Assassin’s Creed has been lost in the wilderness for some time now with fans split firmly into two camps. On one side, you have the traditionalists that stand firmly behind the pre-Originstitles, preferring their narrative linearity, urban cities for advanced parkour and a blend of mechanics that made you feel like an assassin. On the other hand are the RPG fans who crave the open worlds, narrative choices and more action-packed combat of the post-Originstitles. At the center is Ubisoft and its studios, who have not only struggled to find a middle ground that pleases both camps, but have stumbled through numerous controversies over the last few years. Botched launches, copying and pasting of design ideas and intense monetization of every release has hurt their reputation over time. Suffice to say, there’s a lot riding onAssassin’s Creed Shadows, the first mainline entry since 2020. After two major delays to polish the game and promises that it would blend elements to make both camps happy,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis finally here. IsAssassin’s Creed Shadowsthe hail mary Assassin’s Creed and Ubisoft needed or should this game have stayed in the shadows?
The Animus Explores Two Genetic Memory Strains In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Samurai and Shinobi hunt from the shadows in Feudal Japan.
Two worlds, one family
Assassin’s Creed Shadowstakes place in Feudal Japan, during the final stage of the Sengoku period. It’s a great time of upheaval and civil war in Japan. Oda Nobunaga, to finish uniting Japan’s disparate factions, launches an invasion of the Iga province with Yaskue, his trusted samurai, by his side. On the opposite end is Naoe, entrusted with carrying on her parent’s legacy as a shinobi and forced to witness Nobunaga’s invasion of her homeland. Both character’s fates are forever altered after a series of events that leave them betrayed and seeking revenge. Realizing they can do more good for Japan together, Yaskue and Naoe form a new brotherhood that seeks to rid Japan of a mysterious group seeking to undermine its stability, the Shinbakufu.
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis a return to form for an Assassin’s Creed narrative. The sprawling, multiple-option narratives ofOdyssey,ValhallaandMiragehave been mostly tossed out in favor of a linear narrative that allows for Naoe and Yaskue to grow as characters as they deal with the trauma of their pasts and cleanse Japan of the Shinbakufu’s corruption. Naoe and Yaskue feel like real characters whose experiences shape them over the course of the narrative, particularly if you choose the Canon story option. For those who prefer the RPG-aspects, the narrative still offers narrative freedom through dialogue choices.
Overall, the storyAssassin’s Creed Shadowsspins is interesting because of its two leads and how they interact with the Shinbakufu’s conspiracy. Who each member of the group is, including its grandmaster, is obviously telegraphed with every plot twist being so obvious to the point of inducing eye-rolling. It still mostly works, however, by focusing on character development and pacing. Unlike the previous few RPG-era titles, the narrative rarely slows down to force level grinding or to hunt random members of the villainous order.
That’s not to sayShadows’narrative is a slam dunk. In addition to its lack of plot twists, it also has a poor start. Act 1 is slow, forcing players into playing a single-minded and extremely-unlikable Naoe. The plot improves immensely post-Act 1 and reaches an emotional crescendo in Act 3 and the Epilogue, but getting through the first part ofAssassin’s Creed Shadowsis a slog. Perhaps even more damaging to the narrative is its presentation. The low-quality, erratic and robotic conversation animations that have plagued the franchise sinceOdysseyreturn inShadows. Distracting and intrusive, these horrible animations have the power to turn moments that should be emotionally powerful or spectacularly action-filled into comedy bits.
For those interested in the modern-day plot, particularly afterValhalla’stwist, prepare to be disappointed.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsdoesn’t even bother addressing what’s going on in the modern day. Outside some vague references by a mysterious figure that randomly hacks into the Animus, this is the least the modern-day plot has mattered sinceAssassin’s Creed Unity.
The storyAssassin’s Creed Shadowstells is worthwhile. Anchored by Naoe and Yaskue, seeing how their stories unfold is the true highlight of the narrative. What truly helpsShadowsstand out from its most immediate predecessors is how the narrative doesn’t waste your time. Taking between 20-25 hours to complete,Shadowsrarely forces narrative-focused players off the main path. There may be a bit of level grinding every now and again, but there’s nothing as egregious as we’ve seen inOrigins,OdysseyorValhalla.
Welcome to Japan
RPG-era fans will be delighted to know that the open-world is just as vast, open and filled with activities as previous games. No, it’s not as large as Greece inOdysseyor England inValhalla, but the playable area of Japan is wide and vast and never feels overwhelming. Even for narrative-focused players, it’s easy to get lost in the beauty ofShadows’recreation of Japan. This does mean it is yet another Assassin’s Creed game without many great options for parkour. While parkour looks flashier and has more available options thanOrigins,OdysseyorValhalla, this is not a return to the mechanical depth of the pre-Origins era.
Within the Japanese setting you’ll find typical Assassin’s Creed and Ubisoft fare, including viewpoints, side quests, various trials and the crown jewel of side activities, Castles. Highly fortified and filled to the brim with challenge and rewards, Castles are the showcase forAssassin’s Creed Shadows’best gameplay feature: stealth. Of the three major pillars of Assassin’s Creed (parkour, stealth and combat), it’s stealth that’s gotten the largest overhaul, making it the most mechanically deep stealth system yet in an Assassin’s Creed game. Naoe is given a vast toolkit of traversal options (crouching, prone, grapple hook, etc.) and items (i.e. Kunai, bells, smoke bombs, etc.) that open up various approaches when infiltrating a Castle. Leaping across rooftops, laying traps, assassinating Samurai Daisho and collecting loot is some of the most fun you can have playingAssassin’s Creed Shadows, but there are two catches – you have play as Naoe and you have to enable one-hit assassinations.
