Whether Assassin’s Creed Shadows is your first time with the Animus or you’re a seasoned veteran who has lived with the bleeding effect since 2007, feudal Japan can be quite overwhelming when you first get started with Ubisoft’s latest addition to the franchise.
Look no further than our guide which gives you the best possible strategies to unlock Japan’s massive map while ensuring that you have an easy time with the game’s compelling story.
Exploring Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
With a massive map full of secrets, hidden factions, loot, activities, and generally beautiful locations to find, Japan is a living, breathing, world that could very well be considered one of the main characters of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft has taken inspiration from other entries in its flagship franchise to create a massive map that simply begs to be explored.
But where to begin? How do you find the right areas to explore when hunting down members of the Shinbakufu (or Templars as we better know them)? How do you find the best paths to take when navigating Japan’s roads on your horse?
These tips should answer all of these questions and more, letting you bring a strategic approach to your adventures in Japan while consistently finding new loot, Knowledge Points, and perhaps a hidden faction or two while you’re at it.
Don’t Shy Away From Guided Mode
Although Exploration Mode is how Shadows was intended to be played, tracking down clues to your next target or objective can be quite daunting considering the size of each distinct region in the game. If you find that you’ve been running around the map for a while with no luck in finding what you’re looking for, simply dive into your settings and enable guided mode for a quest marker that shows you exactly where you need to go.
It could save you some time if that’s a concern and you could always turn it off if you find that you prefer the mystery that Exploration mode brings.
Don’t Leap off Viewpoints Right Away
Viewpoints are your best friend when you first enter a new region. We recommend running between all of them in order to get some much-needed fast-travel points for the area while simultaneously unlocking a chunk of its map. However, Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a leaf out of Monolith’s book, allowing you to scan the area from up high in order to uncover additional points of interest you could explore.
While previous titles in the franchise did so automatically, Naoe and Yasuke must ensure that they get the most out of each viewpoint before they dive into conveniently placed haystacks or lakes. Also, Yasuke’s Leaps of Faith is always a treat to watch!
Use Your Scouts Well
The addition of Kakurega to Shadows, which act as safehouses for the Assassins, is a great move from Ubisoft. They allow for the recruitment of scouts to the Kakushiba Ikki’s cause, who can then be deployed to either smuggle resources that Naoe and Yasuke find in guarded locations or to explore the map and uncover it for their leaders.
Simply pull up your map and head on over to an undiscovered location and press square/X depending on your platform of choice to pull up your Scout menu, dispatching one or more of them to explore the area for you. If you happen to send your Scout to the right area, the respective quests’ clues get updated, allowing you to save yourself some time and effort in the process.
Building and upgrading the Study at your Hideout allows you to recruit more Scouts to your cause which can be a good choice considering you begin the game with only two. Unlocking more of Kakurega’s on your map allows you to refresh your Scouts, as does every seasonal change in the game which occurs every two hours of gameplay.
The Pathfinder Is Your Best Friend
Your horse can only do so much to make your journeys across Japan easier. Thankfully, the Pathfinder allows you to find the best possible route to those out-of-reach markers, removing the need to try and navigate through Japan’s dense forests which can be some of the game’s biggest obstacles to your progress.
Simply hold the left button on your D-Pad to begin navigating to the most recently placed marker on your map and guide your horse on its way. Ubisoft has done way with auto-navigating in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which may sound bad but makes for a more engaging, immersive experience!
Temples and Shrines Are Great Ways to Easily Level Up
There are a LOT of Temples and Shrines to find in japan, each housing valuable resources and important quest-related characters. However, Lost Pages in Temples and smaller shrines that you can pray at within the main Shrine are a quick way to earn those pesky Knowledge Points and unlock more Wisdom Ranks for those incredible abilites that are locked away when you begin your journey.
Simply ue the Observe mechanic by holding down your left trigger button to easily locate them once you’re inside a Temple or Shrine and watch those Wisdom Ranks unfold with ease. Stopping to paint Japan’s fauna when the chance presents itself is another excellent way to achieve Wisdom Ranks quickly.
Try and Stick To the Roads When You Can
While it may be tempting to just dash off into the forest and shave some miles of the total distance between you and your objective, doing so could mean that your horse simply cannot deal with Japan’s dense forests. We lost count of the number of times we just ditched our horse and continued through the jungle on foot before hitting a road and staying on it.
You won’t be missing much as most of Japan’s secrets are placed quite well and none of them are in its forests – perhaps a missed opportunity but also a welcome omission. That foliage gets very dense indeed!
Ideally, your formula when you enter a new area should be unlocking viewpoints, completing temples and shrines, using scouts to uncover clues, and visiting as many undiscovered locations as you can before taking on quests in the region. These tips should help you on your way to becoming Japan’s most well-traveled Assassin in no time.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out how you can play Assassin’s Creed Shadows at a heavy discount, or how Days Gone Remastered gets one important detail right over Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
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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.
