With Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ releasing finally within touching distance (assuming it doesn’t get delayed again), we’ve spoken quite a bit about the action RPG in recent weeks. Ubisoft has, however, revealed a significant amount of details, of which there’s still plenty we haven’t yet touched on. Here, we’re going to continue our Assassin’s Creed Shadows coverage going, and go over some more notable details that you should know about the upcoming title.
SIDE QUESTS
Assassin’s Creed games never have any shortage of optional content on offer, and there’ll be plenty of it in Shadows as well, unsurprisingly. You can, of course, expect a hefty chunk of side quests, many of which, according to creative director Jonathan Dumont, will revolve around specific characters that players will forge bonds with (and maybe even recruit to their cause). Speaking in an interview with Screen Rant, Dumont said, “So a lot of characters that you meet, you’ll have pretty long quest lines with them. So you can meet them sometimes in the main path, sometimes just on the side. And then you build relationships with them. So sometimes you can recruit them, sometimes you can have romantic options if you feel like, and then you’re building those relationships.”
FLASHBACKS
Interestingly, another category of optional in Assassin’s Creed Shadows will go hand-in-hand with flashbacks. Tied to “meditation mechanics”, these flashbacks will reveal bits and pieces from Naoe and Yasuke’s past lives. In the aforementioned interview, Dumont said, “There’s a couple of surprises where some of the side content is sort of hidden behind a couple of meditation mechanics, where we do get to experience the past of Naoe and then Yasuke as well. So these are flashbacks that we get. So at first, you play, you don’t know exactly who they are, and then you get the full, “oh, that’s why he’s here,” or something like that.”
SPLITTING TIME BETWEEN BOTH PROTAGONISTS
Players will be spending a good amount of time with both Naoe and Yasuke, but as Shadows’ developers keep stressing, it won’t be too often that you’ll be forced to play as one or the other. According to Dumont, though Yasuke and Naoe do have their exclusive missions each, the vast majority of the game is designed to be playable as either of the two, with the gameplay adapting to the choice that you make. Speaking to Screen Rant, Dumont said, “They get individual introductions and then they get their own questline also. So that one is, let’s say Naoe, a personal questline cannot be played by Yasuke and those are two distinct things. But the core of the game can be pick your character and the game adapts.”
RUMOURED CO-OP MODE
Though a single-player experience like its predecessors, with two central protagonists with unique play styles, Assassin’s Creed Shadows seems pretty well-suited to co-op gameplay. As luck would have it, leaks have claimed that a co-op mode is in fact currently in the works. Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson claimed in a report last October that a co-op mode for Shadows, in development under the codename LEAGUE, will release following the action RPG’s release and allow Naoe and Yasuke to be playable simultaneously by two players. When the mode will arrive exactly remains to be seen.
MORE DETAILS ON SEASONS
We’ve spoken in the past about how changing seasons will affect the gameplay in Shadows– here’s a few more fun examples on that front. During winter, you’ll frequently spot icicles hanging off of roofs, which you’ll be able to break to distract enemies with the noise they’ll make upon impact. Meanwhile, when it’s raining, you’ll notice that enemies will also change their patrols in stealth, with units belonging to higher social classes seeking out shelter indoors or under roofs while the grunts stay outside.
OBSERVE MECHANIC
Eagle Vision’s return to mainline Assassin’s Creed with Shadows is exciting enough, but where it will only be available to Naoe, the new Observe mechanic – which functions sort of along the same lines – will be accessible by both characters. Described as “a fast and easy way to toggle additional information on screen”, the Observe mechanic will highlight things such as loot, collectibles, and quest objectives, and can also be used to identify targets and tag enemies.
SAFEHOUSES
On top of a customizable hub referred to as the Hideout that you’ll keep returning to, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ world will also feature several smaller safehouses scattered in different locations. Called kukurega, safehouses will let you access your gear stash, manage scouts and allies, replenish things such as ammo and rations, accept new contracts, and more. Of course, each safehouse will also serve as a fast travel point.
BRIBING OFFICIALS
There’ll be several ways to become better informed about the world as you explore it in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. One will be bribing officials, something that Assassin’s Creed fans have been used to doing over the years. In Shadows, bribing officials will reveal new information on your targets, making it easier to identify and track them down.
PATHFINDER
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is seemingly putting much greater emphasis than its predecessors on organic exploration, which hopefully means getting lost in its world will be its own kind of fun. Should you get too lost, however, the game will also feature a pathfinding tool to help you find your way back, as you’d expect. Toggle the feature on and a white line will appear on-screen to show you the best path to your quest objective or map marker.
NO BATTLE PASS WITH ANIMUS HUB
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will launch right alongside the new Animus Hub, which is meant as a central platform that all games in the series will be tied to going forward. What should we expect from it in terms of monetization, however? All the way back in November, Ubisoft confirmed that there will be no paid battle pass or subscription fees tied to the Animus Hub. How the company does plan on monetizing the platform remains to be seen.
RAY TRACING
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will tout ray tracing features on PC, and depending on how powerful your hardware is, you’ll be able to scale things differently. On the lowest rung is selective ray tracing, which will allow you to run the game with software-based ray tracing even if you’re using pre-RTX GPUs. With selective ray tracing enabled, ray tracing features will only be enabled in the Hideout. Then there’s standard ray tracing, which will tout real-time global illumination, while extended ray tracing will also bring real-time reflections.
STANDARD RT PC REQUIRMENTS
We’ve previously spoken about the lowest and highest system requirements for Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ PC version, but there’s plenty in the middle left to cover. Many will be looking to play the game with the aforementioned standard ray tracing features, for which Ubisoft has detailed two different presets. To play with standard ray tracing at 1080p and 30 FPS, you’ll need either an i7 8700K or a Ryzen 5 3600, along with either a GeForce RTX 2070, a Radeon RX 6700 XT, or an Arc B580. To kick it up to 1440p and 60 FPS, meanwhile, you’ll need either an i5 11600K or a Ryzen 5 5600X, along with either a GeForce RTX 4070 Super or a Radeon RX 7800 XT. Both setups will also need an SSD and 16 GB of RAM.
STEAM
Unlike many of Ubisoft’s recent major releases, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to be available on Steam right at launch. That said, it has been confirmed that you will need to have a Ubisoft Connect account linked to your Steam to be able to play the game.
NOT STEAM DECK COMPATIBLE
If you were hoping to clamber over the rooftops of feudal Japan portably, sadly, that won’t be an option- at launch, at least. Ubisoft has confirmed that the game won’t be Steam Deck compatible upon its release, owing to its high system requirements. Whether we can expect things to change post-launch hasn’t yet been confirmed.
4K/60 FPS MODE
We’ve spoken quite a bit about Shadows’ PC version- but what about console players? Well, there’s reason to be excited, from a technical standpoint. As per Ubisoft, on both PS5 and Xbox Series X, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature a performance mode that will run the game at an upscaled 2160p and 60 FPS. Details haven’t yet been shared on the game’s Xbox Series S and PS5 Pro versions, however.
