PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S; Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft
Ubisoft has removed all the boring parts of pirate life from its fantasy RPG, creating something more focused and fun

Edward Kenway isn’t your dad’s Assassin’s Creed protagonist. Neither sworn to ancient oaths nor given a noble destiny, he’s just a guy who likes coin, dislikes rules, and whose gold-chasing, rule-dodging lifestyle sees him embroiled in an ancient war between Templars and assassins quite by accident. After he’s shipwrecked with a man named Walpole who turns out to be a Templar, Edward assumes Walpole’s identity in the hopes of securing the bounty he mentioned.

Edward wears life lightly. The world around him is violent and chaotic, and those in his vicinity are more obsessed with double-crossings than a Mission:Impossible movie writers’ room. Ed just smiles, undeterred by it all, and gets on with plundering. It’s all just fun and games to him, and he is set on conquering the Caribbean on his own terms. He is a brilliant extension of the player, in that way, and that’s what this remake of the 2013 pirate-themed Assassin’s Creed does so well: the sense of freedom.

From The Wire to Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, the Academy award winner has amassed a body of work that straddles commercial and critical success
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• Sinners’ Oscar triumphs show that Black cinema is now a vital and valid part of Hollywood

Michael B Jordan’s best actor Oscar places him in an exclusive club. Only five black actors have won the award before. He now sits on a list that includes Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier, the first black winner for Lilies of the Field in 1964.

But less than a month ago, it seemed unlikely. Jordan’s success at the Actors awards was the first serious hint that he could beat Timothée Chalamet, who had won at the Golden Globes and was the frontrunner for much of the awards campaign. But Chalamet, who made a few missteps on the campaign trail, was up against one of the most well-loved actors operating in Hollywood. Jordan is someone who at only 39 years old has managed to amass a body of work that straddles commercial and critical success.

Video game publisher to cancel Prince of Persia remake and close studios after several difficult years

The video game publisher behind the Assassin’s Creed series has cancelled six projects including a remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as it fights to stay competitive in the global gaming market.

Ubisoft announced a sweeping reorganisation and said it would cancel six games, sending its shares to their lowest level in more than a decade on Thursday.