‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ showcases the best & worst of Ubisoft’s flagship series
After several delays, Assassin’s Creed Shadows—the latest installment in Ubisoft’s flagship series—will make its way to PCs and consoles on Thursday, March 20. Set in 16th century Japan with two complementary protagonists, the shinobi assassin Naoe and the samurai Yasuke, Shadows showcases the best of Assassin’s Creed with slick, shadowy gameplay; a complex story; a massive open world; and impactful decisions as controlled by the player.
Unfortunately, Shadows also showcases the worst of Assassin’s Creed with comparatively clunky gameplay; too much reliance on exposition; frustrating side quests; and a low reward-to-exploration ratio. Read on for our review.
The best of Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creed Shadows perfects the series’ core gameplay with Naoe, a shinobi assassin on a quest for vengeance. Following a brief introduction to Yasuke, her co-protagonist, Naoe is the only playable character for the first several hours of the game. Her story begins immediately and her relationships and attachments feel like the sole focus as the player begins to explore 16th century Japan. This feels similar to past games, but Shadows features new mechanics that revitalize the series.
In addition to better, more intuitive parkour mechanics than previous installments and wickedly fast combat, Shadows also offers new layers to its stealth system: hiding in darkness and crawling under buildings. Not only can Naoe extinguish flames and cling to ceiling beams, but she can also lie completely prone in grass and under structures to avoid detection. These are uniquely entertaining and frankly iconic expansions of the already robust stealth mechanics in Assassin’s Creed, and they’re immensely helpful in navigating tight quarters and well-guarded camps, castles, and forts.
Naoe also has a number of tools at her disposal including recruitable allies who can be summoned for help in open combat. Optimizing her toolbelt and moves set may require setting and resetting her skill trees throughout the game, but once everything clicks into place, it’s like magic. With a selection of gorgeous weapons and strategies to choose from, Naoe’s gameplay is a masterclass in balancing hyper-individualized, sneaky gameplay with drawing purposeful attention to create chaos and opportunities for success.
The player has ultimate control over how Naoe operates, including the decisions she makes. Recruiting allies and defeating enemies can happen in almost any order, and it’s up to the player who stays and who goes. It’s also up to the player what to prioritize, revealing her story piece by piece.
The same goes for Yasuke, whose gameplay, decisions, and story order are almost completely in the player’s hands. The player has control over whether they want to play the game primarily as Naoe, primarily as Yasuke, or as a combination of both. When Yasuke becomes a playable character and the open world is available for full exploration, a unique opportunity arises to approach quests and storylines that aren’t character-locked with whichever gameplay style the player prefers.
While Naoe is best-played by sticking to the shadows and silently tearing her enemies to pieces, Yasuke—a Black samurai inspired by the historical figure of the same name—can literally barrel into danger and smash his enemies to pieces. Both have melee and range capability.
The story complexity in Shadows is enhanced by these two protagonists, each of which goes on their own journey. This depth makes the open world feel more substantial and necessary as the player gets to know both of them not just as avatars in a video game, but as characters in a historical fantasy. And it is a fantasy: The Animus comes into play in a unique way here, as the millennia-old struggle between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order takes center stage yet again.
The worst of Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Although Assassin’s Creed Shadows has many, many shining moments, it also has significant flaws. Primarily, while the dual protagonists concept works beautifully in most instances, there’s a stark and frustrating difference between Naoe’s smooth gameplay experience and Yasuke’s much clunkier one. Perhaps because he enters the game as a fully playable PC much later, after her controls have become second nature, or perhaps because Assassin’s Creed isn’t known for its open combat mechanics, initial Yasuke gameplay is difficult to manage to the point that it’s almost annoying to have to approach certain quests as him.
Eventually, this gets better as he levels up and his equipment improves. Setting and resetting his skill trees also matters significantly, much like it does with Naoe. But there are also moments in-game where Yasuke himself acknowledges the seeming deficiencies in his gameplay—for example, while climbing to a lookout point, he declares, “That’s harder than it looks”—which feels like less of a tongue-in-cheek nod from the developers than they probably intended. It’s bizarre to have both the perfect Assassin’s Creed mechanics alongside what feels like a new series’ mechanics side-by-side in one game, and that disconnect pulled me out of the immersion rather than sinking me deeper.
Shadows also relies too heavily on exposition for both Naoe and Yasuke, with tutorial quests taking the player into the past to reveal how each arrived where they are in the present. In concept, this works because it establishes the stakes for each character and provides gameplay tips and tricks. In execution, it makes a bit of a slog out of the first several hours of the game, during which players are most likely to either get incredibly invested in the story and see it to the end or log off from boredom and frustration and never open it again.
Some side quests are also overly frustrating, punishing players who prefer “exploration” over “guided” mode and vice-versa. I love a good fetch quest, but at a certain point, running back and forth—especially across miles of in-game terrain—feels like too much input for not enough gain. Given that there’s a seemingly low reward-to-exploration ratio, even in populated areas, this makes the issue of tedium much worse.
The verdict
Ubisoft seems to have used its release delays to polish Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which is much appreciated. Naoe and Yasuke are compelling protagonists with complex and layered stories, and the game’s setting is absolutely stunning. Getting to explore the open world, perfect skill trees, and uncover the twists and turns of the plot—particularly the Animus—are not only fun, but genuinely immersive and interesting.
Shadows also offers a host of accessibility options for a variety of players and is super customizable for those who want to focus on story, combat, developing their skills, or a combination thereof. Despite its flaws, it’s still a beautiful, unique entry in the Assassin’s Creed series that will appeal to old and new players alike.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox S/X, Mac, and PC via Epic Games, Steam, and Ubisoft Connect on Thursday, March 20.
A review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
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