Why You Need to Look Forward to Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Simply by virtue of being Assassin’s Creed, any time a new game in the series releases, it stands as one of the biggest new titles of its year. There are exceptions to that, of course – such as 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which was explicitly marketed as a smaller, cheaper, more compact sidequel to keep players occupied until the series’ Next Big Thing™ arrived. Well, guess what- that Next Big Thing™ is almost upon us, and appropriately enough, it is looking quite significant in its stature. Unless things go spectacularly wrong – which, admittedly, has been a worryingly common occurrence with even the most major of Ubisoft releases in recent years – it’s likely that Assassin’s Creed Shadows ends the year as one of its biggest, most prominent releases.

In fact, for many longtime fans of the series, this release feels more significant than many other past flagship Assassin’s Creed titles. There are several reasons for that, but chief among them has to be the fact that with Shadows, we’re finally getting the feudal Japan Assassin’s Creed setting that fans have been begging for for what feels like forever at this point. Since the series’ earliest days, Japan has been one of Assassin’s Creed’s most widely requested settings, so naturally, excitement surrounding the series’ long-awaited visit to the region is high.

There are some who, on the flipside, might argue that maybe Assassin’s Creed has taken a little bit too long to make its way to Japan- or, more specifically, that Ghost of Tsushima may have eaten its lunch by getting to it first, and doing it so well that many no longer feel the thirst for such a game that they once did. For many, an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan feels way less necessary in a post-Ghost of Tsushima world, while others still will argue that even if there’s still enough demand for such an experience (which there obviously will be), Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to have a tough time of doing things as well as Ghost did when it launched close to five years ago.

Looking at the up-and-down trajectory of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, at how it has exacerbated some of its worst tendencies with bloated open world design in its action RPG era, and at the terrible vein of form that Ubisoft has been in in recent years, it’s hard not to see the merit in the skeptics’ arguments. Then again. as the eternal optimist (especially when it comes to Assassin’s Creed, a longtime personal favourite of mine), I can’t help but look at Shadows and grow increasingly confident about how it’s taking shape. As the open world action RPG has approached its release, with each new info drop, trailer, and gameplay showing, it has looked progressively better, and the promises that its developers have made have been all the right ones.

Take, for instance, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ commitment (at least according to its developers) to keep a wary eye on its size and scope to try and ensure things don’t go out of hand quite the way they did with the notoriously bloated and unnecessarily massive monstrosity that was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Time and again we have heard from Shadows’ development team that in terms of map size, the game is going to be roughly comparable to 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins– which means it’s still going to be a big game no matter how you cut it, only not excessively so. As far as its runtime is concerned, meanwhile, Shadows’ developers have once again promised an experience closer to Origins and Odyssey than Valhalla- which, again, is still a massive game, to the extent that many might still feel like there’s plenty that can be trimmed there. It is, however, a decided step back from the excessiveness of Valhalla, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

But that’s not all- not by a stretch. Because the changes and tweaks that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is making on a more fundamental level – i.e. with things such as gameplay and design – are also showing a great deal of promise. Especially if you’re a longtime Assassin’s Creed fan who has grown increasingly dissatisfied with how much the series has deviated from its original vision, some of the ways that the pendulum is swinging back with Shadows will sound particularly exciting. Stealth and parkour were the two things that Assassin’s Creed games were always designed around first and foremost, and Shadows is promising some potentially excellent changes.

The introduction of Naoe the shinobi as one of two central mechanics will usher in a renewed focus on stealth, with the characters’ core moveset being focused around agile movement and espionage first and foremost. For the out-and-out combat fans, Yasuke will provide alternative options, but if you’re looking to stealthily slip into an enemy base and try and get to your accomplish with as little hubbub as possible, in the manner that old school Assassin’s Creed games used to allow for, Naoe’s moveset and toolset will allow you to do just that. From being able to go prone and crawl around to having things such as chimes and smoke bombs to use to new light and shadow mechanics that will let you create dynamic new hiding spots by destroying light sources- in several ways, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is putting the spotlight back on stealth, which, for longtime series fans, is quite exciting.

Parkour is seeing a similar switch back to an older, more precise style of gameplay. Assassin’s Cred Origins introduced a new “climb anywhere” mentality that the series has since then stuck with, with the exception of the aforementioned Mirage. Shadows, like Mirage, is going to be more in line with the pre-Origins titles in this department. Every single surface will not be climbable, with handholds and ledges and cracks and what have you having actual importance where movement is concerned. Meanwhile, Naoe is also going to have access to a grappling hook, which also promises to spice up traversal in some interesting ways.

And for those hoping to get the most out of exploring a vast, open world, feudal Japan map- Shadows is also approaching exploration in a manner that – at least on paper – is checking all the right boxes. The game is promising organic exploration that will prioritize immersion and detail over density of content, a problem that Valhalla fell prey to. Rather than inundating players with optional content and markers and what have you every few seconds, Shadows’ world is promising environmental diversity, gorgeously detailed locales, and a design style that will more organically take you from distraction to distraction- hopefully in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re crossing off a checklist. That kind of open world design is obviously quite difficult to pull off, but if Shadows can make good on its promises, it’ll be quite a step up from its immediate predecessors.

And that, ultimately, is the thing with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It’s making a lot of the right promises, which, if it can actually make good on, could easily make for one of the series’ best outings in years. But will it actually succeed there? There’s been increasing confidence in the lead up to the game’s release that it will, even as Ubisoft’s misfortunes and mistakes continue to pile one on top of another. Hopefully, Shadows will break the company out of that rut and turn out to be the long, long wait we’ve had to endure for Assassin’s Creed’s visit to feudal Japan.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.