Author: Trafficblast

Within the wave of news amid the official announcement of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, developers at Ubisoft did their own breakdown of the reveal trailer. The four-minute cinematic trailer showcases the game’s Viking era setting, story premise, and what’s to come from gameplay. However, there are plenty of key details that the trailer doesn’t spell out.

In the video below, you can watch creative director Ashraf Ismail and narrative director Darby McDevitt talking through the trailer with Ubisoft news editor Youssef Maguid. They gave broader context for specific scenes and spoke about the approach for depicting Vikings with their culture and history in mind, and how the trailer also contains gameplay details. There’s also a hint as to how the new protagonist Eivor might be connected to the Assassins.

We have this next game in the storied franchise covered from all angles; be sure to read our own interview with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla narrative director Darby McDevitt for an even deeper dive into the game’s story. While a male protagonist is portrayed in the trailer, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will let players choose between a male and female lead. There are also a few details on how Assassin’s Creed Valhalla uses next-gen console features.

Below is an annotation of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla trailer breakdown.

Story Setup And The Viking Age

The first shot they breakdown shows a settlement in Norway. Ismail says that the theme of home and settling other lands are important for the story and Eivor, the main protagonist.

Shortly after, there’s a shot of a large statue of Odin, the Norse god. McDevitt detailed that in Norse culture, people give offerings to gods in return for favors, usually before important events. You can see this ritual taking place. A sacrifice is made to Odin, and Eivor gets marked on the face with what looks like blood. The people are about to leave Norway and lead a raid to establish a settlement in England. Ismail said that these scenes tease the idea that the journey starts in Norway and eventually leads to England.

During the following scene of a raid, Eivor and his companion turn the corner and avoid attacking a woman and her children. All the while, the backing narration from an English King who mentions that the Vikings murder and kill blindly like savages, sparing no one–which creates a sort of dissonance. McDevitt brings up that much of Viking history comes from those they raided (the English) and that accounts are brutal. However, while the English (or Saxons) kept many records and writings to recount its history, there are other sources necessary to get the full picture. McDevitt says they want to show a complete story of an entire culture.

McDevitt went into more detail; the Viking Era began at the end of the 8th century with the attack on the “Holy Island” of Lindisfarne. When Valhalla takes place (beginning in 873 AD), there’s more of a focus on settling than raiding–people of Norway and Denmark coming to England. Around that time, settling and cultural assimilation happened fairly quickly and easily because of similarities between the two cultures. Valhalla doesn’t just depict the brutality of the era, but also the culture, alliances that formed, and the places the Vikings settled.

The next scene shows the nighttime raid seamlessly transition to a bright sunny day on the countryside, depicting the Vikings actually settling the lands. Ismail says that these Vikings left Norway and have to build a community and integrate in the local society. They were also farmers, traders, which Ismail said are also gameplay elements; you’ll play a role in building settlements and communities and make choices as a leader in the game.

McDevitt gave more historical context, and said that the evidence of how successful Norse people were in settling England can be found in the number of towns with names ending in -thorpe or -by.

So, the main story begins in 873 AD during the Viking era and at a time when England was several lands but not a unified country–there are multiple fractured kingdoms. In the game, you see King Alfred (aka Alfred the Great), who is the voice over in the first half of the trailer. Alfred is the King of Wessex, the southern-most kingdom (among three others: Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia). Wessex was known for having the strongest and fiercest opposition to Viking settlement.

Gameplay Hints Within The Trailer

The next scene they look at features Viking longships, which will play a major role in the game. Longships were unique to Vikings and allowed them to cover vast waters swiftly while carrying cargo and people. These were agile ships that allowed Vikings to get behind enemy lines fast for hit-and-run style raids.

You then see a depiction of a full on battle. These instances are said to be separate from smaller-scale raids where you plunder for resources, hinting that these are two different styles of combat encounters that are core to the gameplay loop. Large-scale battles can take place on fields and in fortifications, and the one in the trailer showcases some of the things you’ll be working with in Valhalla’s combat system. You can mix axes and shields, dual-wield axes, use a throwing axe, or even dual-wield shields. Dual-wielding is said to be a big part of the combat system.

Now, we see a bit more about Eivor and the intersection between Norse mythology and Assassin’s Creed lore. Eivor spots a hooded figure in the distance and a raven flying off as a thunderstorm begins, giving him the will to keep fighting. This could be a physical manifestation of Odin returning the favor of the ritual’s sacrifice shown earlier in the trailer. In the Norse mythos, huginn and muninn are two of Odin’s ravens named after their words for thought and memory, and it could Eivor’s interpretation that empowers him in the chaos of battle, as Ubisoft is going for a “more grounded” approach this time around.

