Assassin’s Creed Shadows is almost upon us, and anticipation surrounding the action RPG is continuing to mount. A new entry in a massive franchise like Assassin’s Creed is of course expected to turn its fair share of heads, but beyond that, there’s still no shortage of reasons to be looking forward to Shadows in particular- for longtime fans of the franchise especially. Here are five reasons for veteran Assassin’s Creed fans to be excited about Shadows.
FEUDAL JAPAN, AT LAST
For about as long as the series has been around, Assassin’s Creed fans have been hoping to see one of its games set in feudal Japan, and finally, we’re getting one. Virtual historical tourism and immersive open worlds have long been Assassin’s Creed’s biggest strengths, so naturally, the idea of a 16th century Japan setting is one that many find more than a little appealing. From Origins’ Ancient Egypt to Assassin’s Creed 2’s Renaissance Italy to Syndicate’s late Industrial London and more, time and again, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has succeeded in bringing some truly fascinating locations and time periods to life in magnificent ways, so hopes are high that Shadows will follow in the footsteps of its predecessors and accomplish similar things with its Sengoku-era Japan setting.
And of course, we have had clear and ample evidence of how compelling a period Japanese setting can be in a video game. Five years ago, Ghost of Tsushima endeared itself to the masses for precisely that reason (to the extent that many might feel it took the wind out of Assassin’s Creed’s sales, in fact), while to a lesser extent, last year, Rise of the Ronin also did some interesting things with its setting. Based on what we’ve seen of Shadows in the lead up to its release, there’s reason to be optimistic that it’ll do well in this department. Whether its the dense cities scattered throughout the map with their wonderful architecture of the gorgeous countryside Japanese locales outside their walls, what we’ve seen of Shadows’ map so far has looked promising.
THE LEADING DUO
Assassin’s Creed games are no strangers to having multiple protagonists – from the Frye twins in Syndicate to Kassandra and Alexios in Odyssey – but Shadows is going to be the first game in the series to place equal emphasis on both leading characters simultaneously, with players being allowed to swap back and forth between them as and when they please (barring some exclusive quests for both). And so far, Naoe and Yasuke are both shaping up to be captivating leads, to say the least.
There’s plenty of reasons for that, from Yasuke being the first Assassin’s Creed protagonist ever to be based on a real historical figure, to Naoe’s role as a classic, shadowy assassin with a tragic backstory of her own. Just as interesting, meanwhile, is how the two are different from each other, with Yasuke the samurai being an out-and-out combat specialist, and Naoe the shinobi being more focused on stealth and agility. Giving players the freedom to play as either of the two characters for the vast majority of the experience when the two characters offer such different gameplay styles is certainly an interesting choice, and one that we’re quite excited by.
RENEWED EMPHASIS ON STEALTH
Since day 1, Assassin’s Creed has been a stealth franchise, though it seems to have forgotten that in recent years. Sure, Mirage brought it back much closer to its classic formula in 2023, but all three of the series’ action RPG entries so far have been significantly more focused on action than proper stealth. Thankfully, however, Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t seem to be making that choice. In fact, if anything, it’s swinging in the exact opposite direction, with greater emphasis being placed on stealth gameplay than we’ve seen from the franchise since before it reinvented itself with Origins.
Naoe touts an expanded moveset that’ll allow her to go prone, crawl around, squeeze through gaps, hide in tiny spaces, or even hide underwater. She’ll also have access to a variety of tools in her capacity as a trained shinobi, including smoke bombs, shuriken to throw at enemies from a distance, and bells to distract them with. She will, of course, also have access to the iconic Hidden Blade, while on top of that, the game is also adding a new dynamic light and shadow system to create new stealth gameplay opportunities. How well all of that will come together remains to be seen, but it’s safe to say we’re getting our hopes up.
CLASSIC PARKOUR RETURNS
Alongside stealth, parkour is the one thing that Assassin’s Creed games have always been known for, and though it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say the likes of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla have moved away from that, there’s no doubting that the trio’s parkour mechanics are a big departure from past Assassin’s Creed titles. Once again, however, just as Mirage did in 2023, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is promising a return to classic Assassin’s Creed sensibilities in this area.
Specifically, the “climb anywhere” philosophy of the Origins trilogy is not returning for Shadows, which means things such as handholds and precise climbing spots will be an actual consideration once again. Once again having environments be designed around parkour mechanics is an exciting prospect for any fan of the franchise, especially with Shadows’ promise of an expanded moveset that includes purportedly the series’ most nimble protagonist ever in Naoe (who, incidentally, is also equipped with a grappling hook- and no game is ever not immediately better with the addition of a grappling hook, so yay!).
NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATION
It’s fair to say that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s world design style and how it handled exploration divided the player base. On one hand, it’s sheer ambition and scale and the ridiculous amount of content it stuffs its world with have to be lauded, if purely on a fundamental level. Then again, that excessive bloat and that “size for the sake of it” mentality are exactly what many feel were that game’s biggest problems- problems that a significant portion of the Assassin’s Creed fanbase has been hoping will be addressed with its next outing. As luck would have it, as per Shadows’ developers, that is very much on the agenda.
On numerous occasions, the upcoming open world title’s developers have stressed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not going to be as large as its 2020 predecessor was. With a world more comparable in size to Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Ancient Egypt and a runtime of 30-40 hours (or way, way longer depending on how much side content you’re tackling), Shadows is obviously not going to be a teeny tiny little game by any stretch of the imagination- but it is going to be manageably large, at the very least, which is more than you could say for Valhalla. But size isn’t the end of it, of course, because Shadows is also promising a different approach to exploration. In a nutshell, Ubisoft has touted a much more organic world that will naturally encourage players to follow their curiosity and be distracted by the things that they see in the world. That is obviously easier said than done, but we’re hoping Shadows can make god on its promise, because it’d be a real shame if the Japanese Assassin’s Creed game we’ve been waiting for for so long ended up wasting its setting.
