Hands on with Assassin's Creed Shadows - Preview
I still remember the very first time that I saw Assassin's Creed during E3 2006, the idea of a historical context to an action adventure game really appealed to me, then of course they had to introduce all the assassination and stealth elements and that just made me want to play it even more. After Assassin's Creed 2 and the remaining Ezio titles I just knew that I wanted to play this series as a ninja, and I was not the only one. Ubisoft finally answered the prayers of players around the world but does Assassin's Creed Shadows live up to the astronomical levels of hype that players have. Thankfully Ubisoft invited me to go hands on with Assassin's Creed Shadows and I'm happy to report things are finally moving forward for the series.
Before I go any further I do want to highlight that I will not be putting up any story spoilers during this preview. Both characters have a reason for doing what they do throughout the remainder of the game and they are established during the prologue but I will not say anything about that.
Two for the price of one
Now Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not the first game in the series to have you take control of two different characters, Syndicate was the first with Jacob and Evie and then Origins had you taking control of Aya, instead of Bayek for select missions. Those two games basically forced you into another character whenever the story called for it, like in Syndicate when you needed to be Evie for the more stealth investigative missions. Where Shadows differs is that you can opt to play as either Naoe or Yasuke and both play quite differently to each other. Sometimes you will be prompted to choose whom you wish to be at the start of a mission, but even during missions the game might prompt you to make the selection again, letting you swap, if you want. Thankfully, you do not need to wait for the game to prompt a swap, as you can do so at any point in the game.
Now for my hands on time with the game, I played as Naoe the most, because at no point did the idea of playing an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan and featuring a Ninja, mean I would play as the foreigner. This meant I was able to finally live out my dreams of being all stabby stabby in Japan and it was great, but there were times when I did play as Yasuke. The difference in the characters is night and day, Naoe is nimble and small, whereas Yasuke is large and powerful. Both characters can hold their own in a fight but if you are someone who really wants to get in the middle of things, then Yaskue is your guy.
Naoe you see her, now you don’t…
As I spent most of my time as Naoe, I got used to her various skills, like being able to climb up the side of a building with relative ease, or dropping down to prone, in order to hide in the not-so-tall grass. Being able to climb just about anything either through sheer force of will or using the rope dart made me feel like I was a real ninja, mixing that with the ability to leap from up high and land down on somebody made me feel like I was an assassin. But it was the new motions that Naoe used that really made me feel like I was something more than just another character in the series. Ever since Syndicate, when a character runs down from up high, it has always been this clunky run and it has worked don't get me wrong but it's always the same. Having Naoe do flips, both front and back, even going so far as to drop down and hang, had me smiling at just how effortlessly she was moving.
Time to chew some bubble gum…
But the idea of being able to go prone was astronomically simple and made perfect sense to me and it's a surprise that it hasn't been in the series before. There was an instance where after I climbed over some walls to access a house, there was a number of guards around and as I was trying to avoid getting any of them to notice me, I was sneaking around. The problem was there were only a few clumps of really tall grass that I could hide in and as I was not used to the idea of going prone I did think for a bit that I needed to go back the way I came and reevaluate my approach. But then I did remember that I could go prone and the grass along one of the walls was tall enough that if I was prone I was hidden and that gave me a much needed boost in confidence. It's really hard to explain just how much I felt like I was in ninja when playing as Naoe, from the rope dart for climbing, back flipping off roofs and throwing shuriken, and even lying prone in the grass drawing over a foe and throwing a kunai at them, I felt like I was the ninja.
Heart of a lion, form of a ram
Well, I wasn't that eager to play as Yasuke, I knew I should at some point, just to see how different playing as him was and my word does he play very differently. In past games almost every lead character played exactly the same, yes as years went on there was refinements to how they climbed or how they attacked with their sword, but the core was the same. For Yasuke though he is very, very different, not only is he much larger than any of the protagonists we've had in the series before, that size doesn't just translate to more powerful attacks in combat but it also has general benefits as well.
Horse armour DLC not required
One of the things that we got to see Yasuke do early on in his prologue was basically turn himself into a battering ram, so when I had the chance to do that later on I made sure I was going to take full advantage of it. Putting it into words is hard because previously if there was a locked door in an Assassin's Creed game, that meant you would have to climb up and find another entrance into the room. But because of Yasuke’s size he won't climb everything, but he can just bust down the door and I feel like that gives the character a unique approach to many situations. Did I like playing as Yasuke over Naoe, not really, but that's just because I had more fun playing as the ninja than I did as the human battering ram. I will say though that when I did take control of Yasuke for some fights, his size meant it took him a bit to get going, but once he was in motion, enemies would become little more than tissue paper.
