We’ve already seen a fair share of gameplay from the upcoming latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, but the latest trailer for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate takes a different approach, focusing on the world in which the game takes place.
The trailer allows the occasional brief peek at one of the game’s two main characters, but the real focus is on the world. London in the late 1800s was a grimy place, and that is represented here, but that doesn’t make the game look any less impressive. For every plume of greasy smoke there is a purple and orange sunset, for every look at the dirty Thames, we get a glimpse of a green grassy courtyard dotted with trees. England’s green and pleasant land (to quote William Blake) is well represented.
After the multiple issues surrounding the launch of the last game in the series, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ubisoft has been candid about wanting to make things right with Syndicate. Last month we reported that Ubisoft showed a demo to crowds at San Diego Comic-Con, asking them to be brutally honest when giving feedback.
The dual protagonists in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — a first for the series — offer different styles of gameplay, with Evie playing a bit more like a character in a stealth game than her brother Jacob. A number of new mechanics have been added for this latest entry in the series, and while some have criticized them as being mere gimmicks, they might bring some much-needed variety to the series.
With the release date bearing down, the core gameplay and systems have likely been nailed down and the team will be focusing on ironing out bugs and refining the game mechanics. Hopefully, Ubisoft learned a lesson from the backlash against Assassin’s Creed Unity and will dedicate plenty of time and resources to ensuring the game launches in a polished state.
Barring any unforeseen delays, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 23. The PC version will arrive sometime later, though no concrete release date has been specified so far.
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.