Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, from copies of the game reaching gamers early to a mixed reception during the preview and some controversies surrounding the protagonist. But once the dust has settled, we need to answer one simple question—Is this the long-awaited Assassin’s Creed set in Japan that fans have been asking for?
Table of Contents
Story
Before we get into the story, I want to address something that might be a very small spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. For the first 6-8 hours of the game, you play as Naoe only. This is done for story reasons and you get a hang of playing as a nimble agile “ninja” assassin. By the time you get to take control of Yasuke, you are very familiar with the pros and limitations of being an Assassin. The gameplay (and parts of the story) dynamically change when you can switch between the 2 protagonists as Yasuke controls like a tank (in a good way). More on this in the gameplay section.
The game is set in 1579 Japan where “the country is on a brutal path toward unification
driven by the iron will of daimyo Oda Nobunaga”. You take on the role of Naoe who finds herself walking the path of an Assassin because of her father’s secrets, which Naoe must now defend. It’s a lot like the start of Ezio’s journey from Assassins Creed 2. Along the journey, you meet Yasuke, who teams up with you to take on a list of “Templars” that you must take down. There are a bunch of intertwining side stories that tie into the bigger picture, and I don’t want to spoil anything by giving more details.
While there are aspects of the story that reminded me of the TV show Shōgun, it is still a “video game” story, and that’s not a bad thing. The only problem I have with the story is that a bit of fluff is added in the middle to prolong the life of the game, which could have been shorter. The game is super long to begin with, especially if you want to take on a lot of the side activities.
Gameplay
I enjoyed the gameplay of Assassins Creed Shadows with just some minor gripes. While a lot of people will compare it to Ghost of Tsushima, I would say that both have their own unique style. Assassins Creed Shadows leans more into the “traditional” Assassins Creed-style gameplay akin to what we’ve seen since Assassins Creed Origins. The protagonists can now go prone, which is a no-brainer and works exactly as you’d expect. You can also hide in bushes, and there is a light meter that shows how visible you are (similar to Splinter Cell), and this works best for missions taken at night.
Let’s look at how Naoe and Yasuke differ in their gameplay style. Naoe is a more nimble, fast-moving Assassin who is more acrobatic with her traversal and can throw her grappling hook to climb (very much like Tsushima’s Jin Sakai). She has her trusty Assassin blade to take down enemies and also has throwing knives, shurikens, smoke bombs, and more to distract and assassinate her foes. The best way to play as Naoe is stealthily, but if 2-3 guards notice you, you can use her katana, kusarigama, and tanto to dispatch the foes. You can also run and hide out of sight and go back to quietly assassinating. There is the standard upgrade tree that gives you new abilities. However, new levels of the upgrade tree are unlocked by gathering knowledge points – a good reason to take on some side quests. Naoe is also the easiest character to unlock fast travel viewpoints that Yasuke cannot reach.
Moving over to Yasuke, he is built like a tank. For his tank-like avatar, he has access to a Long Katana, Naginata, Kanabo, Yumi Bow, and a Teppo Rifle. If you want to infiltrate guns blazing, then you play as Yasuke, and his tutorial teaches you the same. While he can sneak around and clumsily assassinate guards, he is meant to fulfil the samurai dream. He may not be able to reach the viewpoints, but somewhere close to most viewpoints, you have small assassin hideouts that you can use to fast travel too. Traversing the environment as Yasuke, I didn’t find it hard or cumbersome to reach my destination. He is slower at climbing and jumping between buildings, but not in a way that hindered my experience.
There are missions, side quests, and puzzles that require the unique skills of each playable character, so you will end up switching between them quite a bit. After unlocking most viewpoints, I found myself choosing Yasuke as my primary playable character more often than I thought I would, which was surprising as well as fun.
My only gripe with switching between the 2 is that it is a process. You need to go into the pause menu, go to the character screen, hold a button on the controller, wait for a loading screen, and then take control of the new character. Considering how seamless the character switching is in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, I found this to have more steps than required. You can, however, switch characters while fast-traveling, which is nice.
