes a flying bot- called Brobot) to restore power to a super-powerful AI named Anne, in order to prevent a forthcoming invasion of Earth by alien arachnids.

"While Lost on Mars isn’t nearly as good as something like, say, Blood Dragon was, all in all it’s a fun, if a little shallow, experience."

It’s a silly setup that never takes itself too seriously, and is all too aware of how bizarre it is. It’s never the focus of the experience though, and rarely does it ever become intrusive to the actual gameplay, so it’s rather easy to not be too miffed by its obvious shortcomings. The point here is to take Far Cry to Mars, somehow, and at least that much it does successfully. The real star of the show here is Hurk, a recurring character in Far Cry. Lost on Mars is brimming, almost saturated with Hurk’s well-established stupid humour, and it works just about as well as you’d expect. Much of the DLC’s inability to take itself seriously comes from Hurk, who is constantly making jokes about everything from Star Wars to Far Cry itself. I can see how his constant commentary and unwillingness to shut up might possibly be off-putting for some people, but for the most part, I was consistently amused by the writing for his character, and his dynamic with Nick.

Even though it’s set millions of miles away, much of Lost on Mars will be rather familiar to Far Cry fans. It puts a shiny new coating on several mechanics you’d be all too familiar with, but ultimately, they’re just the same old mechanics in different clothing. That familiarity doesn’t work against it, though, because Lost on Mars does mix things up a little bit to keep things from becoming too stale or predictable. The mundane, normal weapons of Far Cry 5 are all gone, replaced by new, chrome-coated weapons, and though these are essentially little more than variations of the guns in the base game – you have your shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, sniper rifles, even grenades – they’re novel enough to keep you interested for the DLC’s five hour runtime. The few weapons that are new, such as a beam rifle, are suitably fun and thrilling to use.

Gravity is another major addition here. Mars is, logically, low on gravity, and so jumps are naturally higher and more floaty. Also thrown into the mix, though, is a gravity belt, which essentially serves as a jetpack, but with a low-g twist on it. The gravity belt and floaty jumping make traversal a lot of fun, especially when it is combined with the popular wingsuit (called space wings here, because, you know, space). Lost on Mars  utilizes the gravity belt in other ways too, the most significant being its towers. After taking the day off in Far Cry 5, Lost on Mars brings back the infamous Ubisoft towers (called antennas here). On paper, they serve as the same platforming puzzle boxes as they have done in previous Far Cry games, but Lost on Mars’ low-gravity and jetpack twist on things give them a new flavour and make them significantly more enjoyable than I expected them to be.

"On paper, the towers serve as the same platforming puzzle boxes as they have done in previous Far Cry games, but Lost on Mars’ low-gravity and jetpack twist on things give them a new flavour and make them significantly more enjoyable than I expected them to be."

What’s also interesting is that much of Mars is infested with the arachnid aliens you’re out to destroy, and these are mostly subterranean creatures. So while setting foot on the rockier parts of the terrain is all well and good, doing so on the large stretches of red sand, where these creatures make their home, is inadvisable, because the moment you do so, you’ll attract the attention of a bunch of space-spiders. Simple traversal becomes more of a process thanks to this mechanic, since you’ll be constantly navigating your way around large stretches of red sand. And while many times these parts feel like interesting platforming sections that are organically intertwining with traversal, sometimes it can get a little frustrating to be set upon by dozens of enemies while you’re just trying to move around.

Combining the two elements of a jetpack and low gravity can also make for some fun firefights where you will be airborne and hovering around for long stretches. That said, combat in the game is disappointingly action-oriented, lacking in any and all stealth elements. Far Cry has always been a series that makes stealth a major focus of its combat, and its absence is sourly felt here- without stealth, combat tends to get a little repetitive sooner or later, especially since enemy design itself isn’t varied enough either. But stealth isn’t the only core aspect of a Far Cry experience that is missing in Lost on Mars, either.

This series has made a name for itself over multiple games for having emergent gameplay in an open world setting where multiple systems react with each other. That’s not the case in Lost on Mars at all. There’s a very limited number of things to do, and where Far Cry 5’s Montana felt dynamic and interesting, Mars feels somewhat stale, with most its activities being little more than checklists for you to cross off. The DLC lays down a loop that you must follow for almost the entirety of the experience within its first hour, after which you’re left free to explore the decently sized map at your own leisure, but there’s still only a limited number of things to do- collect Hurk’s body parts and piece him back together, kill queen arachnids, activate towers, and a few other activities.

"This series has made a name for itself over multiple games for having emergent gameplay in an open world setting where multiple systems react with each other. That’s not the case in Lost on Mars at all."

