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Things arent exactly going swimmingly at Ubisoft right now. The publisher had a rough 2024, with Star Wars Outlaws failing to meet sales expectations and word of XDefiants demise coming around six months after the tactical shooter debuted. Skull and Bones finally arrived too, but it was a bit of a damp squib. Amid rumors of the company being sold or spinning out some of its assets into a joint venture with Tencent, Ubisoft really needs a win. Its not going to have a better chance to do that anytime soon than with Assassins Creed Shadows. After a couple of delays, the latest entry in the companys flagship series is set to arrive on March 20. After a few hours with AC Shadows, there are positive signs. The game at least looks and plays well enough for what Ubisoft needs it to be, with the company skirting the line between playing things extremely safe and trying something different. After the successes of AC Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla (as well as the enjoyably smaller-scale Mirage), Shadows marks new territory for Assassins Creed to a certain degree. It's the first game in the series that directly feeds into the Animus Hub project (formerly known as Infinity). Before you swan dive into Assassin's Creed Shadows, you'll enter the Animus Hub. From here, you'll be able to access various Assassin's Creed games (Shadows and the previous four mainline entries) from the memory section. They're placed on an easy to navigate timeline. The anomaly section of the hub includes missions for Shadows, which will offer exclusive rewards like weapons and gear. You can tweak your characters' loadout from the exchange section and explore the stories of modern AC games through the vault. The Animus Hub will expand in the years to come as Ubisoft releases more games. This is an ambitious project that aims to tie the series together. It had been reported that the company would try to turn the series into a live-service project with the Animus Hub, and we're seeing glimpses of that with those missions. There's not a ton to it as things stand, but Ubisoft clearly has grand ambitions here. Ubisoft Shadows brings the action to a long-awaited frontier for Assassins Creed: 16th century Japan. The other big twist this time around is that you can swap between two characters. Various points in the story will see you choose to play as either Yasuke or Naoe and, at least in the open-world, you'll be able to switch between them on the fly. Swapping can come in handy when one character is wanted by enemies, since the other can remain anonymous. Yasuke is the tank of the two, with the ability to ram though certain doors while sprinting. He can take advantage of ranged weapons such as guns and bows, so some players might want to use him to pick off a few enemies from afar at the start of a mission. He can knock baddies around using his kanab war club as well. Naoe plays more like a traditional Assassin's Creed hero. She is far more agile and her parkour skills are on point. The shinobi can quickly clamber up the sides of buildings and she has a grappling hook to help her reach higher parts of structures and swing across gaps. In direct combat, Naoe can spin kick an enemy in the teeth, or flip behind them to slit their throat. Perhaps most importantly (at least from what I've seen of the game), Naoe is the only one of the duo to have the classic hidden blade. Yasuke can still sneak up on an opponent to eliminate them with a single button press, but his "brutal assassination" sees him ram his sword through an enemy and lift them skywards. Not exactly subtle. Ubisoft Switching between Naoe and Yasuke is almost as seamless as it is to swap between, say, Peter and Miles in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The latter requires a couple of quick in-game actions, and the action swiftly moves to the other Spider-Man. In Assassin's Creed Shadows, swapping characters means going into the menu, holding a button and waiting just a couple of seconds for the other hero to replace them. There's no immediate character swapping in the prologue, however, which is one of the two sections I played. Unsurprisingly, this acts as an intro to the story and how to actually play the game. In a first for Assassin's Creed, one of the playable characters actually existed in real-life. It won't take players long to learn how Yasuke, a Black African man, came to be a samurai. After a brief lore drop, we skip ahead six months to a battle sequence. It's an effective way to start getting to grips with what Yasuke can do, including special attacks like a dashing sword slash. Once his brief action sequence comes to an ed, we rewind to earlier in the night and Naoe's introduction. After an important box (the contents of which remain a mystery) is stolen, she heads out to retrieve it from a compound. This short mission highlights some of the stealth features. One of the cooler additions to this game is the ability to take out light sources at night to create ad-hoc hiding spots in the shadows. Naoe can snuff out candles and destroy lamps from afar using a kunai or shuriken. That may not be needed depending on the terrain (and difficulty level) and how quickly you can hotfoot it over rooftops when you're spotted. The second section I played was an investigation mission. I had to get to the bottom of a mystery by completing some tasks and gathering information. All of this led to the inevitable but enjoyable boss fight and a satisfying resolution to the quest. The structure of Assassin's Creed Shadows will lend itself to multiple playthroughs for those who really dig it. I spent most of my preview as Naoe, but I'm interested to see how different things are playing as Yasuke. There are dialogue options throughout the game but there's a canon mode that will eliminate these choices and present you with the canonical story. Players might also be inclined to switch the dialogue languages to Japanese and Portuguese for deeper immersion after beating the game in their native tongue. Some of the gameplay changes Ubisoft implemented this time really shake things up. The eagle vision ability now enables Naoe to locate and tag enemies through walls. Her smoke bombs and distraction-causing bells come in useful when there are too many enemies for her to battle head on. Both characters can lie prone as well, which offers up more opportunities for hiding and sneaking. I quickly tried a couple of the side activities, such as the peaceful act of sneaking up on animals in certain situations to sketch them. In terms of slowing things down for a smidge of tranquility, this feels a little akin to the haiku composition sequences in Ghost of Tsushima (of note, that game's sequel, Ghost of Ytei is slated for a 2025 release and could provide competition for Assassin's Creed Shadows.) Ubisoft It wasn't totally clear based on what I've seen, but it does feel as though