Skip To...
If there is one series that’s always felt like a rollercoaster ride, it is Assassin’s Creed. Ever since Ezio’s story ended, most entries have either hit great heights or plummeted to worrying lows. Yet, that has allowed Ubisoft to constantly experiment to try to find the right middle ground for a franchise that needs to progress but also embrace what made it so memorable. In that sense, Assassin’s Creed Shadows does it perfectly. It has the most enjoyable gameplay of the series and caters to both old and new fans, with an enthralling world to explore that is highly addictive for those who love going off the beaten path.
Many times, we hear the expression “return to its roots.” Whenever people ask for this, I wonder, “What are those roots?” Is it the emphasis on social stealth? The storytelling? A trilogy with just one character? Assassins that feel lethargic when doing parkour? If that’s the case, I don’t think a series needs to return to its roots to succeed. It needs to evolve while embracing and improving what made it stand out initially. Assassin’s Creed Shadows does that perfectly. As someone who’s played every game of the franchise, Shadows gave me hours of joy I had not experienced since the days of Brotherhood and Odyssey.
The Dawn of a New Creed
Shadows takes place during the late Sengoku period, or, to be more precise, the Azuchi-Momoyama era. During this period, several key figures sought to unify the land in different ways, and our two protagonists get dragged into this fight in an interesting way. In truth, the setting is fantastic. The way the world represents what was going on in Japan at that time is superb, but one thing felt disconnected throughout this 50-hour campaign.
For starters, the plot in AC Shadows suffers from its lack of cohesiveness, mainly between its characters. Take Naoe and Yasuke, for example. One quest after they meet, they start acting as if they had been friends forever. Another quest later, they are strangers. While it is minor, it was strange to see the protagonists going from friends to unlikely allies to best buddies again in the span of three missions. I would’ve loved to see a steadier evolution in the protagonists’ relationship.
I know Shadows approaches things in a non-linear fashion. While that doesn’t affect the overall plot, it certainly affects the way Naoe and Yasuke interact with each other, making it seem incoherent at times. This is sad because I enjoyed some moments between them, but the lack of cohesion sometimes made me wonder if I had to do certain quests in an exact order instead of embracing the non-linearity.
On the other hand, the story’s presentation is top-notch. While not all missions are mind-blowing, the ones involving this game’s primary targets are original and have incredible cinematic direction. Most are accompanied by wonderful music, excellent camera work, and stunning visuals. My only gripe is that, despite the fantastic direction, facial expressions are still something that Assassin’s Creed can’t seem to nail. They are a hit or miss. In some sequences, you can see the actual emotion on Naoe’s or Yasuke’s face, which looks great. In others, characters’ emotions look strange and out of place, or some have a plain poker face. It didn’t ruin my experience but certainly diminished the story’s impact in certain moments.
Finally, I played Shadows in canon mode and enjoyed it a lot. It reminded me of the old days when I just had to focus on playing an established story and enjoy it the way it was intended. However, I decided to start another playthrough to try the non-canon mode and was equally surprised. Some quests change entirely, and specific choices do matter. So, if you’ve always wanted a highly replayable Assassin’s Creed game, Shadows is the one that offers that the most.
The Shadow of Iga
Since two characters join the fray in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I want to dedicate a section to each. I’ll start with the first character of the series who truly feels like an assassin: Naoe.
In terms of gameplay, Naoe is the most refreshing assassin in the franchise. She doesn’t feel like a reskin of a previous one. She’s agile, deadly, and resourceful but also fragile, which encourages you always to have her sneak around every place she infiltrates.
She has three weapons in combat: her katana, the kusarigama, and a tanto. The first was my favorite, as it had many gap-closer skills and excellent passive bonuses that increased Naoe’s damage potential. The kusarigama is all about AoE damage, focusing on quick attacks that keep enemies at bay. I didn’t use this much since I preferred to avoid combat. My second favorite and last weapon, the tanto, was entertaining because it unlocked double assassinations and added mechanics like weak point damage and other moves requiring positioning and strategy. Naoe’s kit is excellent, but she isn’t tailored toward combat. Naoe is all about sticking to the shadows, and that’s where she shines.