Eivor is shown fighting a very strong foe, who will be a particular enemy type in Valhalla’s gameplay. This enemy is said to be a leader on the battlefield with unique abilities, heavy armor, and very few weakpoints (which sounds similar to Brutes and Enforcers in Odyssey).

The Viking-Assassin Connection And The Hidden Blade

Eivor looks to be defeated but escapes death by using the series’ iconic Hidden Blade at the last minute to kill the enemy. A small detail is that Eivor has the blade mounted atop the arm, unlike previous Assassins (except for Darius from Odyssey’s Legacy of the First Blade DLC).

Ismail and McDevitt spoke to how Valhalla mixes Viking fantasy with the Assassin’s Creed world. In the story, Eivor meets with the Assassins at some point, but doesn’t necessarily know what they’re all about–what’s important is that the Vikings and Assassins have common ground and end up working with each other. Eivor gets the hidden blade at some point early on in the story, though no further details were given as to how or why.

The sequel to the 1996 basketball and Looney Tunes film, Space Jam, has finally been given a title. In an Instagram post on Thursday, LeBron James revealed that the title for the long-awaited next installment will be called “Space Jam: A New Legacy”.

The original film came out over 25 years ago and starred Bill Murray, Wayne Knight, Theresa Randle, and also featured cameos by Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bouges, Larry Johnson, and Shawn Bradley. The plot centered around Micheal Jordan during his brief period of retirement during the 90s, with the cast of the Looney Tunes desperately trying to rope Jordan into a basketball match against a team of aliens for the Earth.

Space Jam: A New Legacy is rumored to have a full cast of famous basketball players like the original, including a mix of players from the NBA and WNBA.

The film is set to release in July 2021 and will be directed by Malcom D. Lee. The screenplay has been written by Justin Lin, Willie Ebersol, Andrew Dode, and Alfredo Botello. The director of Black Panther, Ryan Coogler, will be producing the movie.

Tony Bancroft, one of the two directors behind Disney’s animated Mulan, is also set to work on the film, but was sent home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, the director of the original Space Jam, Joe Pytka, thinks it’s “doomed.”

Darkborn, the exciting-looking monster game from Battlefield and Payday developer David Goldberg’s new studio, has been put on hold. The game’s developer, The Outsiders, announced the change on Twitter, writing that the team may eventually return to the project, but probably not soon.

“In spite of our best efforts to continue, ultimately we had to make the difficult decision to halt development on the project,” reads a line from the studio’s statement. “Perhaps one day we will return to it: we all hope so and genuinely appreciate the support of everyone who followed us over the years.”

The Outsiders is moving on to a new project that’s described as “something new, something awesome, something we really love.” Whatever this game is, it will be revealed “very very soon,” the studio said.

The game was originally known as Archenemy before changing names to Project Wight and then again to Darkborn. Private Division, the indie publishing label run by Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two, was set to publish Darkborn before the companies parted ways.

The hook of Darkborn was that the usual power fantasy is reversed. The monster you play, a Darkborn, is hunted by a horrible faction called The Pale Enemy that torture Darkborn and perform blood rituals with their corpses, according to a Game Informer preview. “Be the monster in Darkborn. Experience life on the other side of the sword,” reads the game’s official description.

While you might not get to play Darkborn soon–or ever–you can watch 16 minutes of gameplay footage in the video below.

The chubby Pikachu and long Meowth variants were introduced as Gigantamax forms in Pokemon Sword and Shield. The plushies represent the original fatter Pikachu from the early versions of the series and Meowth as a longer version of itself, like the longcat meme. While the Sword and Shield games released back in November of last year, Japan has just released large plush forms of these big Pokemon to take home.

The Pikachu is 31 inches tall, 24 inches wide, weighs almost 10 pounds, and costs a hefty $411 (44,000 yen). The Meowth is about five feet and five inches tall and costs $308 (33,000 yen).

Both plushies are available for pre-order from the Japanese Pokemon Center’s online store. These plushies are made to order and will only be manufactured in limited supply. Pre-ordered plushies are estimated to be shipped by October 2020. A worldwide release in other region Pokemon centers has not been announced as of yet.

A new month in Animal Crossing: New Horizons doesn’t just mean new fish and bugs to catch, but also a handful of fish and bugs that are going away. You can hit up last month’s list to see what’s missing now that April is over, but if you want to look ahead and focus on what’s going away in June, we have you covered. Whether you have a Northern or Southern Hemisphere island, here’s every fish and bug leaving Animal Crossing at the end of May.

Fish And Bugs Leaving After May

Fish are first spotted in bodies of water as shadows, which come in a variety of sizes. We have a fish shadow size guide you’ll want to use to get a better idea of what the shadow sizes (which we label 1-6) look like in-game. All fish listed below have their corresponding shadow size next to them for easier identification.

