Games Inbox: Kassandra best Assassin’s Creed character, The Matrix Awakens game, and Forspoken apathy

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – is Kassandra your favourite? (pic: Ubisoft)

The Tuesday Inbox wants to see Henry Cavill in a Warhammer game (and film), as a reader recommends the A Plague Tale: Innocence demo.

PLEASE NOTE: As we get our own Christmas and New Year content ready for the end of the year, please consider sending in your own festive Reader’s Feature to run over the Christmas break. It can be on any subject but if there’s something you’ve been meaning to write in about, but never got around to, now would be a good time for it.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Too much of a good thing
Not in the slightest bit interested in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla turning into an off-brand God Of War (I am really sick of hearing the word Ragnarök at this point) but I am very glad to hear about the crossover DLC. Personally, I think Kassandra is easily the best Assassin’s Creed hero and I’m very glad to have her back.

I think one of the weaknesses of the franchise is that once a character has had their game you don’t ever see them again, which is a problem if the next one isn’t as good but also the stupid lengths of these games means that by the time you’ve finished them you’re actually sick of the whole thing, even though you liked everything that was going on.

I’d much preferred if Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was a trilogy released over a few years rather than a game and its DLC that must need something like 100 hours to beat and came out one after the other. If it had been released in smaller, more digestible, strips I think Kassandra would be recognised as one of the best video game characters around. As it is, only 1% of players ever get to see what happens to her in the end and most people’s final memories of the game are the part where they’d just had enough and gave up.
Kincaid

Glimpse of the future
I would be willing to say that The Matrix Awakens is unquestionably the best graphics ever but for one thing… why is the character you control in the open world section animated like a PlayStation 2 game? Seriously, it’s really terrible. I guess they were in a rush to get it out for the movie and the city was the big priority but it just goes to show how even the most impressive visuals can be spoilt by just one thing – even if it is a pretty important thing.

I agree that we should see some games that are close to as good looking as The Matrix Awakens by the end of the gen but I think in the meantime it’ll be out of reach. You only have to look at God Of War: Ragnarök to see how it barely looks better than a PlayStation 4 game. I realise that is cross-gen, but I don’t think anyone can pretend that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, as good as it looks, looks anywhere as good as The Matrix Awakens.
Thorn

Not whelmed
I love how GC didn’t try to hide how underwhelmed it was by Forspoken in their preview. I had exactly the same feeling when watching the footage and I’m not really sure what else Square Enix were expecting. For a game that’s designed around getting the most out of the PlayStation 5 it looks really bad. I mean, it is easily the worst looking PlayStation 5 exclusive and I don’t see how anyone can deny that.

Maybe it’ll play well, nobody seems to know, but I’m not looking at the combat and thinking it looks amazing and I must play it.

The problem with this is that completely the wrong lessons will be learnt. I’ll be willing to bet that it flops and when it does the likelihood is that it’ll be blamed on it being an unknown IP instead of… it not being a very good game. Or at least no looking like one. I’m a firm believer that people will flock to great games no matter what they’re called or whether they’re sequels or not. At this point though Forspoken really doesn’t look great.
Grackle

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Historic demo
I’d just like to encourage everyone to give A Plague Tale: Innocence a go now that there’s a lengthy free demo that you only need a browser to play. It doesn’t necessarily sound all that exciting, with its kid characters and the historical setting, but it’s a really great mix of horror, stealth, and mature storytelling.

Really a perfect mix actually, and I wish we saw more games like it. Especially as the graphics are really good, even though it must be relatively low budget. I’m actually a bit shocked how it turned out so good considering the developer isn’t well known and the concept is difficult to pull off but I loved it and I’m really looking forward to the sequel.
Franky

Sometime maybe
I read the article you did about Square Enix charging £65 for their games on the PC. Bit mad especially when you can get a CDKey for a lot cheaper than that.

It did get me thinking about Final Fantasy 7 Remake on the Xbox though. Is there any news on that front?
Mark

GC: There were some rumours ahead of the PC announcement, that may have been a leak from China, but they don’t seem to have amounted to anything.

Two-time winner
My favourite part of The Game Awards wasn’t any of the trailers (I can’t say anything impressed or surprised me all that much) but the fact that Elden Ring was the most anticipated game of 2022, even beating Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2. There may be recency bias at work here, because Elden Ring has just had a playable demo and we still know basically nothing about Zelda, but what a position to be two months out from release!

I really hope that Elden Ring is a massive hit, not just because I love From’s stuff but because it will be the final proof that it’s possible to release a difficult, unforgiving game, that had no hand-holding, and have it be a hit. From have already proved this multiple times before and yet still people try to take that away from them, saying their games should have easy modes and tell them how to do their work designing them.

Just let Elden Ring be what it wants to be and let that be true for all games. If people don’t like Elden Ring’s way of doing things there won’t be another one. But everything so far suggests that people are liking it very much indeed.
Ferris

I see
Future bargain alert! Looks like the Epic Games Store will be giving away some more free games on the PC in the run up to Christmas.

The first rumoured title is Shenmue 3 on the 16th. If true, what a bargain, as I funded the Kickstarter for my PlayStation 4 copy.
Commodore Fan

More: Gaming

World’s most powerful nerd
Excited by the news of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, as I liked the original, basic as it was in terms of gameplay. Relic was always an odd choice of developer though and I think Saber Interactive are instantly a better choice. I’d rather have kept Mark Strong as the voice but with Henry Cavill parading his nerdiness around in public lately I wonder why he’s never been in any of these games before?

There was some kind of minor joke reference to him in one of the Total War games but I don’t think he’s actually be involved at all. If he does become the next James Bond, as I think he should, then he is suddenly going to have a lot of clout in Hollywood and could easily push for a Warhammer film. What an achievement that would be for a fan!

I don’t know how you’d ever make a Warhammer film that normal people would like, they barely manage with the games, but I’d love to see someone try. Failing that though Henry Cavill cameos in every Warhammer game from now on, even if it’s only for a sec. Man, I bet they send him all the free figures nowadays!
Ashley

Inbox also-rans
Just a quick heads up about the release date for Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp on the Switch. If you go on their eShop and then the coming soon section it has planned release date 8/4/22. Although it does specify ‘planned’ but that might give some idea when we should expect it to be out.
freeway 77

The excellent Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun is free on GOG currently.
Andrew J.

This week’s Hot Topic
With The Game Awards being the last major reveal event of the year, the subject for this weekend’s Inbox asks what new game you’re most looking forward to… and what unannounced title you’re still hoping for.

What confirmed game are you most anticipating, regardless of when it’s due to be released, and why are you excited about it? What new game are you most hoping will be announced in the future (especially if it’s already rumoured), whether it’s a sequel, remake, or new game from a developer that hasn’t released anything in a while?

How excited do you get about games that are still months or years away and do you prefer to know about a game as soon as possible or only when there’s a lot to show?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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