- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Assassin’s Creed Shadows:
Peak Assassin’s Creed and yet, Barely Recognisable
by Adam
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is a game that represents the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the series. While the game makes significant steps forward in the gameplay department in many aspects, it also takes one step back in what many consider to make Assassin’s Creed unique as a brand in the churning, hotly contested seas of AAA titles.
Stealth and the Weather System
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Despite some bemoaning the lack of social stealth, the game undoubtedly has the best environmental stealth in the series. Volumetric lighting, the ability to go prone, and increased gameplay opportunities within the environment blow all other Assassin’s Creed games out of the water.
Assassin’s Creed isn’t known for its smart AI, but Shadows challenges this notion, with Samurai reacting accordingly to bodies found by adopting a defensive stance and coordinating with other guards. They’ll even react to changes in the weather. Enemies will huddle around fires or stay indoors to keep warm during the winter, with fewer patrols during these months.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration when I say Shadows has an excellent weather system. Not only does it fully immerse you in the world, as every good weather system should, but it also dynamically changes based on the season and, in turn, affects gameplay opportunities. For instance, nights are shorter in the summer, providing Naoe with little time to lollygag when infiltrating a castle or camp.
Combat
I realise it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the combat system is one of the best in the franchise, aside from one aspect that I’ll cover later. Its variety and depth are unmatched within the series. Every weapon has its own set of mechanics that can be used to manipulate the enemy in ways that no other Assassin’s Creed game has done before or since. It’s a bit slower than I would have liked, as I prefer fast-paced, hectic combat, and it can be clunky at times, especially when trying to use tools during a fight. Overall, it’s engaging and flows well with the abilities, giving it good variety.
As mentioned above, there’s one aspect of combat I dislike: the empty-hand system, which is virtually nonexistent. Empty-handed fighting peaked in Assassin’s Creed III, then declined with each game. With Shadows set in Japan, the martial arts Mecca, I hoped it would return in a big way. Instead, the system remains the stripped-down version introduced in Origins, offering little incentive to use it. It’s even more frustrating since Naoe can pose in photo mode in a clear Taijutsu stance.
Dual Protagonists
One of Assassin’s Creed’s most important aspects, at least in my opinion, is the protagonists. Whether I enjoy the game hinges significantly on how much I like the main character/s. And in this aspect, Shadows does not disappoint. Naoe and Yasuke’s friendship feels so genuine and believable that it eclipses fan favourite friendships such as Ezio and Leonardo. What’s more is that it bleeds into the gameplay.
Naoe and Yasuke - Assassin’s Creed Shadows -Ubisoft
I may adore Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, but the choice to play as Evie or Jacob is mostly superficial. In Shadows, Naoe and Yasuke are true opposites, representing different Japanese classes and distinct skill sets. Naoe, a peasant living off the land, is trained in Shinobi arts and favours subtlety. Yasuke, a one-man army adopted into the Samurai class by Oda Nobunaga, is trained in Shinkage-Ryu and prefers direct combat. This dynamic mirrors two types of Assassin’s Creed players: those who prefer combat and those who favour stealth. I appreciate that Ubisoft acknowledges both approaches.
I knew this was unlikely from the start, but I do wish Ubi Quebec had leaned into this a bit more and restricted players' freedom somewhat, really emphasising each character’s skill set for quests that only they could do, further highlighting the differences between them. I would also have loved to have a dual takedown mechanic, similar to Batman Arkham Knight, where either Naoe or Yasuke would eliminate an enemy with cooperative animation.
The Isu, Mythology and the Pieces of Eden
Now, let’s move on to what I consider to be the most egregious mistakes that Shadows makes. The game features none of the Isu, or the Pieces of Eden, something that previous games in the series, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Odyssey, leaned heavily on. This becomes an issue when people consider these aspects to define the series, and Ubisoft, instead of appealing to franchise fans, tries to chase new fans. While this approach is understandable from a business perspective, it doesn’t necessarily curry favour with existing players of the series. To give credit where it is due, in an AMA on Reddit, Luc Plante, Shadow's Level Director, stated:
“Similar to this, the fact that there is no Isu artifact in the main game of Shadows doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in the world of Shadows," Plante said, "it just wasn't a story device that we needed for the story we wanted to tell."