Even the base game’s much lauded Guns for Hire mechanic is gone (with Hurk being your sole companion), and while that makes sense from the perspective that there shouldn’t logically be much help to go around on Mars, given the DLC’s willingness to never take itself seriously and to keep throwing in eccentricities and over-the-top absurdities, it definitely could have found a way to weave in that mechanic. Granted, the it’s shorter runtime of five hours makes sure that that staleness never rears its head in ugly ways, but it leaves enough of an impact to turn this into an experience that lacks much of the depth you’d expect in Far Cry.

What we’re left with, with all of that in consideration, is an expansion that is very different from the game it spawns from. That is, of course, by design, but in its attempts to do so, Lost on Mars loses some of the best aspects of a Far Cry game. Its traversal, fluid platforming, and frequently funny dialogue do enough to keep you interested for the five or so hours it takes to be done with it, but in the end, even though Lost on Mars is a pretty fun piece of DLC, it’s also not a very memorable one.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

The DLC for Far Cry 5 continues the tradition of the downloadable content for the games being set in totally off-beat, unexpected places in time and space. So where Far Cry 3 gave us the awesome standalone expansion Blood Dragon, Far Cry 5‘s Lost on Mars takes us to, you guessed it, Mars.

What does Far Cry on the red planet look like? Well, if you want to see how Ubisoft translate their brand of systemic, emergent, over the top open world sandbox gameplay to a whole different planet, this new gameplay video for the game, which you can see below, might be up your alley- it gives us a full 55 minutes of gameplay footage from the expansion.

It looks interesting, from the comic book aesthetic adopted for storytelling, to the rather absurd and over the top abilities (such as the jetpack) that you have access to in this game. It is very clear that any attempt to be grounded went right out the window with this one.

Far Cry 5 is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with Lost on Mars coming to those platforms tomorrow, on July 17. Get more details on the DLC here.

Slated to be the fourth entry in the Far Cry series of games that reached main stream popularity with the hugely successful Far Cry 3, the game is slated to launch on both last generation and current generation platforms. Arriving on November 18th in Europe and North America, and November 20th in Australia , the game will be available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One at retail and via digital download (most likely with Uplay third party DRM).

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Far Cry 4 was confirmed (though not officially announced) by an Ubisoft fiscal year financial report which made mention of the game. The official confirmation of Far Cry 4’s existence came in the form of an official company report, in which Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, “”The year’s performance will be led by five games,…Assassin’s Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, Just Dance, The Crew and Watch Dogs.”

Despite only being officially announced through the above mentioned report, the gaming media and gamers all knew that this game would be coming. With the runaway success of Far Cry 3 which has sold in excess of six million copies and it’s stand alone spin off dlc Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon which solid over one million copies.

Partnering up with visual computing tech powerhouse Nvidia to help increase the graphical fidelity of Far Cry 4, Ubisoft is aiming to give Far Cry 4 “Hollywood Levels” of animation and a sense of realism. The game will take advantage of Nvidia’s PhysX technology as well as DX11 features and TXAA Anti Aliasing Soft Shadows.

The games narrative Director Mark Thompson has said that he wants to fix the “shortcomings” of the games narrative structure. In Far Cry 3, the player might have been expected to rush off and rescue someone or raid an enemy encampment. But the player could instead turn on their heel and explore for hours on end without any negative consequences or repercussions, despite the supposedly time sensitive situation.

This will apparently be rectified in Far Cry 4 as the game world and the developing story and narrative structure are meant to compliment each other. In keeping with a lot of more open ended games, the writers of the game have opted to give the players character less of a vocal role in the game to better allow for immersion through letting the player imprint on the character through his silence.

The game was met with some considerable controversy when it was first announced as some viewers felt as though the game’s standard box art and promotional art depicted a scene of blatant racism. The box art depicts the games villain and in position of superiority over a “dark skinned man” thus many had the knee jerk reaction of claiming racism.

Speaking about this, the antagonists actor Troy Baker has said “Imperialism and racism and everything has been a big thing in Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3 especially, so it’s not about race. At all,” he explained. “As the story develops and people find out more they’ll see it plays no part in it at all. There’s just the fact that this guy is clearly ruling this country and of course with Far Cry… anyway, there’s a lot to talk about with Far Cry. I think this’ll be the coolest Far Cry game there’s ever been. I loved Vaas, I thought that was a great character, Far Cry 3, but Far Cry 4 is just mind-blowing.”

