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back to the Animus

The very first Assassin’s Creed game came out back in 2007 and I think it was back then when I played the very first instalment of the series. It being something new and different. The series has seen many games (overall fourteen main games) the newest being Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The last game I did play, though, was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and I thought it was a way too long, it being over 60 hour game. Yeah, that being my only negative thing about the series that they have become too long to beat. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is said to be around 40 hours long. Is it still too long and tedious to play? What new the series can offer to the players?

Plot

Welcome to feudal Japan in 1579, during the last part of the Sengoku period, a time of civil war. The story revolves around two main characters Yasuke and Naoe. Yasuke is a samurai when Naoe is an assassin. Together they go on Naoe’s revenge to kill twelve of their enemies and get back a mysterious box that was stolen from Naoe’s father.

The game showcases other true historical characters (not just Yasuke) such as Oda Nobunaga during his peak power after triumphantly defeating the Takeda clan with the revolutionary use of arquebus firearms, a turning point in Japanese warfare.

The plot was overall alright and fulfilling, but what I didn’t like was all the characters and how shallow they felt, not to mention all the NPCs. I have to admit I didn’t know much of these true historical characters beforehand playing this game, so I cannot give any deep dive into the matter. But the story had good and bad points, and some twists, which I always like in any stories. As an Assassin’s Creed game this was one game that I actually enjoyed after playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It maybe due to the fact that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is shorter than the other recent games, which kept my interest and not feeling overwhelmed and bored after finishing the game.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

If you didn’t already know, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is elaborated game. It’s open-world action-adventure game with RPG game mechanics. But it was still very easy to understand what to do and where to go. Player plays with Naoe and Yasuke varyingly. Naoe’s gameplay is more sneaking, stealthing and doing assassinations when Yasuke’s is, as a samurai, very combat-heavy. Shortly, it’s almost like any other Assassin’s Creed game but it only happening in Japan this time around. There are some differences to the previous games, such as free climbing isn’t there, player can only climb certain walls. Also after climbing to the high points and scanning the area players don’t automatically get everything revealed on the map.

The gameplay consist of going on missions, climb on those high points to get overview of the area (also they are used fast travel points after unlocking them), collect loot and other items to use them for example on hideout (a safe zone place which can be built more), get better gear and weapons, update stats using exp points. Upgrading stats wasn’t as simple, player must go on temples (that are scattered around the land) and do little tasks there to gain Knowledge Points that are used to open another tier in the stats menu.

With playing as Naoe I liked how I could hide in shadows, even extinguish candles and lanterns around me to really blend into the environment. Yasuke’s gameplay was much more easy, at least for me, as he was much more equipped, having better armour and weapons. Player can choose how to infiltrate places. With Yasuke I mostly just ran into the said place and killed everyone on sight, because with Yasuke it was much more difficult to sneak around. He was big, bulky and most of all noisy. With Naoe I did like so sneak around do quiet assassinations and plan my moves.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers 4 difficulty levels and options such as “Guaranteed Assassination” and “Canon Mode” which makes the choices automatic, following the canon storyline. The difficulty level will determine, not just how easy it is to kill enemies, but how easy it is to sneak around and how easily enemies will see you and react.

Controlling the characters felt good and nice and the climbing felt satisfying. Fighting enemies isn’t just hitting buttons as much as you could, but timing, parrying and dodging is the key. I disliked travelling around with the horse sometimes. It just didn’t feel good to ride with it in the forest as it got easily stuck on trees and other things. I only used it if the distance I had to go was very long. Battling was good. It did feel accurate and nothing negative to say about that. Naoe was very fast with her movements when Yasuke was much slower, but more powerful. Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers options such as control remapping and other simplified buttons.

I always enjoy when video game can be played with its designated original language, in this case in Japanese. I did play half of the game in English and other half in Japanese. I cannot comment much about the Japanese voice acting as I don’t speak the language, but the English was from OK to bad. I mean by this that they sounded very monotone. What comes to the audio of the world, well that was beautiful to listen to. All the rustling grass in the wind to the music, it was very nicely done.

Visually the game looks beautiful and lifelike. The scenery, cities and nature was very beautiful to look at, but the game was very dark at nighttimes. About the cutscenes, all the characters’ facial animations looked very robotic and a bit off. Mind you, I got an early review copy of the game, so all this might be fixed before launch. There also weren’t any pop-ups or anything buggy or glitchy in my gameplay, which I always respect. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows there are different seasons and the gameplay changes with it. Like gathering resources and take advantage of seasonal gameplay features, such as using tall grass and shallow ponds for cover during summer, or relying on snowstorms to quiet your movements in winter.

The game offers the following graphical options: Performance (60fps), Fidelity (30fps) and Balanced (40fps). I played this through in Fidelity mode (on PS5 Pro) as I personally prefer better graphics over higher fps.

What’s in the box?

After playing 15 hours I think I already saw the whole game and what it got to offer, after that it was kinda rinse and repeat. The game’s story mode is about 30 hours long. Assassin’s Creed Shadows has great gameplay, beautiful visuals, nicely built world and good story. Is it a must-play and something different from the other Assassin’s Creed games? Yes, kinda. If you do enjoy these games I do recommend to play this one out.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available on PS5 (reviewed on PS5 Pro), Xbox Series X|S, Windows, macOS.

(Review copy kindly provided by the publisher)

SCORE:

4/5

“I liked how I could hide in shadows, even extinguish candles and lanterns around me to really blend into the environment”

RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2025
GENRE: Action / Role-playing
DEVELOPER: Ubisoft
PUBLISHER: Ubisoft
PLATFORMS: PS5 (reviewed using PS5 Pro)
Xbox Series X|S
macOS
iPadOS
Windows

 

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