Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review

Assassin’s Creed‘s Animus has been one of the series’ hallmarks since its inception.

Once a core component of the narrative, the Animus has somewhat dwindled in relevance from game to game.

The Animus, created by Abstergo, the corporate mask worn by modern-day Templars, was used to allow humans the ability to relive the genetic memories of their ancestors. Abstergo used the Animus to throw people from the Assassin bloodline into their ancestral genetic memories, hoping to recover an ancient artifact that would help them control influence over the world.

When the original Desmond story wrapped up in Assassin’s Creed III, the Templar/Assassin storyline would transform in many ways. The “Present Day” narrative shifted in focus, trying to grasp at another cohesive thread. But, in one form or another, the Animus remained. Perhaps it was used as training, or a marketing tool, or a game within a game. Regardless of implementation, one constant remained: the Animus allowed its user to relive the genetic memories of the past.

Originally, it sent players to the 12th Century during the crusades. At one point, during the American Revolution. Another, Ancient Greece. For years, Assassin’s Creed has used its futuristic premise as an excuse to send players to distinct moments in time, providing them with a playground of history, assassinations, and sprawling open worlds. And for years, with the announcement of a new Assassin’s Creed game, players have hoped the newest historical setting will be Japan.

Now, after almost 20 years, that long wait is over.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in the Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japan, the final phase of country’s tumultuous Sengoku era marked by the continual upheaval of war and shifting political fortunes.

And it is in Shadows that Ubisoft feels like it has most comfortably found its footing since 2018’s Odyssey. Across its suite of developers, Ubisoft has increasingly worked to pay respect to its settings–as much can be seen with the introduction of its Discovery Tours that replace the bloody premise with legitimately educational historical facts and narration about the things players encounter.

However, it’s one thing to give players a fanciful recreation of a long-gone time. It’s an entirely different beast to provide them with meaningful engagement in said recreation.

Many have lambasted Ubisoft for its ability to bloat enormous maps with tedium and repetition. Whether Far Cry, Ghost Recon, or Assassin’s Creed, critical spheres exist wishing the content was not only pared down but given more meaning. For years, I’ve swung on the opposite side of the fence, recognizing that the games are often peppered with repetitious content merely meant to provide gear and experience points but still valuing the overall experience. Not only does an enjoyable Golden Path exist, the side content provides quick bursts of humor, drama, and a way to further engage with gameplay.

Shadows will not silence those who wish for a smaller sandbox in a Ubisoft flagship. The game, like its brethren, is absolutely massive. Over the course of 50 hours of diversions, distractions, and dedicated narrative, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is very much an Assassin’s Creed game and a Ubisoft game.

But I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that while housed in a similar package, Shadows is the first step in an evolution of Assassin’s Creed as a whole. Ironically, Shadows works to dial back sea change introduced years ago. And these alterations were initially jarring for a seasoned veteran like myself. Yet the Japan Ubisoft crafted began to echo through both its narrative delivery and its mechanical execution, infusing the traditional bloodbath with a contemplative nature that was wholly unexpected.

Though these disparate elements could have meant a lesser game, the way Shadows attempts to establish a new lease on life for Assassin’s Creed invigorated my attempts to interact with it. One of the primary revelations? The lack of being able to scale nearly every surface in the world.

Assassin’s Creed has fundamentally been a game about freedom. The biggest avenue of that freedom has been providing players with the ability to navigate foot- and hand-holds to scale impossible heights. These synchronization points have remained since the series’ inception. Once the apex of that particular area has been reached, the camera dramatically swings around the protagonist.

The world itself beckons, “Come, explore me.”

And while Assassin’s Creed was never about the ideology of “You see that mountain? You can climb it.”, players understood that synchronizing these viewpoints would dot the map in chewy activities to gobble up. Simply take a leap of faith into the haystack hundreds of feet downward and go.

Hinted at with Syndicate‘s grappling hook but ultimately cemented with the Ancient Egypt of Origins, Ubisoft would invoke what Nintendo delivered earlier in 2017 with Breath of the Wild. And while Bayek couldn’t climb every surface at will, the idea that players would have to seek out an obvious grasping point to reach towards was abandoned. Shift to Odyssey where the islands of Ancient Greek could be dangled from with no problem–and where players could famous hang from the statuesque member of Zeus in minutes, mind you–the same with Valhalla.

In Shadows, Naoe maneuvers her way up a broken tree, a dilapidated temple. Synchronization is automatic but equally as dramatic, the trademark call of a native bird sounds. Should the player wish to see what the world has to offer, they can access their map or choose to hold down a button and slowly observe the vista, question marks and points of interest popping up in the HUD.

