Latest news with #AssassinsCreedShadows
CNET
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Is a Forgettable Chapter in the Series' Legacy
It looks like 2025 is the "Year of the Ninja." Assassin's Creed: Shadows was one of the big hits of the year's first half, a new Shinobi game is on the way, and Ninja Gaiden fans are being treated to a full trilogy: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, released in January, Ninja Gaiden 4, arriving later this year and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, arriving Thursday. However, based on my experience, you might want to skip this installment: It's charming but far from satisfying. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is a 2D side-scrolling action game that pays tribute to the original NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy. While the retro graphics are appealing, the gameplay lacks meaningful depth. It feels like a concept-first project where ninjas were added after the fact, with the Ninja Gaiden name slapped on to sell it. Interestingly, Ragebound acts as a side-story to the original NES title. Ryu Hayabusa learns of his father's death in America and leaves his village, setting up the events of the first game. In his absence, fellow ninja Kenji Muzo stays behind to protect the village. Soon after, a demon army invades. Meanwhile, Kumori, a ninja from the rival Black Spider clan, finds her home base under siege as well. Captured, Kumori tells Kenji to use a mystical dagger to bind her spirit to him. This dual-character mechanic is Ragebound's central hook. Players control Kenji, who uses a sword, while Kumori aids in spirit form by throwing shurikens. Occasionally, she can take physical form to reach areas Kenji can't access. As the duo progresses, they unlock a powerful screen-clearing magic attack. As clever as that sounds, it falls flat in execution. Kenji's sword is his only consistent weapon, and Kumori's shurikens are tied to a meter that only fills when Kenji lands hits. At full charge, you might get a dozen throws before it empties again. There's a jump-based guillotine attack that feels vaguely Sonic the Hedgehog-like, bouncing off enemies, but it's mostly used for platforming rather than combat. The moveset is shallow, as are the level designs. Kenji and Kumori unleash their special attack. Dotemu Stages feel repetitive, filled with endless waves of weak enemies that die in one hit. Occasionally, one drops a power-up that lets you instantly kill a larger foe, but these moments don't change the core loop that repeats again and again until you reach a boss. To the game's credit, boss fights are a highlight. Each has distinct patterns and grows more complex in its second phase. These encounters forced me to be more tactical with dodges and attacks, and a few required multiple attempts due to overcommitting or mistiming. But these fights are the only part of Ragebound that feels like it was designed with care. The regular enemies are mindless and mostly exist to knock you into pits, which cause instant death. Otherwise, they're laughably easy. With healing talismans and generous checkpoint placement, it's difficult to actually die. In fact, with Kenji's dodge ability, you can run past most of the level without engaging. You'll be healed at the next checkpoint anyway. Levels are set in various regions of Japan, and while one stage on a building under construction offers a bit of variety, most environments lack creativity or challenge. The difficulty is also a huge departure from Ninja Gaiden's legacy. The original NES games were notoriously punishing, and the Xbox reboots were even harder. Here, the default difficulty feels like "baby mode." You can tweak settings to remove healing items or increase enemy damage, but that's about it. The action gets frantic in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Dotemu The 2D pixel art is from developer The Game Kitchen, known for the Blasphemous series. The style echoes the NES and SNES era nicely, but the charm fades fast. Unlike Blasphemous, which featured unique enemy designs and animations that oozed personality, Ragebound's enemies feel lazy. They just run toward you, then pop like water balloons when defeated. With only six to eight hours of gameplay at a price tag of $25, I cannot recommend Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. It lacks anything of interest other than this side story to the original Ninja Gaiden game, and even then, it's just introducing different ninjas that are fighting monsters. This game was supposed to be a love letter to the original trilogy, but instead, it's more like a bad photocopy of a love letter made by someone who didn't seem to care that much. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is available for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles.
