FIFA 19 has finished top of the UK physical games chart for the second week in a row, according to sales monitor Chart-Track. EA’s sports title maintains its run at the top despite Red Dead Redemption 2 gaining ground by finishing at No.2 for the week ending December 1.
Below the two huge games lies another behemoth, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which is down one place to No.3, while Battlefield V finishes at No.4 for the second week running. Forza Horizon 4 rounds out the top five.
The only new entry this week was Darksiders 3, which finished at No.32. THQ Nordic’s action title has suffered from poor reviews, including a 4/10 from GameSpot. “Darksiders 3 retrogrades on its predecessors with an unfocused approach that constantly clashes with itself,” wrote critic Richard Wakeling. “There are remnants of a good game here, buried within the vivacious combos of a combat style this game doesn’t want to embrace. Unfortunately, it’s buried far too deep to ever salvage.” For more, read our full Darksiders 3 review.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches for Nintendo Switch this week, so it’ll be interesting to see what effect that has on the UK sales chart. Check back next week for the outcome.
You can read the full top 10 sales chart for this week below, courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
The Nintendo Switch continues to get great games. Developer Campo Santo has announced that its acclaimed 2016 adventure game, Firewatch, is coming to Switch very soon.
You don’t have to wait long at all to pick it up on Nintendo’s hybrid console, as it arrives in the eShop on December 17 in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Japan. It’s being published by the Portland, Oregon-based independent studio Panic. Campo Santo announced Firewatch for Switch earlier this year, at the time pegging it launch in spring 2018, so the wait has been longer than expected.
Firewatch is coming to Nintendo Switch on December 17th! We’ll be in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Japan eShops. pic.twitter.com/BJvPnTd4KU
Set in 1989, Firewatch takes place in the Wyoming wilderness and puts you in the role of Henry (voiced by Mad Men‘s Richard Sommer), a man with a troubled past who seeks a new life as a fire lookout. The other main character is Delilah (Cissy Jones), whom Henry speaks with using a walkie-talkie. The game was originally released in February 2016 for PC and PlayStation 4, before landing on Xbox One in September of that year.
A Firewatch movie is currently in the works at Good Universe, the film company that also produced the well-received horror movie Don’t Breathe and Last Vegas.
Campo Santo’s next game is the intriguing-looking In The Valley Of Gods, which was announced during The Game Awards last year. In other news, Valve acquired Campo Santo earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.
In the first episode of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Legacy of the First Blade DLC, the Eagle Bearer will meet one of the earliest assassins, who reveals a new threat plaguing Ancient Greece.
Ubisoft’s massive Assassin’s Creed Odyssey offers the series’ largest open world to date, greatly dwarfing the scale of its predecessors. With no plans for another AC game in 2019, fans will be firmly set in the realm of Ancient Greece for some time, though the developers at Ubisoft plan to keep things interesting for the foreseeable future. Players have already seen some new events in the form of the free Lost Tales of Greece series, along with tweaks to the core gameplay. Now, the debut installment of the first major DLC releases on December 4 for season pass holders on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. With the first episode, Odyssey shows off a promising start for its post-launch initiative.
In Legacy of the First Blade, the lead character will encounter Darius, son of Xerxes and one of the earliest assassins to wield the original hidden blade. Fans with a sharp eye will recognize the character from one of the hidden tombs visited in Assassin’s Creed II, and you’ll eventually team up with him to take down a new threat in the form of the Order of the Ancients. As something of a mini-series, Legacy of the First Blade will span across three episodes, with the conclusion coming sometime in early 2019. We had the opportunity to play the first episode prior to launch, and we also spoke with game director Scott Phillips about how much has changed since release and where Ubisoft plans to take things from here.
“We’ve been very happy with the feedback from fans so far,” said the director. “It’s been very cool to see the reception from people that like the big things we’ve all worked on, such as the role-playing and progression aspects, the dialog systems, the massive world, the naval [systems], and all that stuff. People have been coming back for the daily and weekly events, and so on. So having players being continually engaged with the events has been super fun to see. We wanted to keep that going for the long-term with this new DLC.”
Legacy of the First Blade feels very much like a continuation of the gameplay loop from Odyssey. Taking around four to five hours to complete, the new questline will unlock after completing the events on Naxos in Chapter 7, with a minimum level cap of 29. In the first episode, Hunted, you’ll travel to the existing island of Makedonia in the northern section of the map and find it in turmoil. Though this location, along with others, felt underutilized in the main game, the region is put to better use in the DLC. Once you learn of the Order of the Ancients–setting the stage for their appearance in Origins–you’ll work with Darius to dismantle their influence. Continuing the Cultist gameplay from the main game, you’ll find a brand-new page in the sub-menu to dive into, with the following episodes adding even more targets to uncover.