Northern Hemisphere

Fish	Location/Size	Time	Price
Golden Trout	River (Clifftop) / 3	4 PM – 9 AM	15,000
Oarfish	Sea / 6	All day	9,000
Loach	River / 2	All day	400

The golden trout is among the most valuable fish in the game–it’s also new to the Animal Crossing series! It only spawns in clifftop rivers, just like the rare stringfish, so if you’re going to focus your efforts on fishing this month, you might want to grab your ladder and be on the lookout for this one. One of the best ways to catch rare fish is on a deserted island that has the right layout, since fish spawn more rapidly on Mystery Tours than on your own island–better spawn rates means less time crafting fish bait, though that is certainly recommended as well.

Also saying goodbye after this month is the oarfish, which won’t return until December. This massive fish can be caught at any time of the day in the ocean, and it’s the biggest shadow size, so spotting them is easy.

Bug	Location	Time	Price
Mole Cricket	Underground	All day	500

Among the handful of rare creatures in New Horizons, the mole cricket is one of the weirdest to catch. It isn’t the most uncommon bug, but it is one of the easiest to miss if you don’t know where to look. Check out our guide on how to catch a mole cricket for more details.

Southern Hemisphere

Fish	Location/Size	Time	Price
Golden Trout	River (Clifftop) / 3	4 PM – 9 AM	15,000
Barred Knifejaw	Sea / 3	All day	5,000
Char	River (Clifftop) / 3	4 PM – 9 AM	3,800
Ray	Sea / 5	4 AM – 9 PM	3,000
Mitten Crab	River / 2	4 PM – 9 AM	2,000
Guppy	River / 1	9 AM – 4 PM	1,300
Sea Horse	Sea / 1	All day	1,100
Cherry Salmon	River (Clifftop) / 3	4 PM – 9 AM	1,000
Neon Tetra	River / 1	9 AM – 4 PM	500
Zebra Turkeyfish	Sea / 3	All day	500

The golden trout is a newcomer to the Animal Crossing series and one of the most valuable fish in New Horizons. It’s also, as it turns out, one of the few critters that isn’t around year-round, but has identical spawn months between Northern and Southern Hemisphere islands. As mentioned under the Northern Hemisphere table, you’re going to want to focus on clifftop rivers to catch this one. We recommend finding a suitable deserted island to take advantage of the more rapid fish spawn rates.

Bugs	Location	Time	Price
Orchid Mantis	On white flowers	8 AM – 5 PM	2,400
Migratory Locust	Ground	8 AM – 7 PM	600
Walking Stick	On trees	4 AM – 8 AM 5 PM – 7 PM	600
Violin Beetle	On tree stumps	All day	450
Mantis	On flowers	8 AM – 5 PM	430
Long Locust	Ground	8 AM – 7 PM	200
Rice Grasshopper	Ground	8 AM – 7 PM	160
Monarch Butterfly	Flying	4 AM – 5 PM	140
Cricket	Ground	5 PM – 8 AM	130
Flea	Itchy villagers	All day	70

If you have a Southern Hemisphere island, May is your last month to catch a flea. The flea is one of the most elusive bugs in New Horizons–check out our guide on catching fleas to learn where to look.

Also, if you’re having trouble catching mantises, try approaching them slowly with your net out. Otherwise, they’ll hop into a defensive position before scurrying away. Your best bet is to slow down around flowers, walk instead of run, and keep an eye out. The regular mantis is bright green and the orchid mantis is a very, very light pink and white.

We have tons more Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides, so hit them up below for tips on how to make bells fast, how to add friends, and more.

While the Last of Us Part II has finally gotten an official release date, many of the details surrounding the HBO Last of Us TV show are still unknown. Back on March 6, Sony and Naughty Dog revealed that they would be teaming up with HBO to create an adaption of the popular series. In a recent interview with Fandom, Troy Baker has shared some news about the show.

Baker voiced and performed as the main character Joel in both the first game and the upcoming sequel. While the actor revealed that he hasn’t had much to do with the adaptation, he has a close friendship with Neil Druckmann, writer and executive producer of the TV and game series. Baker is also a massive fan of Craig Mazin, the head writer of HBO’s Chernobyl, who is writing The Last of Us TV show with Druckmann.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Craig Mazin for a while now,” Baker said. “So I was a massive fan [of the HBO series] going into it, not just because of Chernobyl, but because of [Craig] as a writer … he’s like the band that the bands listen to – everybody likes Craig! So I started following him on Twitter and he follows me back and I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m a massive fan of yours’, and he’s like, ‘I’m a massive fan of YOURS!’ We had this great Twitter DM love going back and forth.”