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Combat, on paper, is deeper than the mindless melee combat of Valhalla. The new Posture system adds depth, allowing the creation of more thoughtful and deadly combos. That combined with fun weapons, particularly the Naginata, makes dueling one-on-one or with small groups of enemies quite enjoyable. Much like stealth, however, there are two catches: you have to play as Yaskue and you have to deal withShadows’RPG quirks.
RPG shenanigans
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’gameplay is ultimately undermined by its RPG mechanics, turning enjoyable experiences into a grindy, tedious chore as you attempt to defeat spongey enemies. Stealth is deflating once you realize your Hidden “Blade” is more of a Hidden “Butter Knife” unless you sink a copious amount of time into upgrading it. Meanwhile, all mechanical depth from combat is thrown away once you see how little damage your attacks can do, even if you are appropriately leveled. Similar games likeGhost of TsushimaandRise of the Roninalready figured how to blend RPG elements into their action without making their enemies damage sponges. It’s disappointingAssassin’s Creed Shadowsdidn’t learn from them. Thankfully, Ubisoft does provide the options to turn on one-hit assassinations, but there’s no such settings to tone down combat’s tedium.
More disappointing is howShadowstreats its two protagonists. Essentially, Naoe and Yaskue are only good for one thing each. Naoe has all the tools and moves to provide a top-notch stealth experience, while Yaskue has the weapons and brute force for combat. Theoretically, you may use Yaskue for stealth and Naoe for combat, butShadowsspecifically goes out of the way to make the experience terrible for each of them. Yaskue can sneak around, but it’s so easy to trigger enemies it’s not even worth bothering. Meanwhile, Naoe is so weak that she can only produce chip damage in the mid-to-late game. The big problem? The game actively puts Naoe in situations she must fight and Yaskue in situations where stealth is the better option. What’s wild is thatAssassin’s Creed Syndicatealso featured dual protagonists where one was better at combat and the other at stealth, yet both Jacob and Evie still had viable options to excel in either scenario. In this case, it’s curious why Ubisoft Quebec, who developedSyndicate, didn’t take lessons learned from their own game.
Of the three major pillars of Assassin’s Creed (parkour, stealth, and combat), it’s stealth that’s gotten the largest overhaul, making it the most mechanically deep stealth system yet in an Assassin’s Creed game.
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis fun with stealth and combat that’s leagues better and more mechanically rich than what we’ve gotten the past few entries. Naoe and Yaskue are both fun and satisfying to play as, even if they feel useless in areas they don’t excel. It’s also unfortunate that the RPG mechanics render a lot of it tedious.Shadowsis a unique case where altering the settings (turning on one-hit assassinations) or even lowering the difficulty to reduce the sponginess of the enemies is the best option.
Current-gen sparkle
As the first Assassin’s Creed game to launch exclusively for current-gen consoles and PC, expectations were high forAssassin’s Creed Shadows’presentation. Regardless of what era you prefer, the franchise has always excelled at recreating historical settings. Thankfully,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsdoes deliver on that front. Japan is beautifully recreated with highly-detailed architecture, stunning fire, snow and water effects, and a seasonal system that keeps the look of Japan fresh. Even character details have been beefed up, offering more realistic and detailed skin texturing, hair tessellation and clothing/armor details. Not everything is perfect as lighting exposure can be a bit intense and make it appear as if Vaseline has been smeared across the screen, but that can thankfully be altered in the settings.
WhereAssassin’s Creed Shadows’presentation trips up is in its cutscene animations. As previously mentioned, the robotic, jittery animations that play during cutscenes are extremely off-putting. They never feel quite right, especially when paired with the more realistic character models. For a franchise that once was at the cutting edge of animation quality and storytelling,Shadowsis a massive fall from grace. The game at least launches with few performance issues outside a couple of minor crashes.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis a beautiful game to look at. It’s just unfortunate those animation issues are so prominent.
Closing Comments:
Assassin’s Creed Shadowshad a lot of elements on paper that made it sound like it could be the best Assassin’s Creed game in years. It was finally going to be set in the long-requested Japanese setting, classic era fans were getting a narrative-focused experience and a greater focus on stealth, and RPG-era fans were getting their vast open-world and activities. WhileShadowsdoes deliver on a lot of these aspects, it also falls short on nearly as many. Yaskue and Naoe are fantastic characters with stories worth witnessing from start to end, but their stories are told with some of the franchise’s worst animations. The world is beautiful to explore, yet parkour remains an afterthought. Both combat and stealth are the most mechanically deep they’ve ever been, yet are both hampered by RPG mechanics that dilute their effectiveness and make them unnecessarily tedious. Naoe and Yaskue are both great to play as, but they only excel in the areas Ubisoft Quebec has pre-determined they can excel at.Shadowsdoes continue the series’ proud tradition of looking stunning but lags behind in the animation department.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis a decent game that delivers a good narrative, a set of great protagonists and strong gameplay, but never fully commits to melding the best aspects of both eras into a truly great package.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5 (Pro)
Experience an epic historical action-adventure story set in feudal Japan! Become a lethal shinobi Assassin and a powerful legendary samurai as you explore a beautiful open world in a time of chaos. Switch seamlessly between two unlikely allies as you discover their common destiny. Master complementary playstyles, create your shinobi league, customize your hideout, and usher in a new era for Japan.• Explore the captivating open world of feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments.• Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power. Unlock new skills, gear, and progression independently for each character.• Make information your weapon as you explore the world, and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.• Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base’s layout, decorations, and accessories.