Ubisoft has cut down on much of the cruft that typically populates Assassin's Creed maps, which would help this game feel less overwhelming. Climbing up to a viewpoint and synchronizing only reveals important locations, rather than everything worth seeing in the area. The company pulled back on the map bloat a bit in Mirage, so it may have taken some positive lessons from that approach. Add all of this up and I came away from the session feeling just on the right side of satisfied. The game seems absolutely fine. Its just about what youd expect from an Assassins Creed game these days, but with enough tweaks, new wrinkles and quality-of-life updates to make it compelling enough. It feels like a decent entry point into the series while still holding enough interest for long-term fans. For what its worth, Im ready to play more, as someone who finished Assassins Creed Mirage but dropped off of Valhalla after about 10 hours. I'm looking forward to playing more of Assassin's Creed Shadows and seeing, for instance, how the weather system switches things up. Lakes freeze over in winter, removing the ability to swim or hide underwater. Icicles can be used as a distraction as well. I didn't get around to trying out the spy recruitment system, which can seemingly come in useful during investigations. Assassin's Creed Shadows inherently has a leg up on many other Ubisoft games given the popularity of the series. It already seemed poised to do well, but it appears to be in a good enough shape to become a success. If so, this could help Ubisoft finally redirect its ship away from the rocks. Assassin's Creed Shadows will hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, Mac (and eventually iPad), Ubisoft+ and Amazon Luna on March 20.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/assassins-creed-shadows-preview-a-few-steps-in-the-right-direction-170028415.html?src=rss
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I love air fryers. They offer microwave-like convenience, but stuff actually tastes good. If you want to see what all of the fuss is about, a standout Cosori air fryer is on sale via Amazon for $90. This is a fairly substantial discount of 25 percent, as the original price is $120. This particular model made our list of the best air fryers, and for very good reason. Its a great device that gets the job done. Its a six-quart model that offers plenty of cooking space, which we found ideal for side dishes like sweet potato fries and onion rings. However, its no slouch with mains like chicken wings, tofu and more. The rounded basket is particularly roomy. The touchscreen is easy to use and there are plenty of preset cooking modes, including a handy preheating option for starting things off. Most people will rely on the standard air fry mode, I know I do, but its nice to have the option for broiling, baking and roasting. We also appreciated the basket release button, which is a nice safety feature. This is pretty much the ideal air fryer, so its tough to find complaints. There isnt a see-through window, for those who like taking a look at tater tots crisping up. This particular unit is also on the wider side, which could make placement difficult in tiny kitchens. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-air-fryers-is-25-percent-off-right-now-161542670.html?src=rss
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Following a two-year wait, NVIDIAs highly-anticipated GeForce 50 series of GPUs are nearly here. Engadget has published its review of the $2,000 RTX 5090, but if youre reading this article, chances are you already know if you want to splurge on a 50 series card. The question then is how to buy one of them? Depending on when you read this story, the good news is that were at most a week away from major retailers, including Best Buy and Newegg, stocking the new cards on January 30. As for the bad news? If the 50 series launch is anything like the 40 series one before it, expect high demand and limited initial availability. If youre set on buying an RTX 5090, 5080, 5070 Ti or 5070 at release, be sure to use the notification feature Best Buy and other retailers offer to have the best chance of securing one of the cards before they all sell out. GeForce RTX 5090 for $2,000: The RTX 5090 is the most expensive consumer GPU NVIDIA has ever released. Its also one of the most powerful and power-hungry, with the 5090 featuring 21,760 CUDA cores, 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM and a potential total power draw of 575W. Of course, as with all of NVIDIAs new GPUs, raw specs are only half the story. In conjunction with DLSS 4, the entire 50 series is capable of multi-frame generation. With the tech, RTX 50 GPUs can generate up to three additional frames for every frame they render using traditional techniques. DLSS 4 is the reason the 5090 can produce an average of 246 frames per second with full ray tracing in games like Cyberpunk 2077. If you prefer to buy from Newegg or B&H, both retailers will stock models from third-party OEMs, including ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and Zotac. GeForce RTX 5080 for $999: Despite costing half as much as the RTX 5090, the 5080 is no slouch. It features an impressive 10,752 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, with a memory bandwidth of 960GB/sec. Like the 5090, you get the benefit of DLSS 4 multi-frame generation. Moreover, total power draw is more modest at 360W, meaning you probably wont need a 1,000W PSU to power the 5080. Again, both Newegg and B&H will stock third-party options. For a Founders Edition model, your best bets re NVIDIA and Best Buy. GeForce RTX 5070 Ti for $749. If I had to guess, the 5070 Ti is probably the model with the most interest from people who want to buy a 50 series card. Thats because it features 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM compared to the 5070s 12GB. An extra 4GB of VRAM might not seem like much, but it will likely translate to the 5070 Ti being a much better purchase over the long run. Modern AAA games use a lot of VRAM, so much so that 8GB GPUs like the RTX 3070 are starting to show their age. Unfortunately, the 5070 Ti is the one model NVIDIA won't offer a Founders Edition version of, so finding one to buy may be tricky. Your best bet here is likely to be B&H. The retailer is showing a few 5070 Ti models on its website. GeForce RTX 5070 for $549: At launch, the RTX 5070 will be NVIDIAs most affordable 50 series GPU. Its also the GPU NVIDIA claims is as fast as the RTX 4090. Of course, thats with DLSS 4 enabled. If youre interested in the 5070, I strongly advise waiting for reviews to come out before you commit to buying one. As mentioned, with only 12GB of VRAM, the 5070 could quickly become a bottleneck to your system.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/how-to-buy-a-nvidia-rtx-50-series-gpu-160902797.html?src=rss
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