Another Win For Mac Gaming: Assassin's Creed Shadows To Hit Macs on Day One of Release

[arbiter]

Probably due to negative stigma around the game they porting a LQ mac release to try to minimize the embarrassment the sales numbers are gonna be.

 

[Dragokar]

Ubisoft must be desperate to push its “value” up before they get bought out from Tencent/China. I think that are the last pushes from the Guillemot family before they only keep the leftovers when they sell it finally.

 

[dyonoctis]

You know you've sunken deep when you announce an AC game as a win for Mac gaming.

Lol. Yeah, in a barren wasteland, an oasis of pee is absolutely drinkable.

Ubisoft has been one of their "partners" for the whole gaming on apple silicon thing. They have to do the lip service. What they did with Arcade was nice, you have good mobile games that aren't plagued by microtransaction, but Apple as a whole is really not going to become super deep into the gaming culture and snob a bad AAA release.
Heck, even Playstation and Xbox have to do lip service for the upcoming trash.

It's not because it's from Ubisoft. It's because all of the latest AC games have essentially been the same game in a different skin (literally). Ubisoft has dug their own grave.

No, it's specifically because AC shadows is going to be a controversial release, forget the black Samurai, the gameplay itself had several issues in the various previews that have been going around on YouTube.

 

[cinemaware]

It's because all of the latest AC games have essentially been the same game in a different skin (literally). Ubisoft has dug their own grave.

That’s a very weak argument. Why fix something that's not broken? There are heaps of series that are "essentialy the same game", because the core things work well. And it's not even as much the same as in some games (eg KCD2 is essentially a reskin, even though I'm fine with that).

I'm not saying that these games are perfect but the amount of hate they get in comment sections get is just silly. It's the same bandwagonning like with Bethesda and other popular hate-ons. Meanwhile, in the real world these games sell millions of copies.

 

[AusWolf]

That’s a very weak argument. Why fix something that's not broken? There are heaps of series that are "essentialy the same game", because the core things work well. And it's not even as much the same as in some games (eg KCD2 is essentially a reskin, even though I'm fine with that).

I'm not saying that these games are perfect but the amount of hate they get in comment sections get is just silly. It's the same bandwagonning like with Bethesda and other popular hate-ons. Meanwhile, in the real world these games sell millions of copies.

Except that KCD is a unique experience, and KCD 2 only expands on the story with little improvements in the gameplay. It's not trying to show off what a revolutionary new thing it is while actually offering nothing substantial.

There's a difference between offering an honest, simple experience, and churning out the same game every year while trying to show it off as the next best thing.

 

[trsttte]

That’s a very weak argument. Why fix something that's not broken? There are heaps of series that are "essentialy the same game", because the core things work well. And it's not even as much the same as in some games (eg KCD2 is essentially a reskin, even though I'm fine with that).

Because the number in front of KCD is 2 and not 13. Assassins Creed is not broken per say but it's completely stagnated, there's nothing new to it, even the overarching theme with the ancestors and all that became very convoluted and impossible to follow.

 

[cinemaware]

There's nothing "unique" about KCD, it's just another videogame (albeit a very good one). The charge that AC is "trying to show off what a revolutionary new thing it is while actually offering nothing substantial" is completely off, since which AC has tried to do that? It’s also contradictory, because you can't argue that a series is stagnant and trying to be revolutionary at the same time.

Saying that they're "out the same game every year" proves you're arguing on autopilot because it's demonstrably false. Besides, when they tried to "go back to the roots" and made Mirage smaller, because of commenting massive saying how allegedly terrible big games are (despite Valhalla selling 20 mil), that was not good either - so, be damned if you do, damned if you don't. It;s the same with Shadows - the game has not been released yet, judging by the previews the gameplay seems vastly changed, and yet it's been already decided it is "staganant". I rest my case

It also doesn't matter whether it's KCD is #2 or 13 because it’s an example and the idea is the same. If KCD2 was from Ubi or EA people would apply the same complaints, only because the narrative says so. Nobody whines about GTA being stagnated (even though the actual game mechanics actually go backwards) or how hilariously derivative the gameplay concepts in CP2077 or Avowed are, because the companies behind them are the "good guys" (the hysterical backlash Cyberpunk got was mostly about tech, and that was only half warranted too since on PC the game was just fine).

Sure, the overarching story in AC is a ridiculous dumpster fire, especially the existence of Animus, which always has been one of the more wtf things in modern gaming. But that can be easily ignored because the "local" individual stories are just fine.

In any case my main point is about deciding a game is rubbish months in advance, based on completely irrelevant factors.

 

[AusWolf]

There's nothing "unique" about KCD, it's just another videogame (albeit a very good one). The charge that AC is "trying to show off what a revolutionary new thing it is while actually offering nothing substantial" is completely off, since which AC has tried to do that? It’s also contradictory, because you can't argue that a series is stagnant and trying to be revolutionary at the same time.

Simulating an accurate medieval life with accurate medieval combat in accurate locations is not unique enough? Well, show me which other game has done the same. I want to play them.