France 24
22-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
Games giant Ubisoft bets on reorganisation to dispel blues
The internal rejig into a slew of autonomous units aims for "a more agile and focused organisation while ensuring necessary long-term stability and creative vision", chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement. Ubisoft reported 311 million euros ($364 million) of sales in the first quarter of its 2025-26 financial year, a fall of 3.9 percent compared with the same period last year, largely driven by technical problems with shooter game "Rainbow Six Siege". Acknowledging "mixed results", Guillemot nevertheless hailed the release of "Assassin's Creed Shadows". The latest instalment in the money-spinning franchise "delivered on its expectations, with now more than five million unique players since launch," he said in a statement. Sales were slightly less impacted, losing 2.9 percent, when measured using Ubisoft's own preferred indicator of "net bookings", which excludes some deferred revenues. The company forecast net bookings of around 450 million euros in its second financial quarter, boosted by new partnerships and revenue from TV series. For the full financial year, it confirmed objectives including stable year-on-year net bookings and "approximately break-even" operating profit. Ubisoft made a net loss of 159 million euros in 2024-25 and is in the midst of a cost-cutting plan that has seen it shut several studios outside France and slash over 2,000 jobs. Its woes reflect broader, global headwinds for the video games industry over the past two years. Chinese tie-up Guillemot -- a member of the founding family that has run Ubisoft for decades -- also said the company had made "meaningful progress" on the plan to split its activities among several "creative houses", each responsible for a different slate of games. Ubisoft has not gone into detail about the functioning of the new units or how its remaining franchises will be divided among them, promising further information about the reorganisation by October. In an email to staff last week seen by AFP, Guillemot had said the units would be "autonomous" and "completely responsible for their business objectives". Pressured to change by a string of disappointing releases and a slumping stock price, Ubisoft created the first such subsidiary earlier this year in a billion-euro deal with heavyweight Chinese investor Tencent. The 3,000-strong unit will control Ubisoft's biggest franchises in "Assassin's Creed", "Rainbow Six" and "Far Cry". Ubisoft said last week that the subsidiary will be run by the CEO's son Charlie Guillemot alongside Christophe Derennes, a veteran chief of the company's major development studio in Montreal. "Christophe, Charlie and their teams will benefit from advice and expertise from Tencent," one of China's largest gaming and internet firms, Yves Guillemot said in his email to staff. Looking ahead, Ubisoft plans to release in March a remake of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", one of its most popular titles from two decades ago. Strategy series "Anno" will get a new episode set in ancient Rome while the company is also cooking up mobile versions of "Rainbow Six" and fellow shooter "The Division". It warned in May however that several unannounced major titles were being delayed. Such news has contributed to a 28-percent slump in Ubisoft's stock price since January. Ubisoft's image has also been harmed by a high-profile case in which three former executives were sentenced this month for enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ubisoft宣布《刺客教條：暗影者》破200萬玩家遊玩！首發表現超越《起源》《奧德賽》
遊戲大廠 Ubisoft 的最新大作《刺客教條：暗影者》（Assassin's Creed Shadows）雖然在正式推出之前就有許多的爭議事件，但在 20 日推出之後仍迅速吸引了玩家的目光，在上市首日就吸引百萬玩家遊玩。而前（22）天 Ubisoft 再度更新了玩家數量，宣布已經有超過 200 萬名玩家踏上《刺客教條：暗影者》的旅程，也代表《刺客教條：暗影者》的首發成績已經順利超越了《刺客教條：起源》與《刺客教條：奧德賽》。 前（22）天 Ubisoft 在 X 上發文感謝，稱已經有超過 200 萬位玩家前往日本戰國時代冒險，加入《刺客教條：暗影者》的旅程。而考慮到這款新作才推出 3 天，因此可說是很不錯的首發成績了。Ubisoft 並分享，這個成績已經讓《刺客教條：暗影者》的首發表現超越廣獲好評的《刺客教條：起源》與《刺客教條：奧德賽》。 🔥 2 MILLION PLAYERS! 🔥We're thrilled to celebrate this incredible milestone! Assassin's Creed Shadows has now surpassed the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey. Thank you for joining the journey in Feudal Japan! #AssassinsCreedShadows — Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 22, 2025 而與此同時，根據 SteamDB 的紀錄，《刺客教條：暗影者》在 Steam 的同上玩家數量也超過 6 萬人，只差 2000 人就能打破《刺客教條：奧德賽》的 6.2 萬人紀錄，成為 Steam 上最受歡迎的《刺客教條》遊戲。《刺客教條：暗影者》目前已在 PC、PS5、XBOX Series X|S 平台上正式推出，在日本戰國時代展開《刺客教條》的冒險故事。 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《刺客教條：暗影者》公開「正史模式」！Ubisoft 帶你照歷史走 主線、支線、戀愛全部自動選擇
Ubisoft 即將在 3 月發售的系列大作《刺客教條：暗影者》（Assassin's Creed Shadows），去年 12 月總監 Jonathan Dumont 就曾透露，會為選擇困難症的玩家準備一個專屬模式，一切內容都幫玩家自動決定。而不久前《刺客教條：暗影者》也正式公開，並介紹了獨特的「正史模式」（Canon Mode），讓 Ubisoft 帶著玩家體驗最經典的故事，對話上沒有任何選擇。 Ubisoft 介紹了《刺客教條：暗影者》的新模式「正史模式」，提到該模式開啟後，將會移除過場動畫中「主線和支線」所有的對話選項，結局都是依照遊戲中團隊設定好的歷史進行推進，只為了讓玩家體驗最經典的《刺客教條：暗影者》故事，不過要注意的是，該選項開啟後就無法關閉，遊戲難度可以另外調整，同樣的玩家依然可以在開放世界中切換角色。 而先前 Jonathan Dumont 就在官方問題活動中提到說，《刺客教條：暗影者》玩家在招募盟友和談戀愛時的選擇非常重要，但開啟「正史模式」後，系統就會依照 Ubisoft 官方的設定自動做出選擇，讓玩家只需要單純享受遊戲的樂趣。但 Dumont 也沒有詳細解釋，這些自動選擇究竟會偏向哪一邊。 #AssassinsCreedShadows introduces CANON MODE.📜 Lore lovers! Feel fully immersed in the canon story with narrative-locked dialogue during cutscenes.⚔️ RPG fans, have no fear! Toggle this mode off to continue enjoying your roleplaying will you be playing? — Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) February 18, 2025 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