But then make an attempt to beeline towards the nearest point of interest after free-falling into a shallow pond. Of course, that’s what I did. After all, this isn’t my first rodeo.

Ubisoft practically rebuffs the player.

This is a Japan where not every inch of land is a point for interactivity, a gestation of mechanics. Japan is wrought with hills, densely packed with trees, mountains with steep inclines. Trying to move from one point to the next in a straight line is a fool’s errand.

Be certain, this was initially frustrating to me. In an attempt to optimize time and maximize exploration, I would horizontally run across hills and attempt to jump over rocks only for Naoe to awkwardly hop in place. The camera was cluttered with her white outline as the game worked to render out the foliage I was trying to break through and assist me in keeping track of her.

But Shadows‘ Japan is not meant to be broken into. The player is meant to acclimate to its winding, lush beauty.

To take it a step further, Naoe can’t simply springboard off a high wall and grab onto an adjacent ceiling. She can’t boost from a rock outcropping onto an even higher ledge. And while she may be an agile assassin, the towering samurai Yasuke has it even worse. He scuttles over ledges with a lack of grace. When diving into water he clutches his chest, plunging into the depths like a human spear. He doesn’t even have a grappling hook to assist him in climbing the angular roofs of Japan’s highest castles.

Assassin’s Creed could be argued as an overly simplistic game, one perhaps a touch too easy on a default difficulty. Simply stab the target with a hidden blade and bail.

Shadows requires the player to thoughtfully invest in their approach. Japan is a sprawling playground but it is one frequented by empty roads, quiet mountains, and settlements where enemies dwell but the player may never be required to go. It feels massive because it is massive. But that density does not beget a lack of intrigue or a surplus of tedium.

And with Assassin’s Creed’s emphasis on freedom, most would assume that is myopically through a mechanical lens. Gone are the stringent days of older titles where targets and objectives would be taken down one by one. Even the “bonus” objectives that added flavor to the middle era of the series were done away with. The series has become mechanically flexible in a way where players can Spartan kick a bounty off a cliff in the thick of battle or stalk them through bushes.

Narrative flexibility was featured in Odyssey, not only through the gender of the protagonist but the choices they could make that had a soft effect on certain outcomes. However, Shadows relies on a new trick.

Its dual protagonists offer a transforming sense of how Assassin’s Creed can guide the player not only through its open-world, open-mission structure but how limitations can make for an exciting challenge, or potentially force the player to adapt.

Shadows begins with a brief introduction to Yasuke, showing him under the ownership of Portuguese missionaries who have arrived to Japan and are seeking approval from Oda Nobunaga, the legendary Daimyo of Japan who has been featured in countless other games and media. Nobunaga takes an interest in Yasuke and we transition into seeing this African man storm into battle on behalf of his new “master”. Ubisoft introduces the basics of combat as the ferocious Yasuke slices through a burning village, cutting down swaths of soldiers in service of a new country.

Then the game moves to Naoe, a young woman who is defending her village of Iga during an attack, only to be told by her father to secure an important artifact tucked away in a tomb. Taken by surprise and left wounded, Naoe quickly hunts down the man who stole the artifact, meeting up with her father. But the reunion is cut short as a group of masked people kill Naoe’s father and leave her for dead.

Shadows‘ makes quick work of giving the player cause and effect. Taking out the group of masked villains not only alludes to the greater struggle of the Assassin group across the series, it provides a set goal for the player to strive towards. Surely with all these men and women eliminated, Japan will be on the course towards a brighter future and some unknown gap may be filled in for those fans still wondering about the Precursor race brought up in the Desmond days.

What struck me most about Shadows‘ narrative was its emphasis on cutscenes. Ubisoft has often had to rely on cutscenes to deliver its heartiest action due to the open-ended structure of its missions and gameplay. But actual plot development is often delegated to the moments to and from a mission, where the player rides a horse or a helicopter to the next objective and the protagonist mutters lines to themselves or another character dumps a bunch of expository dialog. Shadows features lengthy, dense cutscenes that often rip control away from the player, forcing them to watch rather than play.

Many may find that an unbearable aspect in games, feeling that the action should speak for itself and players should be able to control the coolest moments rather than watch them. But for Assassin’s Creed, this narrative-forward approach works quite well for a game that frequently allows players to cover massive chunks of playable real estate with little to no interruption outside of gear changes and menu navigation. Shadows has a lot to do but it also has a lot to say. This crystallized for me shortly after gaining control of Yasuke for the second time in the game. If the player chooses to do so, they can travel to a new region of the game that furthers the story after Naoe and Yasuke decide to team up. In doing so, the narrative shifts to the weeks after Yasuke became part of Nobunaga’s inner circle, working through the training to become a samurai. A few intermittent moments of combat, walking, and dialog choices are supplemented by minutes-long cutscenes with numerous characters interacting with each other.