Fair enough, I understand the reasoning. However, after almost two decades of cultivating a fan base on these aspects, I can see why fans are disappointed. “Grounded” stories have been told throughout the franchise and have still included the Isu and Pieces of Eden. Take the first Assassin’s Creed, for example: At no point until the very end is the Apple of Eden shown to be anything other than a seemingly man-made artefact. Sure, Al Mualim tells us exactly what it does: it controls people’s minds, but the dialogue is careful to skirt around the true source of this power. Its true nature as an Isu relic is only revealed later, keeping the story rooted in reality until the twist.
"He who holds it, commands the hearts and minds of whoever looks upon it. Whoever "tastes" of it, as they say."
The dialogue is purposely vague. It does not explicitly tell us that this “piece of sliver” is an ancient piece of technology created by a precursor race. It only implies that the Apple is coveted for its metaphysical aspect: having influence over people, not by using its abilities, but simply having it in one’s possession.
They could have done this with the Imperial Regalia easily. These are artefacts that symbolically represent the Emperor and his family’s divine right to rule. But instead, these artefacts mean nothing to us, the player.
The Three Imperial Regalia of Japan - Assassin’s Creed Shadows -Ubisoft
From a fan’s perspective, every important artefact throughout history SIMPLY has to be a Piece of Eden, because that’s what the franchise has conditioned us to think. In that sense, it’s so bizarre that the Imperial Regalia of Japan hasn't been confirmed as POEs. Now, I realise that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has 17 years' worth of lore to contend with. But just ignoring the Isu and POEs is a lazy way to go about it. Heck, even just having Naoe and/or Yasuke opening a box and a golden glow emitting from it is enough. Is it cliché? Yes, yes it is, but it gets the job done while keeping the story “grounded.”
Another issue relating to the Pieces of Eden, the Isu, and the associated mythology surrounding them. In their pursuit of a grounded game, the developers even went as far as to state that there would be no mythology in Shadows. Yet, this isn’t strictly true. The Yokai quest line sees Yasuke and Naoe tracking down people mistaken for Yokai. So far, so good. It’s a great questline, involving grounded depictions of such Yokai as the Yuki Onna, or Snow Woman, and I enjoyed seeing Japanese mythology represented through culture. However, what I take issue with is the very end of the quest, where Yasuke and Naoe come face to face with what is presumably a real, honest-to-God Yokai.
Now, why would you tease a mythological entity if you weren’t going to have any mythological content? It’s honestly baffling, and as I’m writing this, I’m struggling to comprehend the thought processes behind this decision. Further compounding this frustration is the fact that the DLC is set on Awaji, and according to the creation myth, it was the first of the Oyashima islands created by Izanami and Izanagi, the Kami that would go on to create Japan and its surrounding islands, and they did nothing with this information. This is clearly subjective, but Japanese mythology is the most exciting and interesting myth out there, and not taking advantage of that, when mythology was used so well in both Valhalla and Odyssey, is a tremendous waste. At least have a mythological DLC, separate from the main game, so it won’t compromise the grounded nature.
Granted, the game will receive a free content drop involving the Isu. I am in two minds about this. On the one hand, we finally get some much-needed Isu content in Shadows, which should have been included from the start, but on the other, I’m not expecting much simply because it's a free content drop.
I love Shadows for its stunningly beautiful depiction of Japan, its incredible stealth/combat gameplay, and its two compelling protagonists. However, because of bizarre decision-making, I can’t help but feel that, in some ways, it’s a monumental waste of the most requested setting in the series’ history, and barely recognisable as Assassin’s Creed.
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