As for content, there is a lot to do in Assassins Creed Shadows. Like the past few Assassin’s Creed games, each area has a minimum level you need to reach before you can navigate it comfortably. There is a ton of side content from recruiting people for your guild to helping the locals, taking on high-level Ronins, clearing bandit camps, and so on. It can be a lot of fun and towards the end can also feel a bit grindy, repetitive and bloated. But the variety is good. My only problem with clearing the bandit camps and guarded viewpoints is that every time I return to the area, the enemies have respawned. Why can’t it be like Ghost of Tsushima? You “liberate” a bandit camp and it is inhabited by regular people from the get-go. Sure, for Ubisoft online weekly missions, I did find a few assassinations and loot in the same bandit camp, but those could be “raided” again by bandits and need to be liberated again. There needs to be a better solution and this is my biggest problem with the game.
Additionally, there are other side quests which are a lot of fun. There are some parkour-specific sections and underground puzzles for Naoe, some challenging heavy-lifting puzzles for Yasuke and some mediation points that give you a glimpse into the history of our protagonists. Mix and match these quests and you have very diverse gameplay and objectives to tackle.
When navigating the map you can have “guided” mode on or off. On will show you traditional map markers to follow. Switch them off and you will get hints as to where your next objective is and you can deploy your “scouts” to find the accurate location. You have limited scouts per season, so keep that in mind. You will need to spend in-game currency to replenish your scouts if you need them. Personally, I kept the guided mode on as I like to follow traditional markers.
Graphics and Sound
Kicking things off with the graphics, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one of the best-looking games I’ve played. The production value placed in the main narratives’ cutscenes is stunning. The side quests may have some basic conversations and animations, but the main quest and main mission cutscenes have AAA production value. The world and the environment look stunning in each of the 4 seasons, with winter covering the land in pearl-white snow and autumn showing you bright leaves on trees. The rain effects in the game are stunning too. Each environmental and day-night cycle affects enemy positions, their ability to spot you, your ability to find hiding spots, and so on. It’s just a lot of fun refreshing the mechanics every few hours.
The fluidity of the parkour and action is stunning. This is one game I wouldn’t mind sitting and watching someone play just for how fluid it is. It reminds me a lot of the fluidity I loved back in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
You have the option of a Performance mode (60FPS), Quality mode (30FPS) and Balanced mode (40FPS on a 120Hz capable TV). I mostly played the game in Balanced mode and found that to be the best experience.
Moving over to sound, the voice acting of the game is top-notch. You have a “cannon” mode where the voiceover is in Japanese and Portuguese based on what’s happening on screen, but I chose to play the game in English and the experience was very good. I have no complaints about the voice acting in the game overall.
What stands out are the sound effects in the game. From the calming chimes during the meditation sequences to the clashing of swords and the bang of your rifle, it is all very immersive. While playing on a PS5, the sound of some of Katana’s clashes came from the controller, adding to the immersion.
Verdict
I liked Assassins Creed Shadows a lot more than I thought I would. If this is your first Assassin’s Creed game, the combat will undoubtedly blow you away, with stunning visuals and a fun story. However, some bloatware and the overwhelming options for loot might frustrate you a little. If you are a fan of the franchise, this one is much better than Valhalla when it comes to story and level progression. It is a very good game, and the dynamics, along with the gameplay diversity of the two protagonists, are very good. I only wish the character switching was as seamless as Marve’s Spider-Man 2, and there was less of the standard Ubisoft bloatware that we have seen in recent games from the publisher.
Editor’s rating: 8.5/10
Pros
- Visually stunning
- Good story
- Two protagonists with diverse gameplay
- A lot to do in the open world
Cons
- Standard Ubisoft bloatware
- Character Switching could be more seamless
More Info:
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Reviewed on: PS5
We played a review copy of Assassins Creed Shadows provided by Ubisoft.