Praising cutscenes isn’t far-fetched for someone like myself who has freebased Kojima products for the past two decades. But in the context of this specific Assassin’s Creed game, it did not feel out of place. For almost ten hours I only had control of Naoe, confused because I thought Ubisoft was giving us the option to play as both. But there’s a restraint in place where the storytellers here are trying to break their own mold. Naoe’s initial arc shows her as a regretful shinobi, wanting to avenge her father’s death. We watch her regain her ability mechanically and cinematically but also are given a chance to be exposed to the numerous mechanics of Shadows.

Take, for example, a smart way to imbibe progression with actual narrative character development. Over the course of Shadows, players will level up, gradually improving base stats like health and damage. But completing objectives, leveling up, and clearing contracts and massive outposts will reward Mastery points. These points are spent unlocking new attack combos, skills, and passive buffs that work to make both Naoe and Yasuke stronger. But to simply earn Mastery points isn’t enough. New ranks of skills are locked behind Knowledge ranks. To earn a new Knowledge rank, Naoe and Yasuke must complete quests and activities across Japan. Both characters can pray at shrines and collect scrolls at temples. Character-specific tombs can also be plundered. For Yasuke, it may be horseback archery or a button-press mini-game where players simulate attack combinations. For Naoe, she initially can expand her Knowledge by meditating, which in substance is another mini-game of timed inputs. But several of these meditation points also trigger a flashback into Naoe’s training with her father, interacting with the people of Iga and establishing context before her land was invaded.

Shadows delivers its plot in surprising ways but that doesn’t mean it is constantly enchanting. There can be slower moments in the main narrative where players are tasked with tackling multiple objectives merely to discover the location of a target. The pacing can feel off especially when Naoe’s initial story is restricted to a small chunk of the map, requiring new plot beats to be traveled to over long distances.

There’s also the issue on whether players will latch onto Naoe, Yasuke, or either. Personally, I think Naoe is given fantastic treatment in Shadows. Front-loading the narrative with her exclusively allows players to become attached to her struggle, especially one so personal as it literally drives the primary goal in the game. Yasuke on the other hand is meant to be a stranger in a strange land. He is revered by many not only for the color of his skin and imposing stature, but for being so close with Nobunaga.

Ubisoft had a difficult task in front of them by not incorporating a male Japanese protagonist into this much-desired setting. And while it may be easy to identify the similarities between Shadows and something like Ghost of Tsushima or, more recently, Rise of the Ronin, I appreciate the attempt to make Yasuke a curiosity in Japan but also allow him to be respectful and curious about this foreign land he is in. His past is meant to be murky as players will uncover more about it over the course of the game but that gives him a harder job when it comes to being admired by players.

As an aside, Ubisoft offers a few options for players who wish to immerse themselves more into Shadows. A literal “Immersive” setting will set all voice acting to Japanese and Portuguese. The native Japanese voice acting is exceptionally done and I was surprised at how incredible the cast was and how diverse they sounded. But I also found myself switching between it and English voice acting, which is done incredibly well. As a fan of subs over dubs but recognizing how difficult it can be to focus on subtitles while action is going on, there isn’t really a bad option here. Additionally, Ubisoft has incorporated a “Canon Mode” where there are no dialog options and missions completed by a specific character. Because this mode cannot be changed after the game starts, I can’t speak on its efficacy. But over the course of the game, players can technically have “bad” dialog options that may cause a companion not to join or impact rewards, but it seems mainly for purists.

But the introduction of “canon” as it pertains to Shadows is definitely fascinating because it implies there are “right” options not only in dialog but in mission approach. And both Naoe and Yasuke are meant to represent the two opposing gameplay approaches Ubisoft has been battling with for a number of years.

Unsurprisingly, Naoe represents stealth and quick, minimal combat. When players opt for Naoe, they will be able to scale most heights and use the hidden blade for instant, silent assassinations. She is also equipped with shinobi tools. The Kunai can instantly kill from a distance, shuriken can pepper with damage, smoke bombs conceal approaches and escapes, while the shinobi bell can lure enemies to a location. When playing as Naoe, it’s crucial to stay out of sight, dispatching outlier enemies and ranged filth who may shoot arrows or muskets from afar.