A rice country you have here…
Shadows is not the first game in the series to feature an Asian country as its setting, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China has that honour. But Shadows does have a richer world to discover and while we were locked into one area of the map for the preview, there was a lot going on. Again in past games, each location played into what was around, in Origins there was a lot of desert and for Black Flag, a lot of water. Feudal Japan was a very green country and that showed up here in ways I was not expecting, one mission had me needing to head out of Himeji towards the ocean and the dock that was there. Now the smart thing might have been to mount my horse and ride along the path, but I decided to run right through the woods and that is a great name for it, as there were a lot of trees. Assassin’s Creed III introduced trees to the series as more than just decorations, but the amount here meant that at times I couldn’t even see through to the other side and I liked it.
But it wasn’t just the amount of trees around the place, as I was heading through them, I did stumble upon a clearing and found a pair of deer battling each other. Later on, as I was crossing a bridge, I stumbled upon a Heron just resting on the waters edge and both instances allowed for Naoe to draw them. They were moments of calm amongst my rushing gameplay style, so they were quite welcome. But what really sold it as Japan for me, was not Himeji Castle, or the people, but the rice fields. I know that might sound weird, but I was running around after someone and found myself quite literally ankle deep in a series of rice fields. Why this hit me was because in 2024, I reviewed Rise of the Ronin, which takes a bit of inspiration from Assassin’s Creed, but the rice fields felt different. Both games are set in Japan, offering up similar gameplay styles, the comparisons are going to be plenty, but one of them felt more authentic to me and it was the one made in Canada. Will that be the case after 40 hours, who knows, but from the preview I can say that I was enjoying this version of Japan and the world, rice fields included, were a big part of that.
Bringing new levels of play to the game
While the characters and the world are great, I would be remiss if I did not bring to your attention that Shadows fixes a number of issues that players have had with the series since Assassin’s Creed II. Your character will now follow someone at the same pace, granted you have to press and hold a button to trigger that, but there is no more adjusting the control stick. In past games, whenever you had to walk and talk with someone, you had to constantly adjust your characters pace, as you either walked to slow or ran to fast, but the moment I saw the press A to follow, I was so happy. It wasn’t just that, when you are on a horse, if your map as a destination marker active, you can turn on a function so your horse just follows the path to it, via the various roads, without you needing to control things. But wait, there’s more.
For the first time ever, climbing to the top of a view point, no longer has icons explode across your map, telling you where everything is. You will still get icons on the screen, but they are question marks, indicating something is at that location, but you will have to make your way to it, in order to discover what it actually is. If you don’t mark a location on your map when up high, those icons goes away until you get near it, so you don’t have a constant line up of question marks on the screen. It is honestly a mix between the more traditional Assassin’s Creed games and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and I am down for it. But wait, there is even more good news.
Now when you are at the edge of an enemy location, you will have to highlight the enemies yourself, doing so will give you an idea of what type of enemy they are and their strength. You don’t have to do that, you can instead opt to run in like Leroy Jenkins, but if you do, then you can learn that the guy on the side of the base is actually using a gun, or that the guy sleeping near the fire is an elite. Yes, you can guess that the massive person is the elite, or the guy standing on the tower likely has a long range weapon, but the game lets you learn more if you take a moment. You also flag the enemies, which means you can keep track of them, something you will want to do if you set them off. This will also be crucial for discovering which person amongst them, is the target you are after, unless you are randomly storming some base. Plus, I haven’t even touched on that you won’t be given a clear icon on the map that will lead you to your objective, you will need to find it based off clues that you have to discover.
Final thoughts
It is honestly very hard to put into words how excited I am for the full game now that I have had a taste, because it fixes a lot of issues the series has had for the longest time. The two-character approach feels special, because both characters feel unique in almost every way. The world is teeming with life and even just being able to stop for a moment and pet a dog or puppy you encounter, is delightful. The world itself, at least what I have seen, feels more alive than ever before, but it is the core experience that feels the best yet. When Origins rebooted the series, it added a lot of RPG elements and not much else, but Shadows is the first game that feels like it is taking a generational step forward, which could mean this is the new standard for the series.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will release on March 20 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. You can use our Bargain Guide to ensure you are getting the best deal possible on the game.