Prior to the first story DLC, Odyssey has had many updates since launch, which includes a new level cap, new quests, and mastery levels that allow you to spend ability points on stats boosts. In Legacy of the First Blade, a brand-new skill is also added to the mix. In the Assassin ability tree, you’ll find a new passive skill known as Death Veil. With this ability, any target that’s killed with a stealth takedown, and without any witnesses nearby, will vanish instantly–leaving no traces behind. Though it only has a single rank, as opposed to the typical three levels, the passive skill is a great fit and should make stealth-focused players feel more at ease during some of the more challenging encounters in the episode.
Over the course of the first episode, we took on missions that covered the gamut of what you’ll find in Odyssey: investigations, stealth gameplay, naval travel and battles, and plenty of on-foot combat. Though the missions themselves consist of the sort of events you’d find in the main game–save for a few standout encounters–the narrative in the DLC offers many surprising and heartfelt moments with the lead character as they realize the growing impact their choices have throughout the world. Moreover, seeing the earliest traces of the Assassin order in Odyssey’s world–which is largely devoid of their influence–is interesting. Though it all manages to tie back into the larger story, especially if you’ve played the game to completion, the developers wanted to keep it as a side story for the sake of those who haven’t seen the game’s main arc to completion.
“We knew that there were certain systems that were sort of infinite and would continue to expand–such as the mercenaries and conquests–but it was important for us to gradually expand and pace things out for players to keep them coming back to the game with interesting events,” says Phillips. “We’re aware that more people will be coming into the game later on as the months go by, so we wanted to make sure that new content we are adding wouldn’t negatively impact the core game itself. This DLC is a great way for newcomers especially to level up and take part in an interesting quest while stepping away for a bit from the longer term odyssey.”
The most apparent thing playing through Odyssey to completion is the massive scale of the game. However, the first episode of The First Blade sticks with the island of Makedonia, making it feel like an interlude during many of the core chapters throughout the game. That’s not a bad thing. Given the scale of Odyssey, easing into a new quest that slowly builds up to what’s to come is a nice change of pace–especially for those that have already completed all the main stories.
It is a bit of an adjustment seeing Assassin’s Creed take a different approach to launching new content. The series has seen all sorts of standalone DLC over the years, so having a continuing story unravel over several weeks could make for a more engaging story. Along with the free updates adding new quests and enemies to fight, there always seems to be something new happening in the world. The events in the first episode of Legacy of the First Blade does keep things a bit subdued compared to some of the larger events in the main game. However, the teases for what’s to come during the brisk first episode hints at a much larger battle with greater stakes, and it’ll be intriguing–especially for longtime fans–to see how it all manages to play out within the broader setting of the world.
For the first time in E3’s history, Sony is skipping the annual big-time gaming show next year. Microsoft, meanwhile, will attend the event. Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has shared some insight into why Microsoft remains committed to E3 after its biggest competitor dropped out.
According to Twinfinite, during Microsoft’s Extra Life livestream event, Spencer acknowledged how E3 has changed over the years. E3 began as a very business-focused event that retailers would attend to determine how many games to order for the holidays. That still happens, and E3 remains important for business reasons, but show is now open to the public and overall it’s taken more of a consumer and press focus in recent years. Spencer said Microsoft continues to enjoy and support E3 is because it’s a “celebration” of gaming that helps bring people today.
He admitted that Microsoft could host its own gaming event outside of E3 or a “direct” in the fashion of Nintendo. But Microsoft won’t do that because “it’s an awesome and frankly convenient way for the fans to experience video games. I think we do it because it’s a U.S. celebration in L.A. It’s easy for people in the U.S. to come to one place and just share their love of video games.”
Spencer went on to say that he hopes E3 grows bigger still in the future, while at the same time acknowledging that he also expects the show to change “in some ways” in the future.
In addition to E3, Microsoft recently resurrected its X018 event, holding the show in Mexico City last month where it announced the acquisitions of Obsidian and inXile, among other things. Spencer said in the new livestream that Microsoft is “really happy” with how X018 went, and while he stopped short of confirming a 2019 show, he said, “We want to do it again.”
Explaining its decision to not attend E3 next year, a Sony representative said, “We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”
The company added: “As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community. PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019.”
The major gaming companies–Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo–have all adjusted their E3 plans in recent years. In 2018, Microsoft notably moved nearly its entire presence offsite to the Microsoft Theater, with only Mixer present on the showfloor, while Nintendo has forgone live press conferences in favor of pre-recorded video presentations for the past several years. Sony, too, tried something different with its E3 2018 showing by focusing primarily on four of its upcoming games and presenting them through a “guided experience,” which garnered a mixed reaction from viewers.
While Sony is skipping E3 2019, Microsoft and Nintendo, as well as Ubisoft, Activision, Take-Two, and other notable gaming companies are confirmed to attend the event.
E3 2019 takes place June 11-13. It is notably the final show confirmed for the Los Angeles Convention Center–the venue it has traditionally been held in for much of its history. Former ESA CEO Michael Gallagher had previously said the organization may pursue other options if the LACC does not modernize and upgrade the facility.
