With 70 hours of dashing across feudal Japan on my trusty steed and wrapping up Naoe and Yasuke’s stories in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I can safely say that the wait was worth it. Ubisoft’s vision for the Sengoku era fits right in with Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ new protagonists and is an inspired take on a samurai and shinobi working together for the common good.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a game that works well to give its players something to do at every village, temple, shrine, and city that they visit while its many systems blend together into an experience that pushes the franchise into a new and exciting future. I’d recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in ancient Japan or action-adventure RPGs.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Brings Japan to Life
Covering each of Ubisoft’s promotional announcements in the run-up to Shadows, I hoped against hope that the studio would deliver on what its new and improved Anvil engine promised to bring to Japan. My first hours in Assassin’s Creed Shadows were bookmarked by several stops along the road just to take in the world around me. Japan’s plains, fields, and forests are a sight to behold on the PS5, and as the first current-gen-only addition to Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ visuals are a new benchmark for the franchise and perhaps even other studios.
The dynamic seasonal and weather systems work very well and actually impact gameplay in meaningful ways. I won’t forget leaping off a pagoda in the middle of winter to land face-first into a lake that had frozen over anytime soon.
Each season brings new visual touches to the open world that showcase the effort that went into creating them. A dog shakes off droplets of water as you stop to pet it in the rain while a gentle breeze flicks Naoe’s hair as she walks along a long and winding road on the way to her next target. On the graphical front, I’d say Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game to beat.
The Best of Assassin’s Creed’s Best
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has so many subtle callbacks to its past titles for those Assassins with a discerning eye and knowledge of the franchise. There’s a pirate ship that Noae must infiltrate early on in the story, and I could have sworn it was the Jackdaw. The investigation boards from Mirage are back with a bang, presenting you with a frankly overwhelming number of targets to hunt down. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Exploration Mode make a triumphant return and are probably the best version of Ubisoft’s unique brand of immersive gameplay to date.
The game’s combat is a personal highlight for me. It brings back the attack, dodge, and deflect system from the franchise’s RPG-inspired titles with inspired changes that simplify its overall functionality but bring incredible changes to how combat looks and feels against enemies in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. While you may expect Naoe to be quite easy to take down in a fair fight, the diminutive Iga is deadly with her katana, kusarigama, or tanto, weaving between attacks while dishing out damage with blinding speed and accuracy.
However, Yasuke is where Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ combat truly shines. While I’ve generally preferred a stealthy trek through enemy territories in past titles, I think there’s an argument to be made for Yasuke’s special brand of chaos. He triggers alarms with no fear of the reinforcements who might arrive, his armor and skills a bulwark against overwhelming forces. He is brutal, efficient, and implacable – a true power trip for those who preferred to walk into enemy camps all guns blazing in previous titles.
My playthrough was in Performance Mode for the most part, as it made combat a very smooth affair. While exploring the world, I didn’t have too many reasons to switch to the ray-tracing-enabled Quality mode. You may want to give them both a try and choose what works best for you, however.
Ubisoft has done well to balance Naoe and Yasuke from a gameplay perspective, allowing them to shine individually while Ubisoft’s version of Japan will keep me coming back to its shores for many months in the near future as I tease out all of its secrets and mysteries.
Does This Game Have Any Faults at All?
As much as I hate to say it, it does. While the story in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is certainly passable, its pacing left a lot to be desired after an explosive prologue that wastes no time in introducing Naoe and Yasuke. However, things slow down in the game’s first act, which restricts you to playing as Naoe until you get to a concluding mission that serves as a proper introduction for Yasuke, complete with Afro Samurai-inspired beats to accompany the swordplay that ensues.
From then on, Japan lies at your feet, ready to be fully explored as either character with their personal arcs sometimes coinciding with their hunts for the Shinbakufu, the Templars of feudal Japan. It’s a plot that held a lot of promise with an ultimately disappointing payoff that is quickly forgotten as the game dives into epilogues for its two leads. While I do see the value in holding back Yasuke for a major chunk of the game, I must complain about being disappointed with the fact that I could not play him right from the start after witnessing what he was capable of in the prologue.
I would also like to point out that while I loved the game’s soundtrack, its hip-hop-inspired beats for Yasuke may seem out of place for players hoping for a more authentic take on ancient Japan. Naoe’s English voice acting was another sore spot, forcing me to choose the game’s immersive mode and pay attention to subtitles even during combat. However, the rest of the game’s audio was well-implemented, and I couldn’t find anything to complain about. I can never get tired of hearing a perfect parry ring out from my DualSense’s speaker, after all!
An area that Ubisoft might want to consider fixing in future updates or titles is the forest density. Attempting to cut through the dense foliage in forests and hills on your way to an objective is an exercise in frustration and will soon force you to stick to the roads with a Pathfinder function that is yet to reach its peak despite appearing in nearly every game in the past few years.
A Futuristic Trip to the Past
It is evident that Ubisoft paid attention to what its players wanted when it set out to recreate feudal Japan for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It shows in how Naoe and Yasuke are both charming protagonists in their own right while remaining compelling enough via their respective backstories. It’s evident in every falling leaf or in the rays of light that shine on Japan’s vast landscape. The effort underlines every part of the experience in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
But is it enough? While I cannot comment on what Shadows’ success will hold for the studio, I can surely say that the team behind this marvelous title must take a bow for what they’ve achieved. Assassin’s Creed Shadows raises the bar for open-world action RPGs in ways that matter and is a worthy vehicle for the franchise’s transition to current-gen systems.
Just remember not to dive too deep into its forests and take its story at your own pace.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Summary
Overall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a must for fans of the franchise and is a great choice for players looking for a massive open world to explore with a gameplay loop that is both memorable and addictive.
HOURS PLAYED: 72
PLAYED ON: PS5
- A visually stunning open-world that is full of secrets, gear, and mysteries to see.
- Excellent combat mechanics that are easy to learn but hard to master.
- Stealth mechanics that are a perfection of the Assassin's Creed formula.
- The story's pacing leaves much to be desired.
- Japan's dense forests are its biggest obstacles.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Mac, and PC.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out our review of Split Fiction or our review of The First Berserker: Khazan.
Even The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered isn't Stopping the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hype T...
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Finally Has Something in Common with Margot Robbie
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Everything Confirmed You Need to Know
Bethesda Reveal Oblivion Remastered Shadow Drop, Expansions, and New Content!
With a passion for gaming that is equaled only by his love for writing, Varun has either a controller, keyboard, or a guitar in his hands when he is not out exploring the middle of nowhere on a motorcycle. Soulslikes, RPGs, and action-adventure titles keep him awake at night and get him out of bed in the morning. He will never stop lamenting the lack of a Bloodborne sequel even as he spends another couple of hours exploring the Lands Between in Elden Ring.
