Ubisoft Forward: Star Wars and Avatar surprised us with a proper 'next-gen' vision

While most of the bonanza of summer games events have felt a bit rushed, we were pleasantly surprised at the breathing room afforded to titles – and the classic E3 stage vibes – at Ubisoft Forward. This is a games conference we don’t normally cover, but we felt compelled to, given the quality of the games on offer. Many of these also ran on Ubisoft’s own adaptable Snowdrop engine, which was also nice to see on the heels of two major conferences without much of an alternative to the ubiquitous Unreal Engine.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was the first title to hit the stage, and it looked surprisingly… like Far Cry. The idea here of course is transplanting that classic Far Cry gameplay, with a big world to explore and bases to conquer, into the Avatar universe depicted in the past and (many) future Avatar movies.

The game looks incredible, and was even captured on a PlayStation 5 – a rarity in an era of “in-engine” and “in-game” trailers that don’t actually name the platform used or necessarily reflect the final product. We reckon the game is running at a 1440p internal resolution, upscaled to 4K using FSR 2 and featuring RT global illumination and motion blur – which is fairly impressive given the world complexity and draw distances involved. It’s hard to imagine this game running on a PS4, that’s for sure.

00:00 Overview01:05 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora15:23 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown20:22 Skull and Bones23:00 The Crew Motorfest28:08 Assassin’s Creed Mirage33:50 Star Wars Outlaws48:02 Pragmata

The other major title to get screen-time was Star Wars Outlaws, which got a cinematic trailer in the Microsoft show but featured actual gameplay for Forward. Again, we’re looking at another Snowdrop engine title that’s pushing the boundaries in graphical quality – but in a way that feels realistic for current-gen console hardware, with obvious potential for PC improvements beyond this.