2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage was something of a stop-gap release. Similar in size and function to titles like Rogue and Liberation, it nevertheless succeeded in delivering a serviceable slice of action, even if it did go off the deep end a little in its finale. But then, that’s Assassin’s Creed, right? Side-releases notwithstanding, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the first mainline entry we’ve had in almost 5 years, the longest gap between big releases in the franchise’s history, and the fourteenth title overall if you don’t count the side-scrolling spin-off trilogy. That’s a lot of Assassin’s doing a lot of Creeding right there, and those 18 years of experience have paid dividends in Shadows.
Without hyperbole, this is the best the series has ever been. Shadows is a glorious adventure in the most stunning open world Ubisoft has yet created, with more attention to story and character than we’ve seen before. But it’s also staggeringly vast, with a game world so huge it’s borderline intimidating. More than anything though: there’s ambition here, and the demonstrable effort to do better than they have before. Shadows’ representation of Japan is by turns majestic and rugged, showing a land pierced by war that nevertheless holds fast to its beauty and ideologies even as it bleeds.
That aside, though, much of my love for Shadows is borne by new protagonist Naoe . I’ve often said that the best Creed games have the best protagonists, and I stand by that. Ezio, Edward Kenway, Alexios and Kassandra, Eivor: I remember their games more because I remember them and the stories they were a part of. In Shadows, Naoe, and to a lesser extent Yasuke, carry on this legacy. Naoe is different, though. A trained Shinobi, she brings their legendary agility, lethality and, above all, stealth to the franchise in a way that feels fresh.
She’s slick, fast, armed with shuriken, kukri, and smoke bombs, and equipped with a grappling hook to ascend to rooftops and rain death down on the unsuspecting. And with her hyper-lethality comes a greater focus on stealth. It wouldn’t even be fair to say that she brings stealth back to the franchise – the stealth in Assassin’s Creed has never been this tight or this enjoyable. Some AC games have barely required it outside of forced eavesdropping quests or tailing missions. But Shadows allows you to use the darkness itself, crouching in cover, stalking the shadows, going prone and crawling through the undergrowth towards your target. Stealth kills are brutal and swift, encouraged not because they make things easier but because they make things more fun.
By contrast Yasuke is huge, powerful, made clumsy by comparison, but no less deadly. His assassinations are labelled “Brutal” by default, as he steps from cover to issue a challenge before obliterating his target. He charges through doors instead of climbing over them, takes heads and overpowers his enemies without relying on subterfuge or elaborate tools. And it’s this contrast that keeps Assassin’s Creed Shadows feeling fresh much longer than you’d expect. Being able to switch at more or less any time once you finally reach a certain point in the story and unlock both characters, you can opt to tackle enemy strongholds or missions in whichever way you choose, while story missions will often switch between them as context or narrative demands.
Yasuke’s story has been the subject of much controversy, but Ubisoft treats what little is known about the African Samurai with respect. His character is brave and forthright, but haunted by a troubled past and given hope by the Samurai code. His race and skin colour are mentioned by characters throughout, but with no clumsy modern allegory or virtue signalling to muddy the narrative. Be aware though: Yasuke won’t become fully playable for a little while – or a long while if you get caught up in side activities and exploring this open world. Cast upon a quest for vengeance in pursuit of eleven masked Ronin, Naoe’s story sees her thrust into the heart of rebellion in an ever-changing world. Yasuke himself is a stranger in a strange land, terrifying to the natives of Japan but with a sensibility and intelligence that makes him dangerous with or without a sword in his hand.
Combat and progression for both characters is handled via a combination of trackers. Your overall XP level determines your health, base damage and adrenaline – the currency by which you use special combat abilities. Gear score is a metric of how deadly you are and how well you survive, while Mastery is a measure of your combat prowess. Mastery Points are earned by completing combat challenges and fall like the rain – which they need to, considering each character has half a dozen skill trees. Levels on the Mastery tree are unlocked by collecting yet another currency in the form of Knowledge Points which are earned through exploration and gathering collectibles.
