Assassin’s Creed games have always displayed proud adherence to history (and supposedly historical accuracy) even after pivoting to the semi-fantasy RPG genre. Now, with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft is setting the record straight by laying out a canon story and will even let players play with a Canon Mode that essentially railroads them down that established plot.
With this move, it appears Ubisoft plans to expand the target audience for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The new Canon Mode was revealed in a Reddit AMA via Jonathan Dumont. According to Dumont, the fans are divided on branching dialogs so the devs had to introduce a Canon Mode that will make the choices for players.
“Choices come more into play when recruiting allies and romance some of the characters. Since the fan base is divided on branching dialogues, we have incorporated an option called CANON MODE which allows you to play the game with choices already made for you, to give you a choice free experience. Hope this makes it fun for everyone,” explains Jonathan Dumont.
It’s worth noting that Canon Mode is completely optional and players who still prefer the core RPG experience of making their own choices to change the story can still do so. Many players who prefer the more standard action-adventure experience, however, have praised the inclusion of Canon Mode.
Canon Mode Could Prioritize Historical Accuracy
Canon Mode will apparently encompass romance and even affect the allies you recruit in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Moreover, the new feature will set established lore for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, something that will presumably be closer to historical accuracy since that has always been the overarching canon for Assassin’s Creed games.
Other than Canon Mode, Jonathan Dumont also mentioned an Immersive Mode which will change the game’s voice-over language to Japanese (but with English subtitles). The feature would thus be similar to Ghost of Tsushima.
However, some players have argued that Immersive Mode won’t be immersive enough if everyone speaks Japanese and that foreigners speaking Portuguese or their own native languages could add more to the immersion. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is based in 16th century Japan, after all– an era in Japan where European explorers and merchants were present in major cities.