Yasuke is an imposing, brutish figure who comes with a “brutal assassination” that is a loud, bloody attack that usually instantly dispatches an enemy and triggers a swarm of combatants to flood in. While Yasuke can hide in bushes, haystacks, tall grass, and water, his options are limited. Yasuke’s animations when running and jumping expertly translate his weight and inability to move like Naoe.

Shadows asks, “How do you want to play?” And players can normally respond by choosing who does what in Japan. With a few exceptions for character-specific missions and content, players can focus on stealth with Naoe or walk into plain sight and start beheading soldiers. That being said, Yasuke is the most limited in terms of variety, simply because a stealth approach is more difficult with him.

My primary issue with this system of dual protagonists is that players will often have the option to do a mission as either Naoe or Yasuke. It is implied that when selecting one character over the other, the non-playable character will go on their own mission. Personally, I think it was a missed opportunity to not allow players the chance to do both mission, especially when it pertains to gathering the necessary information to assassinate one of the primary masked antagonists. While that binary selection will at times lead to both Naoe and Yasuke doing the same thing, it’s a shame Ubisoft didn’t allow for further development of both characters at the same time. When choosing to hunt down a lead a bathhouse, it was unfortunate to return to the meetup and hear that Yasuke conducted his search and came back with the same conclusion. Why couldn’t we have seen that as well?

Thankfully combat with either character is tight, challenging, and fast-paced, even if somewhat repetitive. Both characters have light and heavy attacks on the right trigger and button, representing different damage and speed. Blocking is done with L1. Deflecting an attack at the last second or each sequence of an attack flurry–represented by blue flashes–will temporary weaken an enemy, making them glow yellow and receive extra damage. Red attacks can’t be blocked but if dodged away from at the last instance, will cause the enemy to be weakened. Status ailments of bleed, poison, and daze will do tick damage as well. Posture attacks are used by holding down R1 or R2 briefly, breaking through an enemy’s guard.

As long as I’ve been able to, I play Assassin’s Creed games on the highest difficulty possible. This may make them tedious in the early hours because of how frequent and brutal combat can be. But I think in Shadows, it truly works the best it has yet. Enemies are more aggressive and do more damage, making combat scintillating and feverish. Frequently I went through deadly scrapes as Yasuke, using his increased ration capacity to heal more often and plow through opponents.

Weapon and skill variety also allow for fun experimentation in combat. Yasuke can be equipped with three melee weapons: the long katana, the naginata, and the kanabo. For ranged attacks he uses a bow for silence and a teppo firearm for loud attacks. It was quite hard to pick a favorite over the course of Shadows because each felt different to use and wasn’t a case of spamming R1, though that strategy can work at times. I enjoyed the kanabo because of its brutal heft and once upgraded could be faster if players attack at the end of combos. While the teppo was great for headshots, I liked the bow because it added a bit of initial stealth infiltration for Yasuke.

Naoe uses the regular katana, a dagger-like tanto, and a kusarigama. Much like Yasuke, each of these melee weapons has its own speed and playstyle. The tanto can unleash a flurry of strikes but also has an unlock that allows it to be used for a double assassination. The kusarigama is the metal ball attached to a dagger by a chain, meaning players can attack from a distance in sweeping movements and also tie up enemies and toss them around.

Though Shadows falls into a similar gear grind as prior Ubisoft titles, it is significantly less pronounced in Shadows. Gear has a number of rarities and is earned by clearing out major enemy outposts, completing quest chains, or in chests. The best, rarest gear is earned through completing activities and players will find that low level gear remains viable because of its unique perks and ability to be engraved with bonuses at a forge. What’s best is that the system is very non-intrusive and the desire to try out a new piece of gear isn’t because it has more health or damage, but because it can be incorporated with other pieces to make Naoe and Yasuke more in tune with the player’s preferred method of combat.

Stealth in Shadows has also see a relatively surprising overhaul that opens the path towards new implementations for the series. The biggest change is the degree to which Naoe and Yasuke are visible in the environment. Indicated on the HUD by a bar that slowly fills the more “seen” the player is, stealth isn’t the traditional safety net it usually is. On the hardest difficulty, rooftops are no longer a guaranteed out. If players don’t want to be seen on a roof they will need to go prone, crouching won’t do it anymore. Sources of light can be extinguised to make sneaking around in the dark and shadows an act of near invisibility. But sound also plays a role as enemies will turn around sooner than they did before.

While enemies in Shadows are still kind of dumb, they do feel more situationally aware. Yes, you can whistle to every passing guard and have a pile of bodies in a bush. But being quiet with other guards around is the trick. Numerous times I was forced to path out an infiltration by avoiding lanterns at night. If it was early morning and the sun was rising, going prone through tall grass leading into a bush that I could crouch in was key. Spaces are a lot more open this time around and enemies are often more plentiful. Triggering an alert is going to summon a lot of guards onto a player’s location and if they ring an alarm bell, that specific character will be “Wanted” across the region. This means wandering ronin will take notice and attack or castles will flood with deadly, devil-masked enforcer that have a huge pool of health.

