Assassin’s Creed Shadows Hands-On: A Sneak(ing) Peek at Ninja Fights and Samurai Brawls

After years of fan outcry, the beloved Assassin’s Creed series will finally have an entry set in feudal Japan with this year’s installment, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. I saw a hands-off preview last fall at Germany’s Gamescom, but then the game was delayed from its original November release date to Feb. 14 (and then delayed again to March 20) of this year. I got my first hands-on time with the game alongside other journalists, marking a big moment for a game with a lot of expectation and hype.

My hands-on preview was split into two parts: an hour-long session exploring the game’s prologue with around another three hours in the later game. While I’m unsure how deep into the game I was, my characters were both now level 25 with some legendary armor, and a lot more abilities unlocked. 

Set in 1579, the game takes a dual-protagonist approach, which is new to the series. Unlike in 2018’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and 2020’s Valhalla, games where you choose a main character from one of two character options, Shadows has you play as a team of characters throughout the game. Ubisoft refers to this dynamic as a “stealth and fight” approach to the game wherein characters’ different abilities define how you’ll progress through areas.

Each character plays differently but can be used for any missions, and swapped between at many points. The first character is Yasuke, a powerful Black samurai brought to Japan as a Portuguese slave. His large build and heavy armor makes him a great choice for any missions where you plan to charge straight through the front door and fight your way to the end. If you prefer killing silently from rooftops and shadows, Naoe is your protagonist of choice: a Japanese ninja who prioritizes stealth and maneuverability.

Many missions will give you the option of who to begin as and, except for a few instances, you’ll have to stick to that choice until completion. This means you won’t be able to start a quest playing as Naoe, sneaking around and trying to assassinate enemies, but then switch immediately to Yasuke when you become spotted and are surrounded by foes. (When you’re free-roaming areas outside of missions, you can swap by simply pausing the game and holding X.)

With that said, both characters can hold their own in the opposite play style, it’ll just be much harder. Typically, Assassin’s Creed characters of the past would be able to do both play styles just fine, so it’s an interesting choice to split playstyle strengths between two protagonists and force the player to weigh their odds compared to the playstyle they prefer.

This contrast came into play heavily in the final mission we played where our heroes had to storm a castle and fight a corrupt lord within. I initially started this mission as Yasuke but found that fighting through the front gate was just too challenging. After a failed attempt, I switched to Naoe and quickly scaled a wall (something Yasuke cannot do) and avoided fighting all together. What would have taken me probably 20 minutes of brawler fighting and used up all my health regen items was now bypassed stealthily in two minutes without any hassle. 

However, as the mission proceeded, I now had to fight my way through the halls inside to the boss up top. Instead of trying to sneak my way down these narrow corridors full of enemies, I switched to Yasuke and fought them head on. It was a fun change of pace.

At this point in the game I had two of Yasuke’s abilities unlocked for me, which are used by holding down RT and pressing one of the controller’s face buttons (similar to previous character action games, such as Spider-Man). The first ability was a very cool, lightning-fast dashing slash that caused the screen to go black and white for a second while I made contact with the enemy, while the second was a massive, powerful kick that would send my opponent comically far through the air. I loved using both and used them often to carve through groups of enemies.

Both characters can also call in support Allies to help during missions, which act like fighting game assists to help in tough situations. These Allies can be managed, equipped and upgraded back at your base, and are used as distractions while trying to sneak around or even help when you’re up against several enemies at once. There were two I had available to use: a powerful woman who specialized in pushing and knocking back her opponents as well as a stealthier guy who would try to one-shot the target and then use a smoke bomb to retreat.

Another form of support is Scouts, which come into play when you’re trying to locate more information about your mission. Ubisoft says they’ve taken a “guide, don’t tell” approach to the quests in Shadows; subsequently, several of my missions didn’t come with a marker on my map to head toward. Instead, it would give me hints of the area or building I should explore to learn more. During my preview I had access to five Scouts (and it was unclear how I might get more) that I could set down anywhere on the map, and they would reveal points of interest. Pairing the hints and the Scouts together should reveal the waypoint for me to move toward to proceed with my quest. 

From there you can head to your objective or press left on the D-pad to turn on the pathfinder, a translucent line that will direct you like a GPS. However, the game will not hold your hand for every objective. There is a major emphasis on Observing: Holding the left trigger will cause your character to focus and the camera will zoom in slightly. This will allow you to highlight enemies (which reveals their health and makes them visible through walls), and it also points out loot to collect or objectives you’re searching for. It’s evident early on that rushing in blind to these missions will make things much harder than if you find a vantage point and survey the area first (another reason why I often preferred starting a mission with Naoe). 

During my preview, I didn’t get a good sense of the overarching story these characters are working their way through. The prologue suggested some motivation for their team-up, but the big mystery box was left concealed. However, longtime Assassin’s Creed fans will be wondering if the Animus, a narrative device that allows modern day humans to revisit and play as their heroic ancestors of the past in these whimsical eras, is returning. In short, yes it does — in something called Animus Ego. Unfortunately, we got very little time with this meta-story component, but I can tell you that, once again, there’s hackers and glitches and something sinister going on behind the scenes of the seemingly picturesque Animus project. 

I’m extremely excited to play more of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. As someone who loves Ghost of Tsushima, the feudal Japan setting easily excites me. The wait isn’t that long either as the game comes out for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on March 30. 

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