Ubisoft slowed down the development cycle for the Assassin’s Creed games, reinvigorating the series as a result, but the next title has seemingly sprung a leak. WCCFTech reports that Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok has surfaced and there are screenshots to go along with some of the game mechanics, story, and post-launch details.
If the name didn’t give it way, Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is set in the age of Vikings. Though the name and the newer details weren’t known, our previous report shared that anonymous sources revealed the new Assassin’s Creed game’s setting and watchful players of Ubisoft’s The Division 2 have even noticed Norse images featuring AC’s Apple of Eden scattered around Washington D.C.
Despite the previous reports and because the game is still in development, take these new leaks with a grain of salt. Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok, allegedly code-named Kingdom, is going to be a cross-gen title. Considering it’s supposed to launch sometime in 2020, this would line up with the estimated launch windows for both the PlayStation 5 and next Xbox (code-named Scarlett). The original code name for the game actually plays into the game being split into various kingdoms. The leak suggests the game’s map will encompass Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norward, and Finland. Further, all of the spaces include settlements that have customization and in-game economy mechanics. There are large-scale conquest battles that players engage in to weaken enemy control in the various regions as well.
There are some classic Assassin’s Creed elements that will be returning, like becoming an assassin and using a hidden blade. Modern Assassin’s Creed features like RPG skill building, co-op, and ship combat also make a return, but there is one significant change to the formula if this leak is to be believed. Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok will reportedly remove question marks on the map and retool the ship combat to focus more on exploration. The breakdown specifically suggests the exploration will be similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which could be a refreshing shift away from the icon-overload in Ubisoft’s open world games.
As far as the story goes, players will team up with legendary viking Ragnar Lodbrok and help to create the Great Heathen Army with Assassin’s Creed lore weaved into it. We’ll have to wait for an official Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok reveal to see what features from this leak make the cut.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.