Assassin’s Creed: Shadows – a beautiful yet repetitive samurai adventure
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows floors me with the most breathtaking open world I’ve ever seen. In terms of gameplay, however, it can’t keep up the same amazing quality.
What many Assassin’s Creed fans have wanted for years is finally coming true: the stealth series is getting an entry in feudal Japan.
In Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, I play as both black samurai Yasuke and shinobi Naoe. The unlikely pair fight alongside during the late Sengoku period, battling a power-hungry and murderous shadow organisation.
Their historical adventure impresses above all with its epic staging and beautiful scenery. Still, the game would’ve benefited greatly from a little more variety and substance behind the spectacle.
Fragmented storytelling without highlights
The story of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows didn’t grab me during its 45-hour runtime. Yasuke’s career from Portuguese slave to Japanese samurai is only touched on superficially. The game also never fully exploits the potential in Naoe’s story and her oppressed village of Iga.
The narrative structure is unnecessarily fragmented and complicated, with numerous flashbacks and time jumps. Character motivations – including why initial enemies Yasuke and Naoe join forces in the first place – are either barely explained or come way too late.
I also can’t remember why I have to murder dozens of people throughout the course of the game due to the repetitive missions. Hang on, why do I have to kill that prince in that castle again? After all, I’ve already murdered twenty other princes in twenty other castles.
As a result, the story degenerates into a confusing and insubstantial mishmash without any major highlights, noteworthy characters or exciting twists.
Maybe the most beautiful open world of all time
Still, I can get over the lacklustre story. After all, the big star in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows isn’t the two protagonists, but the game world. As is typical of the series, it’s pretty huge, but not as gigantic as Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
As I gallop through idyllic rice fields on my horse or climb rocky mountains on foot, I can’t stop being amazed. It might just be the most beautiful open game world I’ve ever seen.
The dense vegetation that surrounds both small villages and large settlements such as Kyoto is particularly impressive. During storms, trees bend realistically in the wind and expansive fields of grass dance to the rhythm of the tempest. Sometimes I stop in the middle of the lush wilderness and soak up the atmosphere for minutes.
But the graphics are also impressive in built-up areas. There’s a lot going on across the lively alleyways. NPCs go about their daily lives, children play in the street and cute Shiba Inus and Akitas run around wildly (yes, you can pet the dogs).
Even the vistas are impressive. When I climb to one of the numerous vantage points, I can see for miles into the distance without losing much detail. Just wow.
Thanks to the new seasonal system, the scenery changes at regular intervals. While pink cherry blossom petals dominate the landscape in spring, winter brings a thick blanket of snow, especially in higher-up areas.
The different seasons also have a theoretical effect on gameplay with frozen water or changing vegetation density. In practice, however, I don’t notice much of this – the seasons are mainly a visual gimmick.
Despite the graphically elaborate staging, the performance is smooth. I played the PS5 Pro version. In Balanced mode, it runs at maximum details with ray tracing at a stable 40 frames per second. One exception is my Assassin headquarters (more on this below), which brings the PS5 Pro to its knees.
In general, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows feels technically polished – the delays seem to have done the game some good. Considering the size of the game world, I experienced almost no bugs or visual glitches. This is how it’s done!
Fewer map symbols, lots of repetition
Ubisoft promised fewer symbols and map markers in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows before release. Discovering the game world would happen more organically than in previous parts.
This promise has been largely kept. If I climb one of the numerous lookout towers, I’m no longer buried by an avalanche of activities on the map. Instead, the game uses «?» markers to guide me more gently to exciting locations. Flying over the game world as an eagle has also been removed. Naoe and Yasuke have to search their surroundings for mission objectives, treasures and information themselves.
I also have to earn quest markers first. The exact location of my next murder target is only hinted at with cryptic clues. I can use scouts to examine parts of the map where I suspect the target is located in order to narrow down my search radius. But I have to carefully consider using them, it takes a while before they’re ready for action again after a search.
This more organic exploration is exactly what I like in an open world. And yet, after around fifteen hours of playtime, I still feel little urge to explore the game world. Mainly because a bunch of the activities and locations are too similar.
Whether I’m following the main quest or starting a side mission, I usually have to infiltrate some estate or castle to murder someone or steal something. Before I can do that, I often travel from one place to the next to gather information about my destination. It’s fun for a while, but after the twentieth mission with an identical sequence of events, I’ve seen enough.
The side activities don’t offer much variety either. Some ideas are interesting since they break from the pattern of similar open-world mini-games and force me into moments of silence. For example, when I sneak up on wild animals to draw them or pray in temples to unlock skills. But even these special moments lose their appeal after what feels like the hundredth time.
From the shadows, or headfirst through the wall
On my bloody journey through feudal Japan, I can control either Naoe or Yasuke. I switch back and forth between either character via the menu. The two embody the extremes of Assassin’s Creed gameplay: stealth and action.
