Ubisoft’s stealth-action saga heads to Feudal Japan with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Is this bold new direction worth your attention?
For the first time since Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, we’ve been given two playable protagonists: Yasuke (a samurai) and Naoe (a shinobi). Each character has their own unique playstyle, with Yasuke leaning heavily into the head-on combat scenarios, with a lot of high-powered moves to dispatch tougher enemies.
On the other hand, Naoe is a lot more agile, stealthy, and swift, making her play a lot more like the assassins in previous games. The duality of the characters’ playstyles adds a lot of variety to the experience and especially in the missions where you can choose one or the other, it brings a new dimension to how you play an Assassin’s Creed game.
Character control
Combat is fun and works really well, requiring you to attack, dodge, and parry, with certain moves being unable to shield and requiring you to get out of the way, allowing you to deliver a powerful counter-strike. It’s a little more challenging than other AC games, bringing another layer of depth and patience when taking on tougher enemies.
Of course, you can still rely on stealth and use the hidden blade and brutal takedown moves to slink through the levels unheard if you choose to do so.
Of course, no Ubisoft game is complete without a fleshed-out world, and the handful of Japanese provinces that make up the game deliver on the spectacle, size, and variety you’d expect. There are tons of side-missions, things to find, characters to meet and aid (or kill), and you’ll have no shortage of things to do and stab.
A visual feast
Visually, Shadows holds up to the high standards set by previous AC games and is arguably the most stunning, thanks to the Japanese setting. Cherry blossoms blow in the wind, water looks stunning, and the lighting is dynamic and bounces off weapons and armour.
Throw in the fluid and lifelike animations, and Shadows delivers a strong visual experience to complement the gameplay.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is a solid return-to-form for the series, producing one of the best open-world experiences around and an interesting step forward for the franchise. It scores 5 out of 5.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
