The Ubisoft Forward digital conference is taking place this weekend. Of course it is an online/virtual event, and it will be live streamed on Sunday 12th July. The show starts at 10:30am PDT (6.30pm, Sunday, UK time) with the main presentation starting at 12 noon PDT. Live streaming will be available via your preferred site; pick from ubisoft.com/Forward, YouTube, Twitch, and Mixer, or various social media portals.
Yesterday Ubisoft published a blog post about what to expect from the digital event. To start with, and probably a clever move to capture lots of eyeballs, Ubisoft says it will be giving viewers a free copy of Watch Dogs 2 for PC. I don't know the exact mechanism of the giveaway but it sounds like you simply have to log onto the official Ubisoft Forward page with your Uplay account and there will be a button/logo to click through and make the claim from there. In addition to this freebie, there will be some trivia questions that, if answered correctly, can win you in-game items and rewards in various Ubisoft titles.
Watching the main event you will learn more about Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Hyper Scape and a few other surprises. Furthermore, Ubisoft promises further intel about the AI teammates coming to Ghost Recon Breakpoint, news about Just Dance 2020, a deep dive into a much-loved Easter egg from The Division 2, and more.
30 mins of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla gameplay leaks
In other Ubisoft Forward news, a 30 minutes long gameplay trailer for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has leaked onto the net. This is expected to be the trailer that will be shared on the coming Sunday event but if you look it up now you can view it, or highlights of it, from various YouTubers.
I decided not to embed any particular clip I found on YouTube, as Ubisoft is playing whack-a-mole with them right now. However, it isn't hard to find a copy of the video. After a quick look around, the ones I saw looked badly compressed and murky, even though they were available and playing back at '1080p/60' in some cases.
In the footage, if you care to find and watch it, you will see Valhalla's protagonist take on various bosses and enemy NPCs in the game. This video specifically features Eivor, the female protagonist, wielding dual-axes. Game character animation, combat, UI, and so on will look familiar to previous AC series players.