Naoe has the ultimate assassin kit to take enemies out and disappear in plain sight when sneaking around. She can crawl under buildings, use her hook to grapple from a beam inside buildings, kill people through walls, and even drag people away with her grappling hook’s rope and assassinate them in a different spot to avoid detection. All without the “magical” skills we’ve seen in recent games.
During parkour, Naoe performs some of the smoothest moves that will put any other assassin to shame. There are details in every jump she performs, like when doing a wild front flip when jumping off a building. Even if the grappling hook dumbs down some parkour areas, Naoe’s movements are the slickest in the series.
Lastly, I would say that playing in expert difficulty without guaranteed assassinations is the best way. I know some hated being unable to assassinate an enemy with one in previous entries—I was one of those. I chose guaranteed assassinations when I started Shadows, but the game became too easy. When I turned them off, I felt the depth of the assassination system and worked my way to make the perfect build that let me kill all enemies with one hit—it felt more rewarding. Also, expert difficulty adds vertical detection, meaning that you can get caught while on the roofs, which added a new layer of strategy and made sneaking feel fresh throughout my whole playthrough.
Overall, Naoe is the ultimate assassin and one who sets the bar really high for future protagonists. Her animations are amazing, her kit is fantastic, and the small details in her actions are welcome. On top of that, I loved the significant difference between Naoe and Yasuke in terms of gameplay. Often, I tried fighting a big crowd with Naoe, but I was overwhelmed in seconds, forcing me to retreat. This distinction sold me the assassin archetype as someone who has to stick to the shadows and take enemies down one by one instead of being a killing machine like previous Brotherhood members. Not that I complain about how Ubisoft handled the previous protagonist, but I loved being able to control a “squishy” assassin who had to outwit her enemies and look for creative ways to kill everyone inside a specific spot.
A Samurai in a Strange Land
Our second protagonist, one I enjoyed more than I thought because of its gameplay, is Yasuke. Yasuke embodies the modern Assassin’s Creed games: Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla trilogy. He’s all about fighting face-to-face and viciously killing enemies. As someone who prefers stealth over everything else in Assassin’s Creed, I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed Yasuke, and at times, I preferred playing as him due to how refreshing it was.
Yasuke is not an assassin, a ninja, or someone remotely familiar with stealth. He has the grace of an ox when jumping. Yasuke will fumble some moves, and his leap of faith is more like a leap of I-hope-I-land-on-the-haystack. The fact that Naoe and Yasuke are vastly different kept me constantly swapping characters because, beyond the gameplay differences, they also offer a welcome break when exploring the world. Sometimes, I got tired from sneaking around roofs, so I grabbed Yasuke and started smashing enemies with his kanabo.
This samurai’s arsenal is larger than Naoe’s. Yasuke begins with a long katana focusing on quick moves, HP restoration, and parries. The naginata is a long-reach weapon that is great when fighting multiple foes. My favorite, however, is the kanabo. It is the most destructive weapon in the game. While slow, the art of breaking skulls is as easy as breaking a piñata. Beyond that, you also have a teppo rifle and a bow, of which I liked the latter more, as it let me try a few pseudo-stealth builds.
Yet, the absolute best thing about Yasuke is how he’s a moving bastion. Naoe, for instance, dies with two or three hits in expert difficulty. Yasuke, on the other hand, can take as many hits as he wants. He can brush those hits off, heal himself by killing enemies, and parry unblockable attacks with the right perks. He’s an unstoppable force that gets better with the proper gear and skills.
Last but not least, Yasuke has a more likable personality. I enjoyed his story way more and found him highly enjoyable as a protagonist. Even if Naoe takes the spotlight in most of the plot because she’s the assassin of this entry, Yasuke has fantastic narrative moments that make him one of the most memorable characters in the series.
A World With Purpose
One common complaint about past Assassin’s Creed games, and one I agree to some extent, especially in Valhalla, is the bloated open world. I loved Origins and Odyssey. But when the Vikings rolled in, the burnout kicked in quickly. Assassin’s Creed Shadows addresses this as soon as you unlock open-world exploration.
