Assassin’s Creed Shadows is looking promising for several reasons. From parkour and stealth gameplay being more like the classic Assassin’s Creed titles than more recent instalments, to its promise of two protagonists with unique play styles sharing the spotlight, the action RPG is checking a lot of the right boxes. Also high on that list is, of course, its open world setting- something that is obviously always high on the list for any new Assassin’s Creed game, but seems that much more significant with Shadows.
You can tie that significance to several major factors, but chief among them is obviously the fact that we are finally getting the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed game we’ve awaited for years. So long has been the wait that not only did it look for a good while there like it may not ever actually happen, but other prominent AAA releases like Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin have also stepped in to fill the void in that time- an “if you don’t do it, I will” kind of situation, if there ever was one. But now Assassin’s Creed finally is doing it itself, and there’s every reason to be excited.
Very rarely has Assassin’s Creed ever truly wasted its settings. From the series’ strongest entry (Black Flag) – to what are considered by most to be its weaker ones – like Assassin’s Creed 3 or the decidedly divisive Unity – if there’s one thing that this series has almost always succeeded at, it’s bringing its period settings to life. Every single Assassin’s Creed game releases with that implicit promise at this point, which means any entry failing to live up to it would be a disappointment- but you’d imagine that that disappointment would be much more keenly felt if the series ended up wasting its long-awaited Japanese setting.
Thankfully, based on what we’ve seen of the game so far, it doesn’t look like Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to let us down in that area. The abundant gameplay footage released for the action RPG in the lead up to its release has painted a promising picture of its take on late 16th century Japan, right at the tail end of the Sengoku era. Gorgeous landscapes flush with natural beauty, dense hubs of civilization like Kyoto and Osaka boasting their impressive architecture- so much of the game’s world that has been shown off has looked exactly as atmospheric and brimming in detail as you’d want from an Assassin’s Creed game.
And exploring these landscapes is also likely going to be a highlight of the experience, if things pan out the way they seem they will. Far too often, Assassin’s Creed games have ended up relying on gamified abstractions to drive their exploration gameplay loops, with even some radically different approaches having ended up ultimately falling into that same trap. Assassin’s Creed Unity, for instance, just straight up vomited an ocean of markers and pointers on the map. Valhalla, on the other hand, attempted to make discovering and engaging with optional content feel much more organic and diegetic, but then went ahead and crammed its unreasonably massive map with a stupid amount of content.
So far, on paper, it seems like Assassin’s Creed Shadows will attempt to toe the line and address the issues with both styles. For starters, its developers have stressed time and again that players shouldn’t expect much of a reliance on map or compass markers, with discovery of content once again happening in the game’s world itself, rather than in menus or through checklists. Take, for instance, how Viewpoints now work. Instead of uncovering bits and pieces of the map (which will now only clear fog of war with exploration or scouting), Viewpoints will now instead only show points of interest, objective markers, and what have you in your vicinity, which promises to ground players in their immediate surroundings a little bit more- again, on paper, at least.
Meanwhile, Shadows is also promising to be better about the density of content than Valhalla was. Rather than attempting to grab players’ attention with some new piece of content or side activity tugging at you every 30 seconds, Shadows’ developers say it will instead space its content apart so that players are actually immersing themselves in the world. Of course, taking in your surroundings won’t be the extent of it- there is still going to be plenty of side content, it’s just not going to be as saturated as it was in Valhalla.
Just as promising from an exploration viewpoint is Shadows’ focus on gathering information about the world. Yasuke and Naoe will command their own network of scouts and spies, which, in addition with information gleaned from NPCs and by observing the world yourself, will be a big part of not only how you learn more about the world, but also how you engage with it. Back in 2018, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey took the first steps in this direction with its introduction of an Exploration Mode, and according to Ubisoft, Shadows is going to bring about its next big evolution with how it ties exploration of the world with gathering information to learn more about it.
Then there’s the seasons system, which can potentially make exploration yet more captivating in its own unique way. Every time the season changes, players will feel the impact in the world around them. From lakes freezing over in winter to fields of grass blooming in the spring, from gorgeous landscapes glistening in summertime to everything being blanketed in thick layers of snow when it gets much colder, the changing of seasons will impact the world, what it will look like, and how you will navigate it in different ways.
And of course, this being an Assassin’s Creed game, the actual traversal mechanics that will take you from place to place in Sengoku era Japan will be just as crucial an aspect of the exploration loop. Eschewing the “climb anywhere” approach of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, Shadows will go back to the more precise style of the classic Assassin’s Creed titles, which means you’ll have to pay attention to whether or not, say, a ledge is in your reach, or if there are any handholds on a wall for you to climb on. Traversing around Assassin’s Creed’s intricately crafted open world maps used to be an absolute blast back when they were designed around those limitations, so the hope is that Shadows will be similarly successful in this area. With Ubisoft also hyping Naoe up as the most nimble and agile Assassin’s Creed protagonist ever, there’s reason to be optimistic about the game’s traversal and movement mechanics.
Of course, even though world design is an area where Assassin’s Creed almost never misses the mark, exploration – and the two aren’t always necessarily the same – hasn’t always been. That Shadows will boast a strongly designed world is something that most people will be pretty confident about, given the series’ track record. But will the game succeed in compelling players to explore the world and uncover all of its secrets? That’s where the doubts begin creeping in for many – Valhalla sort of soured the well for a fair few people in that respect – but thankfully, everything we’ve seen of Shadows does suggest that optimism might be warranted.
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