Depending on your standpoint it’s either a rich, self-feeding system or a convoluted muchness, and there were times when I viewed it as both. There are simpler ways to do things and I can’t help but feel that, as usual, Ubisoft have done some things in service of filling their sprawling world rather than to enrich it. That said, hiding flashbacks of Naoe’s past behind minigame-like meditations scattered around the world is clever. It means you don’t necessarily have to go looking for her backstory, but those who want a deeper understanding of her past can find it. That’s if you need a further reason to explore, of course – though some of you might not wish to explore at all.
In typical fashion, Shadows at times feels far too big for its own skin. The world is vast and evolving, cycling not only through days and nights but whole seasons that change the landscape and the wildlife as they tick around. It’s a world heaving with vitality, it breathes in the ebb and flow of people and fauna, and it’s rife with danger in the form of bandits and wandering Ronin. Though the wildlife leaves you alone. It’s there to be marvelled at, or to be sketched in one of the many side-activities.
While you can, of course, skip these activities altogether, many of them feed back into the Hideout system. The secluded hub where Naoe and her allies work to destabilise the balance of power and gather intel on her targets can be upgraded and built upon. A forge let’s you recruit a blacksmith, a dojo allows you to summon NPC allies during a fight, your stables increases the abilities of scouts who will go out into the world and gather resources or help you locate targets. It’s a system that feels useful without being intrusive, and gives you a place to retreat to and decorate with trees, ornaments, landmarks, and even pets. You don’t have to do any of it beyond the basics, but the game feels richer for it.
While you can still climb eagle towers for a lay of the land, which will populate your map with question marks that might denote activities, towns, or secrets, you can’t scout objectives this way anymore. Instead you’ll have a list of clues to follow, and can then deploy your Scouts to search for the target within a certain catchment. While it’s more immersive and certainly more flavourful, it’s also a bit of a clunky system when you have to do it so often. Making your way to the target area will cause the marker to vanish, and you’ll need to rely on your senses (or holding down LT to you and me) to pinpoint the blue dot that highlights the target. White dots are collectibles, yellow dots are treasures and resources. It forces you to make a little extra effort to find things, which is welcome, but it still gets a little grindy to keep refreshing Scouts and going through the motions for every objective. Also, fetch quests – of which there are a few – highlight the quest giver the whole time and not the locations of whatever items you have a list of.
Those who tire of checklist open worlds won’t find much here to bring them back, necessarily, but filling the map with question marks yourself encourages the sense of exploration, especially as Shadows hides secrets and special unique items in the unlikeliest of places. The modern world Animus stuff is present, though, in certain collectibles, anomalies, and mysteries. It feeds into the narrative subtly, though the grander arc ties it all to the overarching story that you either love, hate, or try to ignore. I’m in the latter category as none of the Animus stuff has mattered since the death of Desmond Miles – or arguably long before.
On PC (with a 4070 RTX) and PS5 Pro, Shadows looks amazing. The world isn’t just pretty; it’s vividly realised, with attention given to its every nook and cranny. There’s an undeniable atmosphere to the dark forests, a majestic grandeur to the sweeping clifftop vistas, and a stark emptiness when you find yourself in an area ravaged by seemingly endless war. Naoe and Yasuke remark on much of what they see, with few repeated lines and a genuine depth of emotion that keeps you immersed.
Trotting along a glistening stream in the morning sunshine or galloping through driving rain during a monsoon elicit different emotions, but both are powerful in their own right. The downside, of course, is a fair dose of the Ubisoft Jank (™), with a horse that sometimes handles like a GTA motorcycle, enemies that won’t stay dead, and erratic AI. These issues are much, much less prevalent than in other AC titles at launch though, a testament to Ubisoft delaying the release to polish the finished product.
If this is your first Assassin’s Creed you might be baffled by the modern day stuff and the high-tech menus, but a steady stream of tutorials will help settle you into the rhythms. Returning players, particularly those who have loved the action RPG elements present since Origins will find the best example of the formula Ubisoft have ever created. It’s not perfect, but with fewer bugs, more story, a superb pair of characters who complement one another and a cast of characters that don’t feel shoe-horned in to satisfy the history buffs (though they exist, of course), Assassin’s Creed Shadows is Ubisoft at their absolute finest. A tremendous attention to detail and a desire to fill the huge world edge to edge with things to find and do make for an addictive adventure in a stunningly provocative open world.
