Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game fans wanted for a long, long time. It just makes sense. Stick an assassin in feudal Japan, and you already have gold. But, of course, it’s never that easy. Shadows is trying to do a lot, including bridging mechanics from the older stealth-focused games to the new ones while still offering satisfying combat. Based on a four-hour demo of the game, I can say they have done a lot to help me return to the Assassins fold.
I love history, and I love stealth games. The Assassin’s Creed games should be my favorite franchise, right? Well, I’ve enjoyed most of the series’ 13 main-line titles (excluding the numerous spinoffs, mobile titles, a VR game, and game-sized DLC). I did not enjoy it when the series switched to its modern RPG-lite identity. Slowly, the games started leaking their stealth mechanics in favor of ship-based roaming and empty open worlds full of dull content.
Ubisoft invited me for a closed-door session where the game was streaming from a separate PC. Going in, the one thing I didn’t want Assassin’s Creed: Shadows to feel like is your mom telling you, “We have Ghost of Tsushima at home.” After all, Sucker Punch’s feudal Japan stealth action epic was one of my favorite titles of the PlayStation 4 generation. I’m bewildered by how much I enjoyed it, considering that the entire open-world structure put me off the last three Assassin’s Creed titles. I didn’t want to search for 50 separate fox dens or climb yet another shrine mountain, but I kept playing for the excellent stealth mechanics and the truly personal story of Jin Sakai.
Assassin’s Creed billed its promise on “social stealth,” or the idea that you could use a city’s crowds to blend into your environment rather than just keep to the shadows. The last game in the franchise to have actually effective social stealth mechanics was the underrated Assassin’s Creed Unity. That hasn’t changed with Shadows. Instead, it’s half a stealth game. When I say that, I mean it literally. There are two protagonists in Shadows, and one of them feels like they actually belong in a stealth game.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Includes Full Lip-Synced Japanese Dialogue for Those Who Really Loved FX’s Shogun
The setting is half the appeal of any Assassin’s Creed Game, and I can say with certainty that Ubisoft Quebec has made late 16th-century Japan look beautiful. The world is colorful and vibrant, far more than the dreary Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The weather effects and wind kicking up dust down dusty dirt roads were particularly breathtaking.
My demo started with a section of the game’s introduction where we were introduced to our two main protagonists. Naoe, a shinobi and member of the deceased Iga Ikki clan, and Yasuke. It’s the first time you play as a historical figure in the series’ history, in this case, a former slave who became Japan’s first Black samurai. You see how Yasuke fell in with the Daimyo Oda Nobunaga after impressing the warlord during a visit by Portuguese missionaries.
I was already intrigued by the setup. Like other recent Assassin’s Creed games, you can choose a few lines of dialogue during some conversations, though each choice may not immediately impact the story. You could keep Yasuke silent when Nobunaga asks him a direct question or have him speak up, showing that he has an independent mind. Of course, I chose the latter. Later, during Nobunaga’s historical assault on Iga province in 1581, Yasuke worries about the effect of war on a populace before we cut to our other protagonist. Naoe is young and wants to show her capabilities to her father. To avoid spoilers, all I can say is she is tasked to find a MacGuffin before events go south, and we cut away just before she bleeds out on the ground, surrounded by her enemies.
Shadows was being worked on long before FX’s Shogun series premiered. Still, if you enjoyed that adaptation of the 1975 novel by James Clavell, you’ll see similar political themes permeating Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft told me players can play with full Japanese and Portuguese voice casts and subtitles, including accurate lip-syncing. I only got a small taste of it in the prologue, but I know it would be my preferred way to experience the game.
The rest of my Assassin’s Creed Shadows demo centered around Himeji, with the famed Himeji Castle as a constant backdrop. The task was to assassinate “the noble,” which demands players tackle numerous challenges before finally being able to assault the main target. There are lies, politics, and (obviously) backstabbing involved, but as usual, for this series, there are a lot of names to learn in a very short amount of time. The setup intrigued me enough to see what the other missions have in store. I just know I would play one character far more than the other.
I Much Prefer My Stealth Games With Actual Sneaking
The last game in the series to feature dual protagonists was Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. This was when the game faced blowback for Ubisoft exec’s boneheaded decision to nix female characters in Unity’s co-op mode. Both Odyssey and Valhalla let you choose between a female or male main character, but here, you can switch between Yasuke or Naoe at any time while outside a mission. In the game’s pitched “black box” missions, you’ll have multiple opportunities to switch off between each protagonist.
Switching between characters in Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t as diegetic as the character switching in a game like Grand Theft Auto V, though at least I have the choice when starting most story-based missions how I want to tackle it. Do I strut through the door of a stronghold with a massive kanabō—AKA the famed studded two-handed club used in feudal Japan- or hide among the rooftops as an assassin?
I wanted to love Yasuke’s gameplay, but I had a more challenging time tackling missions involving infiltrating a palace with Yasuke’s thick frame. The game is built so that the two protagonists play very differently. Yasuke can climb but is much slower than Naoe when mantling over a chest-high wall. He can walk along tree limbs with his arms outstretched for balance, but he does it with as much trepidation and grace as any massive man walking a tightrope.
Instead, Yasuke can bash down doors. Watching this large man sprinting around in the street, randomly shoulder-checking random pots that dared stand in his wake, is fun. The minute-to-minute fights in Shadows can be enjoyable. However, when faced with swarms of enemies darting in with daggers along with armored samurai, I would resort to running away and shooting them repeatedly in the head with a musket. I could spend time perfecting parry timings and learning to understand the benefits of each weapon, but I don’t know if it would be as satisfying as Naoe’s gameplay.
Naoe can use a grappling hook to scale walls. She can climb effortlessly and sprint across any precarious ledge. She can throw smoke bombs to escape enemies and quietly take out enemies. Yasuke’s assassination is him literally running a man through and lifting them off their feet. Cool? Absolutely. Good for keeping quiet? Obviously, no. Yasuke can pick up and move bodies around easier than the small and nimble Naoe, but why would he need to if he’s going to bust down the door to the next room anyway?
It Wouldn’t Be an Assassin’s Creed Game Without Spots of Jank
The best new addition to Assassin’s Creed games is the ability to go prone. Naoe and Yasuke can do it, but the shinobi gets much more out of it, and she uses it to keep down in tall grass or sneak under porches to get at enemies’ behinds. I wish there were more than hay stacks and benches that barely wink at the series’ past promise.
I was enjoying what I played far more than I initially expected I would, especially considering how much I didn’t enjoy the past two titles in the franchise. However, the climbing and parkour still can’t match what was in Assassin’s Creed II 16 years ago. I still found myself jumping to objects I didn’t mean to or being stuck clambering while enemies checked knives at my back. The climbing animations lack weight, even while the assassinations and combat look as good as they ever have.
Coming off of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I also appreciated the simple strong and heavy attack system. You can immediately combo off attacks by holding down the right bumper or trigger, and there’s the addition of different abilities and weapons that add variety. It’s not perfect, of course. The fights became too claustrophobic during the final assault on Himeji Castle. The camera was pressed in and cut off the enemies constantly surrounding me.
But I know I would keep playing despite all my qualms. I must be in the mood for another sneaking game. So while I wait for Sucker Punch’s next game, Ghost of Yōtei, I’ll be looking to see what else Ubisoft’s latest semi-stealth game has in store.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows launches on March 20 this year on PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and macOS.