Saying that they're "out the same game every year" proves you're arguing on autopilot because it's demonstrably false. Besides, when they tried to "go back to the roots" and made Mirage smaller, because of commenting massive saying how allegedly terrible big games are (despite Valhalla selling 20 mil), that was not good either - so, be damned if you do, damned if you don't. It;s the same with Shadows - the game has not been released yet, judging by the previews the gameplay seems vastly changed, and yet it's been already decided it is "staganant". I rest my case

I don't want it to go back to its roots. I don't want it to do anything. I want new games, new stories, new experiences. AC offers none of that lately.

In any case my main point is about deciding a game is rubbish months in advance, based on completely irrelevant factors.

Nobody said it's rubbish. The thing is that nobody even cares. If I want AC, I'll play the first one, that was a brilliant game for its time.

 

[Vayra86]

That’s a very weak argument. Why fix something that's not broken? There are heaps of series that are "essentialy the same game", because the core things work well. And it's not even as much the same as in some games (eg KCD2 is essentially a reskin, even though I'm fine with that).

I'm not saying that these games are perfect but the amount of hate they get in comment sections get is just silly. It's the same bandwagonning like with Bethesda and other popular hate-ons. Meanwhile, in the real world these games sell millions of copies.

There's a difference between mainstream and enthusiast sites like TPU. Here, you can indeed find people that are not just following the herd. Lots of people never even touch triple A anymore because of reasons. Good reasons I might add. I'm one of them. I don't touch AC's or CoDs for the same reason I don't go to Spiderman or the umpteenth other Hollywood POS. Its stale as fuck, offers me nothing, utterly braindead entertainment with the depth of a puddle. And on top of that, I'm paying a high price, the game often keeps trying to throw DLC and MTX at me on top of that, and I don't want any of it. For gaming, that applies to a large amount of mainstream content: they deploy mechanics and systems we've already seen ad infinitum and they don't even manage to execute them well either.

Utter junk like Starfield, indeed the next Far Cry or AC... its a bit like watching sitcoms. You already know when the laughing tape is going to sound, and the vast majority of those games are now also loaded with Gen Z dialogue quality that reads like a twitter comment section, and, again... offers me absolutely nothing of substance. I'm also identifying those types of games these days rather easily, and I just really can't bring myself to play them. Its horrible.

To each their own they say. What you call 'bandwagoning' couldn't be a more ironic statement. I see the mainstream herd as the bandwagon I really don't want to be on anymore. The herd is destructive - to art, good taste, and ultimately, good gaming. Those same millions also go to pop artists and tell each other how great it is, because others said so. 'Why fix something that is not broken?' suddenly got a whole new meaning...

 

[Prima.Vera]

but there is no denying that the GPUs found on the Pro, Max, and Ultra SoCs in recent years are more than capable of handling even the most demanding of titles with playable framerates.

Oh, trust me, THERE IS A LOT OF DENYING!
There is no way an APU can compare to even the crappiest of the dedicated video cards of this generation.
Also the apple APUs do not support any DLSS, FrameGen or simmilar technologies... It will be an interesting review of this game for sure.

What the hell is selective ray tracing and standard ray tracing.

The latest Dragon Age game had it too and it works great. It will only do RT on the very visible areas, not for everything, especially if is not in the viewer range or on very small objects.

 

[Vayra86]

Sure, the overarching story in AC is a ridiculous dumpster fire, especially the existence of Animus, which always has been one of the more wtf things in modern gaming. But that can be easily ignored because the "local" individual stories are just fine.

In any case my main point is about deciding a game is rubbish months in advance, based on completely irrelevant factors.

You've just provided at least one argument why AC is easy to skip in the same post you used to defend its existence

Its a simple case of where there is smoke, there's fire. Ubisoft has built a track record of not really expanding on their own concepts. So we know what we'll get. Rehashed content, a massive map full of map markers to visit, zero mystery or surprise... and some weird ass Samurai take nobody asked for, potentially immersion killing even. Its easy to decide the game is rubbish. If you're a big AC fan, then its obviously not rubbish and exactly what you're looking for. But its a mistake to think people are big AC fans these days. Das war einmal. Sensible people tend to move on at some point. The rest is addicted, so are they really the best people to ask?

Now, compare to a game like Ghost of Tsushima that was received very well.... but actually does almost the same thing, except not stuck within the boundaries of the AC franchise. Spot the ten differences. They're there... and they define exactly why one thing does work and the other is just way past expiry date.

Ubisoft is fantastic at digging its own holes. For AC... they made a narrative driven game initially... and then proceeded to nuke that narrative with every installment going forward. The credibility and therefore immersive qualities of the game have suffered for it. The Animus concept is the best example of it: today it makes no sense, but honestly, in part 1 I thought I got sucked into a massive overarching storyline with lots of potential. But Ubisoft approached those elements later not as a storyline that is supposed to move to a climax, no, they rehashed it into a franchise-driven thing that views a game as 'yet another episode' in an unnamed 'season'... becoming identical to every other franchise out there that exists simply to release a yearly product, and NOT to tell you a real, interesting story anymore.