Story

Far Cry 4 is set in the Himalayas, a mountainous region of Nepal and follows the story of Ajay Ghale, a native of Nepal that returns to his home country of Kyrat, one of the more remote regions of the Himalayan mountain range. When he arrives, he finds that the area is under the tyrannical rule of the self appointed king, Pagan Min. Ajay is only there to scatter his recently deceased mothers ashes but somehow becomes embroiled in the civil war that is raging. Despite not having much information, it would seem Pagan Min recognises Ajay by his eyes, perhaps pointing to a hitherto unknown relation.

Gameplay

Gameplay remains largely unchanged in Far Cry 4 given the successful balance of first person shooter gameplay mixed with sandbox world exploration and role playing game influenced levelling mechanics.

The player will progress through the game encountering many weapon types and a vast array of vehicles that can be used to traverse the game world. Seemingly taking inspiration from riding dinosaurs with lasers in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the player can ride Himalayan elephants into the fray with guns blazing.

Like Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 will feature a multiplayer component. Apparently Far Cry 4 will have “a lot more multiplayer…We are working on launching games that will be played for a longer time,” Guillemot said. “This will allow us to do more DLC [and] item-based sales in those games.”

One feature that has gamers excited is that anyone that doesn’t own a copy of the game is able to play the co-op multiplayer. It was revealed that the person who wish to step into the co-op must be playing on a PS3 or a PS4 and have a PlayStation Plus subscription. Meeting these requirements will get the player ten invitations that can be given to their PS+ friends so they can enjoy a free trial of online co-op with you.

While we don’t know how long these trial invitations will last, executive producer Dan Hay has revealed that they are going to be generous.

Characters

Ajay Ghale – Ajay Ghale is a native of Nepal returning to his home with the aim of fulfilling his now deceased mothers wishes. His plans of scattering her ashes are hindered somewhat when he discovers that a self appointed king has started a civil war in Kyrat.

Pagan Min – Pagan Min is the tyrannical self appointed King of Kyrat that has a thick streak of the eccentric running through him.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

The matchmaking system has been significantly overhauled and will now take into account your skill level along with equipment performance. This will apparently help to avoid players being matched against overwhelmingly stronger opponents.

Ubisoft Shanghai lead designer Simon Davis also spoke about the new ModMaster system. “We wanted to find a way for players to differentiate themselves on the battlefield and create weapons that fit their style, so we created ModMaster to put that power in the hands of our players.

“This new system is also more cost savvy for players and creates more than half a million weapon configuration possibilities including fire rate, handling, scope and ready-time decisions.” There will be 10 weapon camouflages available from day one with more incoming after launch.

Finally, to further make the experience easier for new players, the new user playlist will now be extended up to level eight with the first two weapon tiers being removed. All weapon prices have also been reduced so players will be able to access stronger weapons more quickly and get used to them.

RedLynx’s ever popular Trials series is returning with the upcoming Trials Fusion, which is set to release on April 16th through digital distribution and on April 17th via retail. The game will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4 and PC for €19.99.

The retail version will include both the Season Pass and game, though it will only be available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Season Pass can also be picked up separately for €19.99 and grants access for 6 DLC packs for the next year. These packs will include new items, tracks, parts, and much, much more.

Trials Fusion will incorporate the same gameplay that players have come to love about the franchise while also factoring in physics and a new FMX tricks system. You’ll still be able to create your own tracks created using the Editor Mode which will also see its share of changes. Stay tuned for more info on the game in the coming weeks.

If you were one of the few and proud to enjoy Tom Clancy’s EndWar, then you’re in luck since Ubisoft is bringing out a free to play variation called EndWar Online. Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, a new trailer for the same has been released, highlighting the armies from before getting ready to battle again.

The Online Tech Assault trailer is more than for show though – it marks the beginning of the game’s technical test phase during which players will be able to try the game out. The test period will last for three days, after which the closed beta phase will begin.

You’ll be able to choose between the European Federation Enforcer Corps or Russian Spetsnaz Guard during the same. Those interested in either the technical test, which runs from February 27th to March 1st, or the closed beta can head here. Will you be taking part in either? Let us know in the comments below.

Internet sleuth Superannuation has revealed some new information regarding Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4, which the developer was seemingly teasing yesterday.

“Far Cry 4 sounds super boring from the rumors. It’s the third game more or less transposed to the Himalayas or adjacent locale + monsters(?).” The man then added, “Well, I thought I sent that as a DM. Oh well.”

Indeed.

You can take it as a rumour for now, but given Superannuation’s track record aka being right nearly all of the time, it seems like it may turn out true. That would explain why Ubisoft tagged the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on the same tweet. Also, with nearly every other environment having been done, the only one that remains is a winter wonderland. Will Far Cry 4 be the game to take us there?

Stay tuned for more information on the same, though rest assured that Far Cry 4 has already been confirmed to be in development.