The map is still huge—way bigger than I thought. However, it has a purpose. It isn’t just a map riddled with icons with the same thing to do repeatedly. Yes, some are the same, like bandit camps and the hand-sign practice for Naoe. But all locations feel great to explore. Also, the game encourages exploration as much as possible due to the Knowledge system. Completing side activities will give you Knowledge Points. The more you have, the more ranks you can unlock, which hold new active and passive skills for both characters.
In addition, there are plenty of combat-oriented activities, too. You can get seasonal contracts that involve clearing out bandit camps each season. Some of your scouts can point out secret locations for you to find. Even a few missions level up the game’s battle pass of sorts, which, before you implode, isn’t pay-to-win; it only offers cosmetics. Also, and while not part of the actual world, the new Animus Hub is great. It brings limited-time challenges for players to tackle and useful information about the series and the ability to launch other games.
Beyond that, the Feudal Japanese setting enhances this, especially thanks to the seasons. We have four instead of just having one color palette throughout the game. Right now, I can’t tell you which season is my favorite because they all look marvelous.
On top of the looks, seasons also offer gameplay changes. In spring and summer, for instance, you have more bushes and high grass that lets you sneak easily. In winter, on the other hand, features many snow storms, which Naoe and Yasuke can use for cover, even during the day. For the first time, an Assassin’s Creed map feels like a true living environment. In addition, the small details, like people changing outfits between seasons and enemies seeking refuge during the rain, are fantastic.
Another highlight of Shadows is the new hideout. I’ve said it before, but I love how modern games embrace base-building mechanics. Of my many hours, I can say that I spent a good chunk of them inside my base. Placing cats in every corner, connecting buildings, upgrading facilities, and decorating with sakura trees were a few of the things I did. Also, the fact that you can go deco-hunting in the world to bring back a new ox for your hideout made me enjoy the open-world exploration even more.
Now, addressing the big Templar in the room: performance. I reviewed this on PC with a rig that hits the recommended specs for 1080p at 60 FPS, and I got exactly that. The game’s benchmark showed my average FPS was 57, which was precisely what I got. I got more after tweaking a few settings, so overall, performance, at least in my case, was great. It did struggle a bit in one specific area and only during fall, which was odd because when I returned to this place in other seasons, it didn’t happen. I imagine it was because of all the particle effects of leaves falling, but that was the only instance where I noticed stutter. Other than that, I’d say that optimization was great, especially for me, who has a PC that is staying behind with gaming’s beefier specs.
The Brotherhood’s Comeback
After so much discourse and worries surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I must say that you all can rest easy. Shadows is, easily the best modern Assassin’s Creed game we’ve had. While it has a few inconsistencies here and there and some minor bugs that aren’t game-breaking, this 80-hour adventure is enthralling from start to finish. Its two protagonists are well-written, the story has an excellent direction thanks to its visuals and music, and the open world is one of the most amusing and addictive I’ve seen recently and one I’ve yet to fully explore.
However, the best thing about Shadows is how it combines the old with the new. Naoe embodies the stealth and slickness of assassins in the series and even enhances it with new additions. Yasuke brings the over-the-top combat many liked from previous entries. Both of them are the perfect force as a duo. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is what you get when you combine the best of the many eras of this franchise. As a long-time fan, I only hope the bar stays this high. Shadows has proven that a series about to turn 20 years old can still evolve in the right direction and bring exhilarating moments paired with top-notch gameplay.
Assassin's Creed Shadows (PC Reviewed)
Assassin's Creed Shadows is the perfect combination of new and old. It embraces and enhances what made the series so iconic while also incorporating what worked from previous modern Assassin's Creed titles. All of these things culminate in one, if not the most enjoyable entry we've had for the series in years.
Pros
- The open-world is gorgeous
- Both characters feel unique due to their gameplay mechanics
- The best stealth mechanics of the series
Cons
- Some character interactions feel incoherent
- A few facial animations don't look so great
