Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review – Gamers Heroes

Few games get me as excited as a new Assassin’s Creed.

We’ve sailed the high seas, explored the pyramids of Egypt, raided England, stalked the streets of London, and thousands of years of culture and history crammed into open-world epics. However, even as a long-term fan of the series, I have to admit it’s time for a change.

Does Assassin’s Creed Shadows bring about a new era for the franchise, or is this more of the same?

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review

With every mainstream Assassin’s Creed game I’ve reviewed – Valhalla, Odyssey, Origins, Black Flag – I always walk away thinking the same thing: How are they ever going to top Eivor, Alexios, Bayek, Edward?

Yet somehow, each release continues to deliver unforgettable characters time and time again.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is no different, and dare I say, is some of the best character work Ubisoft has ever done. Naoe and Yasuke are both incredibly engaging characters, offering variety and meaning from both a narrative and mechanical perspective.

Their intertwined tales complement the main story in a way that leaves a lasting impact, but it’s the individual backstories of each character that propels the storytelling. Learning of Yasuke’s roots, his family, his life as a slave, Naoe’s endless drive to avenge her family, it’s a gripping tale.

Japan is breathtaking. Both the natural elements of the world and the architecture of the times, I lost count of how many times I stopped to take in the sights. From the meandering rivers to the leaves blowing in the gentle breeze, breathtaking vistas await around every corner in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Flipping from rooftop to rooftop, in the most fluid and acrobatic parkour the series has seen to date, never gets old. Shimmying around a rooftop in winter, being careful not to knock icicles down below, watching as the world is bathed in an ocean of white, it’s truly a breathtaking visual experience.

However, once that jaw-dropping landscape is populated with missions and events, some of its beauty fades, replaced by a monotone brush of repetitive quest design and unimaginative mechanics, that honestly boggles the mind.

Let me explain. I’ve currently found 17 Unknown Organizations, groups within Japan that one character or another wants to be removed. Within these 17 organizations, and there may be more, there are approximately 100 individual characters to find.

The process of finding each is almost identical. You are given a series of clues, and you use those clues to find the rough spot on the map. Then, you search the area with a Scout.

That’s it. Over and over, nearly 100 times.

It’s not just me who sees this as a poorly designed system, it’s clear someone at Ubisoft agrees because you can turn the entire thing off in Guided Mode. This lack of conviction, the lack of confidence in design, is littered throughout the game.

Initially, I turned on the instant assassination option, a feature which allows Naoe to kill any target with a stealth kill regardless of health or ability. But in doing this, you completely void almost an entire skill tree of upgrades and endless weapons you find designed to boost stealth mechanics.

There’s another option that completely removes dialog choices from the game. I struggle to understand the purpose or intent of a feature if you feel a player’s time is more enjoyed by removing it from the game entirely.

These are, of course, all completely optional, but it leaves the game surrounded by shadows, unaware of its true identity or goals.

The one saving grace to scouting and hunting down near-endless targets, the combat is glorious.

The stark contrast in styles almost splits past franchise protagonists in two. Naoe is one of the most capable assassins in the series, dispatching the unaware, foe after foe. The familiar satisfaction and sweeping of pride as you take down another enemy stronghold without discovery, it’s priceless.

Yasuke, on the other hand, makes little effort to remain hidden and instead brings a massive hammer to every fight, with every foe a nail. His heavier combat style, more impactful swings, devastating area attacks, it’s almost like playing two different games at times, and it’s the better game for it.

Despite my love for the option to play both protagonists, certain elements of exploration suffer under its weight.

While not frequent, the game does force the player to play specific characters at certain times. Most of this is narrative-based, which makes sense, but when those restrictions spill over into actual gameplay, it’s very annoying.

The environment muddies that rather simple equation with cumbersome objectives and obstacles that feel painfully contrary to the game’s otherwise free approach to character selection. Yasuke struggles climbing even the most basic of structures, making him an unlikely choice if you want to assault the top floor of a pagoda.

However, on that top floor is a collectible item for a side quest that only Yasuke can interact with. So, you either take the hard route of fighting through the entire compound, or you clear a path with Naoe, leave the compound, and then return as Yasuke and hope to follow the same path, or use the fast travel point to swap characters during a loading screen.

From a technical standpoint, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is easily the best release in Ubisoft’s history.

I played through 20-30 hours on the very impressive GeForce Now, and finished the game off on the PlayStation 5.

Flawless. I didn’t encounter a single bug, every quest worked, never crashed once, even the cross-save progression was seamless and worked perfectly.

I come away from my time in the shadows confused. It’s a great game, amazing in many places, but in giving the player so much opportunity to strip apart the layers, you lose the art of what the game is trying to be.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is another strong entry in the AC universe, excelling by building on the series’ strengths. Japan is stunning, and both Naoe and Yasuke shine as some of the franchise’s best protagonists to date. However, even for seasoned fans, its repetitive and unimaginative mission structure may be tough to overcome.

Well, unless you just turn it all off.

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