Ubisoft at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017: the 5 most important announcements

Ubisoft put together a nicely varied press conference for this year’s E3, including a partnership with Nintendo, a weird VR game from Elijah Wood’s film studio, and more details about big tentpoles like Far Cry 5. There weren’t massive surprises, especially because Assassin’s Creed Origins, one of its biggest games at the show, was announced during Microsoft’s conference yesterday.

At the same time, we got one very exciting reveal: Beyond Good and Evil 2, a game that’s been teased for years. You can get the biggest news below, or check out all the details here.

MARIO + RABBIDS: KINGDOM BATTLE IS EVEN WEIRDER THAN WE THOUGHT

Crossing the world of Mario with Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids is strange enough, but it’s even weirder that Mario + Rabbids: Battle Kingdom seems to be an XCOM-like tactical game. Among other things, it’s got Mega Man-style arm cannons, destructible environments, and classic Mario characters played by Rabbids in cosplay. And it’ll be out for the Nintendo Switch on August 29th.

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2 IS COMING, AND IT’S A PREQUEL

After many false starts, Ubisoft might finally be making the long-awaited sequel to 2003 classic Beyond Good and Evil — except actually, it’s a prequel. We got an exciting new trailer with a Fifth Element vibe at this year’s E3, although we still don’t know when the game might launch. It’s too early to celebrate, but given that another perennial E3 no-show — The Last Guardian — was finally released last year, anything is possible.

SKULL AND BONES IS A NEW MULTIPLAYER PIRATE GAME

Lots of people loved Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, so Ubisoft apparently decided to give players a piracy-focused game called Skull & Bones. It’s a seafaring multiplayer game where you build a fleet, customize your ships, and battle fellow pirates. It’ll be released in 2018. It may include a kraken.

THE CREW 2 LETS YOU RACE BOATS, PLANES, AND BIKES

Ubisoft’s sequel to 2014 game The Crew is set in an open world where you can push the speed limits of just about any vehicle — cars, planes, dirt bikes, boats, and more. Its truly ridiculous cinematic trailer looks like Inception: Extreme Sports Edition, which probably isn’t literally representative of the game, but remains gorgeous. There’s also some footage of the gameplay, including an offroad competition and a plane race through Manhattan. The game comes out in 2018, but it’s accepting applications for a beta before then.

FAR CRY 5 LOOKS COMPLETELY WILD

We already knew the latest Far Cry game was set in Montana, where players would be fighting a rural religious cult. Now we know you’ll be doing it with a sniper partner, an aerial warfare expert, and a pet dog named Boomer, all of which will help you cause fairly ludicrous amounts of destruction. The game launches February 27th.