Things aren't going smoothly for Ubisoft right now. The publisher had a difficult 2024: Star Wars Outlaws unable to meet sales expectations and the word XDefiantdemise will occur approximately six months after the debut of the tactical shooter. Skull and crossbones Finally it also arrived, but it was some kind of damp squib.
Amid rumors about the company is for sale or separating some of its assets into joint venture with TencentUbisoft really needs a win. He won't have a better chance to do that any time soon than with the help of Assassin's Creed Shadows. After several delays, the latest game in the company's flagship series is being released. should arrive March 20th.
A few hours later from AC shadowsthere are positive signs. The game at least looks and plays well enough for what Ubisoft needs, with the company treading the line between being an extremely safe game and trying something different.
After success AC Origins, Odyssey And Valhalla (and also nicely smaller scale Mirage), Shadows somewhat marks new territory for Assassin's Creed. It is the first game in the series to be directly related to the Animus Hub project (formerly known as Infinity).
Before the swan dives in Assassin's Creed Shadowsyou will enter the Animus Center. From here you can access various Assassin's Creed games (Shadows and the previous four main line entries) from the memory section. They are placed on an easy to navigate timeline.
The “Anomalies” section presents missions for Shadowswhich will offer exclusive rewards such as weapons and equipment. You can customize your characters' gear in the trading section and explore the stories of modern AC games through the vault.
The Animus Hub will expand in the coming years as Ubisoft releases more games. This is an ambitious project that aims to unite the series together. It was reported that the company will try to turn the series around into a real service project with the Animus Center and we see glimpses of it in these missions. As it stands, it's not much, but Ubisoft clearly has big ambitions.
Shadows takes the action to the long-awaited frontier of Assassin's Creed: 16th century Japan. Another important thing this time is that you can switch between two characters. At various points in the story, you'll be able to play as either Yasuke or Naoe, and, at least in the open world, you'll be able to switch between them on the fly. Trading can come in handy when one character is wanted by enemies, as the other can remain anonymous.
Yasuke is the tank of the two, capable of ramming certain doors while sprinting. He can use ranged weapons such as pistols and bows, so some players may want to use him to kill a few enemies from afar early in the mission. He can confuse villains using his kanabo also a military club.
Naoe looks more like a traditional Assassin's Creed hero. She is much more agile and her parkour skills are top notch. The shinobi can quickly climb the walls of buildings, and she has a grappling hook that helps her reach higher parts of buildings and jump over gaps. In direct combat, Naoe can kick an enemy in the teeth or swing behind them to slit their throat.
Perhaps most importantly (at least from what I've seen of the game), Naoe is the only one of the duo to have the classic hidden blade. Yasuke can still sneak up on an opponent to destroy them with the press of a button, but his “brutal kill” involves him impaling the enemy with his sword and lifting them into the sky. Not exactly subtle.
Switching between Naoe and Yasuke is almost as easy as, say, between Peter and Miles in Spider-Man Marvel 2. The latter requires a couple of quick in-game actions, and the action quickly moves on to the other Spider-Man. IN Assassin's Creed Shadowsswapping characters means going to the menu, holding down the button and waiting literally a couple of seconds until another hero replaces them.
However, in the prologue, which is one of two sections I played, there is no immediate character change. Unsurprisingly, this serves as an introduction to the story and how to actually play the game.
For the first time in Assassin's Creed, one of the game characters actually existed in real life. It won't take long for players to learn how Yasuke, a black African, became a samurai. After a brief introduction to the story, we move forward six months to an action scene. This is an effective way to begin to understand what Yasuke is capable of, including special attacks such as a rushing sword slash.
Once his short action sequence comes to an end, we fast forward to the beginning of the night and Naoe's introduction. After an important box (the contents of which remain a mystery) is stolen, she is sent to retrieve it from the premises. This short mission highlights some of the features of stealth.
One of the interesting additions to this game is the ability to turn off lights at night to create special hiding spots in the shadows. Naoe can extinguish candles and destroy lamps from afar using kunai or shuriken. This may not be necessary depending on the terrain (and difficulty level) and how quickly you can run across the rooftops when you are spotted.
The second section I played was the exploration mission. I had to get to the bottom of the mystery by completing some tasks and gathering information. All of this led to an inevitable but satisfying boss fight and a satisfying resolution to the quest.
Structure Assassin's Creed Shadows Suitable for multiple playthroughs for those who are really into it. I spent most of the preview playing as Naoe, but I'm interested to see how things are different as Yasuke. There are dialogue options throughout the game, but there is a canon mode that will eliminate those options and give you the canonical story. Players can also switch the dialogue language between Japanese and Portuguese for a deeper immersion after completing the game in their native language.
Some of the gameplay changes Ubisoft implemented this time around really shook things up. Eagle Vision now allows Naoe to locate and tag enemies through walls. Her smoke bombs and distraction bells come in handy when there are too many enemies for her to fight. Both characters can also lie prone, allowing for more opportunities to hide and sneak around.
I quickly tried a couple of extra activities, such as peacefully sneaking up on animals in certain situations to sketch them. In terms of slowing things down for some peace of mind, it's a bit like the sequence of haiku compositions in Ghost of Tsushima (it should be noted the continuation of this game, Ghost of Yotei planned for release in 2025 and could compete Shadows of Assassin's Creed.)
It wasn't entirely clear from what I saw, but it seems like Ubisoft has cut out a lot of the fluff that usually fills Assassin's Creed maps, which would help this game feel less overwhelming. By going up to a vantage point and syncing, you'll only see the important places and not everything worth seeing in the area. The company backed down a bit from inflating the card. Mirageso perhaps some positive lessons were learned from this approach.
Add it all up and I left the session feeling quite satisfied. The game looks absolutely normal. It's about what you'd expect from an Assassin's Creed game these days, but with enough tweaks, new features, and quality of life upgrades to make it compelling enough. It feels like a decent entry point into the series while still providing enough interest for longtime fans. Whatever it takes, I'm ready to play some more, like the one who finished Assassin's Creed Mirage but fell out of Valhalla in about 10 hours.
I'm looking forward to playing more Assassin's Creed Shadows and see, for example, how a weather system changes the situation. In winter, lakes freeze, making it impossible to swim or hide under water. Icicles can also be used as a distraction. I didn't bother to try out the spy recruitment system, which would seem to be useful during investigations.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is inherently superior to many other Ubisoft games given the popularity of the series. He seemed poised for success, but he appears to be in good enough shape to succeed. If so, this could help Ubisoft finally redirect its ship away from the rocks.
Assassin's Creed Shadows will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, Mac (and eventually iPad), Ubisoft+ and Amazon Luna on March 20th.