“The thing that encourages me most [about the HBO show] is that while there were a lot of people in Hollywood that stood up and took notice [of The Last Of Us and its success] and were thinking, ‘Oh, a lot of people like this–we should turn it into a movie’, Craig came at it from a fan’s perspective. He just wants everybody to know this experience,” Baker said.

The actor went on to speak about how he asked Druckmann about why he wanted to make a TV showin the first place when the games are so strong.

“I asked Neil once, why even do a movie or a TV show?” Baker said. “What if this story can’t be told [outside of video games], why go through that effort? I remember when he was writing the film script and the challenges that he faced, and he said, ‘Because the reality is, there are people that will–for whatever reason–never pick up a controller and play this game, and I believe that Joel and Ellie’s story is that important to tell,’” Baker said

Despite Sam Raimi and Druckmann cancelling their original Last of Us movie project, Baker is confident in the TV adaptation working a lot better for the game’s episodic storytelling.

“I think that episodically you can far more effectively tell this story because trying to condense that experience of 16 hours into 2 hours is impossible… it goes past the point of distillation, into reduction,” Baker said. “I think being able to do this episodically and go, ‘We’ll do this for say, three or four seasons’ and be able to almost 1:1 tell [ the story of the game] presents a great opportunity for more people to experience this story.”

However, Baker still seems to believe that the original game is the best way to experience the story of Joel and Ellie.

“At the end of the day, man, the reason that it’s a game is because when you go from fall into winter — after Joel falls, and you think he’s dead–and you see that beautiful bunny on that pristine white snow, and the arrow… and then you notice for the first time that it’s Ellie by herself, standing there – and you push forward on the analogue stick–that is something that just doesn’t translate to any other medium but a game,” Baker said.

“Nothing else will ever be that. But I think [with The Last of Us TV show] we can come close. That we can give a different kind of experience for those who–for whatever reason–don’t want to have that type of interaction with the characters,” Baker said

The Last of Us Part II releases on June 19 for PS4. There is still no confirmed release date for the HBO adoption at this time.

Epic Games has announced some major changes to its Fortnite competitive game series for 2020, including the cancellation of its marquee event. The studio announced that all of the remaining Fortnite competitive events that were scheduled to take place in person, will now be conducted online. However, the Fortnite World Cup will not go forward as a digital event–or at all.

Epic said it’s cancelling the event outright “due to the limitations of cross-region online competition.”

Epic went on to say that it doesn’t know just when it will be able to bring back its in-person Fortnite tournaments, though the company is hoping for a return to normal operation by 2021.

The online Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) will continue for the remainder of 2020, while the Cash Cups tournaments are also going ahead. Fortnite events run by third-parties are also expected to continue going ahead in an online format, Epic said.

The first-ever Fortnite World Cup took place in New York City in July. The event had a prize pool of $30 million, and 16-year-old pro gamer Bugha (whose real name is Kyle Giersdorf) ended up winning the series and claiming a $3 million prize. He then went on Jimmy Fallon’s late night TV show.

After dropping the first official trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Ashraf Ismail, the creative director of the new Assassin’s Creed title, has released a tweet in response to fan confusion on the pronunciation of the main character’s name.

The next Assassin’s Creed will allow players to play as either a male or female Viking. However, unlike in Odyssey, both genders will share the name Eivor. Eivor is a fierce Viking raider raised on tales of battle and glory. Players will lead a group of Norsemen that have been driven from their home in Norway by endless wars and dwindling resources in the ninth century CE. After crossing the North Sea and traveling to England, players will need to carve out a new future for their clan on the foreign land and fight against the forces of England.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia in Holiday 2020. The Xbox versions will support the new Smart Delivery feature, giving Xbox One purchasers access to the Xbox Series X version as a free automatic upgrade when the console launches.

A listing for The Last of Us: Part II on the PlayStation website reveals some key details about the much-anticipated PS4-exclusive pertaining to its file size and installation details.

Players who buy the game digitally may need to clear up some space on their hard drives, as The Last of Us: Part II will require at least 100 GB of free space. This makes it the biggest-ever PlayStation exclusive, surpassing the file sizes of God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man, according to GamesRadar.

The PlayStation listing also specifies that those picking up a physical copy of The Last of Us: Part II will receive a box that includes two discs. It’s thought that, like with Final Fantasy VII Remake and Red Dead Redemption 2 before it, the first disc is for installing the game and the second is for playing.

The Last of Us: Part II was originally slated for release in May but Sony delayed the game indefinitely due to the global environment and how it was impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Recently, Sony announced that, due an an “ease in the global distribution environment,” the company is committing to releasing The Last of Us: Part II on June 19.

Serious and significant spoilers for The Last of Us: Part II have leaked online ahead of release, so be careful on the internet.