Shinobi Naoe runs and jumps elegantly through the game world. With her grappling hook, she climbs up the facades of houses and other vertical obstacles with ease. In missions, she offers a discreet approach. I use it to secretly infiltrate enemy territory and silently assassinate enemies.
Two major changes have been made to the stealth gameplay. I can now move while prone and remain completely invisible in tall grass. Shadows also takes a leaf out of Splinter Cell’s book: enemies struggle to see me or miss me completely in shadows. I use my shuriken to extinguish lanterns and fires to clear a dark path to my destination.
Samurai Yasuke, on the other hand, is your man for rough and tumble action. Instead of eliminating enemies unnoticed, he prefers to run his head through the wall – literally. While sprinting, Yasuke can break through locked doors and other barricades. It looks pretty funny.
His strengths don’t lie in sneaking, but open combat – thanks to his heavy armour and large weapons, he can take a lot of punishment and dish it out too.
The controls for both characters should be familiar to Assassin’s Creed fans. Parkour and climbing segments happen semi-automatically and look incredibly cool thanks to fluid animations. In some situations, however, I’d have liked a little more control over the characters.
In open combat, I find it frustrating that some special attacks don’t always trigger reliably. If an enemy is on a staircase above me, for example, the animations of certain attacks often miss. Now that’s annoying.
The pain of separation
In broad terms, I like that the action and sneaking gameplay is split between two playable characters. It allows the game to place a greater focus on stealth again – an aspect that’s been increasingly neglected in past Assassin’s Creed sequels.
In practice, however, the separation of two gameplay systems leads to some annoying moments. As it turns out, the disadvantages inherent to Naoe and Yasuke’s playstyles overshadow their advantages in some places.
Naoe struggles massively in open combat, whereas Yasuke can barely handle climbing and stealth. If I choose to play one of the characters in a mission, I can no longer switch. As an example, I keep getting into action-oriented situations with Naoe that were obviously not designed for her. Yasuke would’ve worked much better.
Still, at least, I can change character at any time outside missions – provided I’m not in combat or a dangerous situation. If the clumsy Yasuke is faced with a climbing task he can’t manage, Naoe can have a go. Just a shame that changes are always accompanied by annoying loading times.
I’d have also liked to see more depth per mechanic when separating the gameplay extremes. The new focus on shadows during stealth gameplay is cool, but not revolutionary. In contrast to comparable Japanese games such as Ghost of Tsushima or Rise of the Ronin, I’m also missing more exciting stealth gadgets in Naoe’s shinobi repertoire.
Yasuke’s action gameplay is also relatively simple. Although the massive samurai’s powerfully brutal (!) fighting style is pretty damn cool, it’s too simple altogether. The wide range of weapons (including katanas, guns and spears) does nothing to change this. I can crush most enemies with simple slashes (or shots) and overpowered special attacks – when they work and don’t miss completely.
Upgrades and resources
Between missions, I always return to Naoe and Yasuke’s hideout. I can expand it with new facilities such as a smithy and a dojo as the game progresses. They allow me to create upgrades for my armour and weapons.
In the hideout, I can even train and recruit characters that I meet on my adventure. They can be used as a kind of special attack in battle. For example, explosives expert Katsuhime will appear at the touch of a button and shoot down enemy soldiers at my side.
Source: Ubisoft
It takes a lot of resources and skill points to expand my base and unlock new abilities. I can acquire both by exploring the game world, infiltrating enemy castles or completing other side activities.
The sometimes exhausting and grind-heavy looting and levelling serves as a good substitute for my vanishing urge to explore. Should I really infiltrate a castle again? I don’t really feel like it, but there are a lot of rare resources there that I need for my base. Should I really visit a shrine again? I don’t want to any more, but I’d still like to unlock this one special skill for Naoe.
After around 30 hours of playtime, I’ve unlocked everything I want. Alright, no more collecting resources or side activities. I only concentrate on the main quest and try to motivate myself despite the repetitive mission structure with frequent switches between Naoe and Yasuke.
It’s a shame that one of the most beautiful open game worlds of all time doesn’t offer more depth. As the game progresses, historical Japan just degenerates into a lifeless and repetitive backdrop.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available from 20 March for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The PS5 (Pro) version was provided to me by Ubisoft for testing purposes.
In a nutshell
Lots of repetition on an incredible backdrop
The real star of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is the visually impressive game world. It really shows off with an array of details, wonderful weather effects and changing seasons. I’ll go further – it might just be the most beautiful open game world I’ve ever experienced.
Unfortunately, this spectacular backdrop offers little substance despite the solid gameplay basis. Repetitive missions, boring side activities and a half-baked story leave me unsatisfied overall.
Pro
- Technically impressive game world
- Solid, beautiful stealth and action gameplay
Contra
- Stealth and action gameplay not distinguished well
- Repetitive missions and open-world activities
Header image: Ubisoft
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Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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