Ubisoft Forward 2023 Wish List –

We’re all hugely excited to see what the big colossal streams of Summer Games Fest and Xbox Games Showcase can bring us, but perhaps what could be a bit of a dark horse in June is the upcoming Ubisoft Forward presentation. It won’t be as gigantic as Xbox or as varied as Keighley’s show, but for the most part we know what we’re getting here, thanks to a new trailer, and it all looks good, unless there are real disasters coming our way.

So without further ado, let’s get into what we’d like to see at Ubisoft Forward on June 12. Given my earlier comments about disasters, I think it would be fair to start with Skull and Bones, the pirate game that Ubisoft hoped would capture that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag magic, but instead just became one of the biggest messes in recent memory. Although it was not shown in the Ubisoft Forward trailer, we can’t imagine it will be completely missing, as it should make some sort of appearance if we don’t fear the worst. We were supposed to play the game years ago, and hopefully we will finally get it later this year, but even if we do, it will be hard for Ubisoft to steer Skull and Bones out of the rocky shallows.

It’s unlikely we’ll be putting GOTY stickers on Skull and Bones, but while it’s not a complete disaster, it would be interesting to see some more gameplay and get an idea of what we’ll actually be doing on the high seas.

Besides Skull and Bones, however, there are a few big titles Ubisoft will present, as confirmed by the trailer. One of these games is Assassin’s Creed Mirage. We could imagine there will be some detailed gameplay during the Ubisoft Forward presentation, going deeper into how this game takes the series back to its roots and seeing that with examples. What could be interesting is whether Ubisoft is willing to make Assassin’s Creed Mirage part of the Summer Games Fest Play Days, meaning there could be some hands-on experience with the game. This is more of a hope than an expectation, but since the game is coming out pretty soon, this could very well be a good time to show it off. If not, there’s always Gamescom, we suppose.

Assassin’s Creed fans will eat well at Ubisoft Forward, as not only will they hear more about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, but Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade has been confirmed to be part of the showcase alongside VR title Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR. Details remain light on both games, and while we can’t imagine much time will be spent on them, we will certainly learn a bit more to keep us hyped for more releases in the historic franchise.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has also been confirmed to get a reveal. The game was supposed to release sometime this year, but now it seems rather uncertain when it will land, with early 2024 as the most likely window. However, this does not mean that the game is years away, and so Ubisoft will definitely take the stage to show a little gameplay of the single-player, open-world title. Right now, we’ve heard bits and pieces about what the gameplay looks like, but it’s time we saw some of it to really get us hooked on this Avatar title. A release date or closer window announcement wouldn’t be out of place either.

One game we know is a first-person shooter is XDefiant, and we know it will be there to show how it has progressed since the beta in April.

For racing fans, The Crew Motorfest also appears. Set on the beautiful island of O’ahu, we’d love to see some more footage of this open-world racer and a look at how Ubisoft has built this franchise from 2018’s The Crew 2.

That pretty much concludes what we will almost certainly see at Ubisoft Forward, so what about the wildcard options? Well, we have a few, with the first being Massive’s Star Wars game. Recent rumors are targeting a release early next year, so it’s not entirely out of the question to believe we could see a reveal trailer or maybe even more in a week’s time.

If you really want to take a dream trip with us, maybe somewhere, out there, there’s a chance we’ll get some kind of update on Beyond Good & Evil 2. Highly unlikely, we know, but as long as the game isn’t cancelled, we’ll hold on to the belief that it could exist. It would also be nice to see what Splinter Cell Remake actually looks like, since the reveal of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (which won’t be there, by the way) showed that Ubisoft’s definition of a remake doesn’t sound or look as good as that of Resident Evil 4 or Final Fantasy VII: Remake …

What are you hoping for at Ubisoft Forward? Let us know!