Assassin’s Creed has truly shined over the years because of the numerous ways it incorporates combat and stealth. If things go awry, there’s always an out. Perhaps guards should be more aggressive, though here they will chop down bushes. Perhaps friendly enemies should take more notice if their friend suddenly disappears. And while these may break the true illusion of stealth, they are fun systems to abuse and break. Of course, the sheer size of Shadows means that repetition will always happen. Certain enemy encampments and outposts are cut and pasted across the wilderness, usually in one-off contracts meant to boost crafting supplies, XP, and currency. But it’s also important to note, not everything in this game needs to be done if you don’t want to. But sometimes the distraction is pure fun.

Japan, ultimately, is the spine of Shadows and I would argue that it is the most impressive game world Ubisoft has created to date.

On a technical level, the numerous delays have led to the most polished Assassin’s Creed at launch. Yes, I was hit with a few questionably long loads that caused my HUD to disappear and the pause menu to freeze up. Yes, there’s some pop-in. Yes, there’s some wonkiness here and there. But the game never crashed on me and I never encountered a significant bug.

But more importantly, this expression of Japan was outrageously immerse. The breathtaking scope of Shadows makes 16th century Japan come to life. I would say its only competition was Sucker Punch’s work on Tsushima. Over the course of Shadows, Japan will change seasons. Whether Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, each season has two phases and each looks natural and exquisite. Spring signals cherry blossoms everywhere and late Summer and early Fall cause the trees to change color, the weather to be more chaotic. I witnessed intense winds that blew leaves around and rippled the water. Storms would crash with thunder and light up the sky as rain flew in every direction. And when winter comes the norther regions of Japan will be packed with snow as the southern reaches are populated with dead trees.

These seasonal changes do have real impact on the gameplay but I will say they often don’t feel truly significant unless you are paying attention to them. Snow will actually dampen sound, allowing players to sneak up on guards easier. The colder weather will also reduce the amount of soldiers patrolling abandoned ruins and smaller villages. Icicles will dangle from the roofs and fall, alerting guards. During the Fall and Winter seasons, there’s less foliage to hide in. Rain and weather can reduce vision and sound. While these are by no means revolutionary examples of these mechanics across the medium, it shows that Ubisoft is working to actively transform the worlds it spends so much time delicately crafting and populating with activities. If Japan can look like this, imagine what the next version of this system could be.

Despite the gory beheadings and the war-torn nature of Japan’s political and societal upheaval. Shadows is very beholden to Japanese culture, as it should be. There is a fondness and respect for the traditions of this deeply cultural place and it is expressed frequently through what may have felt profoundly insignificant in other games in the series. One mission has Naoe learning tea ceremony so she can attend a party where a target may be. Players will learn the proper way to bow and turn the tea bowl and why. Folklore, spiritual customs, and Japanese ways of life are integrated in crucial ways but also in one-off instances meant to give the player further appreciation for this incredible setting.

Even the act of creating a custom hideout for Naoe, Yasuke, and their league is done in the framing of a zen garden. Players can merely interact with this part of the game just for the passive bonuses, or they can spend time refining their base and making it look picturesque. The option to disable guided waypoints are supplemented with the player actually needing to investigate the world and scan their map, perhaps signaling the help of a scout to pinpoint where they need to go. While Assassin’s Creed has required forethought on behalf of the player, here it harmonizes with its setting in a way that feels deeply intentional.

After all these years of fans waiting for Ubisoft to finally take us to a historical setting in Japan, I can think of no better offering than Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Yes, this is fundamentally an Assassin’s Creed game through and through. Echoes and hallmarks of past entries are present and are likely coded into the DNA, much like the Animus would eventually give its victim the Bleeding Effect. This is the path the series needs to be set on. There are hints of revolutionary change on the horizon but, more importantly, Shadows acts as a refinement of everything to come, paving the way for more experimental groundwork.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows allows Japan to breathe life into a series that has hinged its reputation on tradition. It represents a culmination of the work laid out in Origins but never stumbles over its own size and ambition. While players looking for more than just fine-tuned familiar thrills might be disappointed at the big swings Shadows does take, a focused narrative and progressive combat are enriched by an exceptionally beautiful and detailed setting. Assassin’s Creed Shadows acts as the turning of a new page for Ubisoft’s flagship, one hopefully leading to another vibrant, historical world.