Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review (PS5)

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has finally come for consoles and PC, capping what has been a drama-filled, emotionally charged year that has seen two delays and lots of doom-posting about the game. It is also releasing to a very different Ubisoft than when it was first announced as Assassin’s Creed Red, with tanking stocks and a bunch of high profile commercial disappointments. And as such, its success is widely seen as crucial to Ubisoft’s short-term survival.

But as an Assassin’s Creed fan, it wasn’t hard for me to shut out all the noise surrounding it and just play it as soon as I got my review copy. And what I discovered is a great game that has elements that make it the best Assassin’s Creed title since Black Flag. While there are also elements that are keeping it from GOTY territory, such as story pacing, as a whole I am having fun with the game going into my 60th hour as of writing with three main targets left and with half the content still waiting for me to discover.

***Some Spoilers Below***

Two stories, One Journey

Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts you in control of two protagonists: Yasuke, former slave turned samurai in the service of Lord Oda Nobunaga; and Fujibayashi Naoe, shinobi, daughter of Fujibayashi Nagato, and survivor of Oda Nobunaga’s invasion of Iga province. Assassin’s Creed has done the dual protagonist thing before with Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, however this time Yasuke and Naoe has distinct personalities, distinct approaches, distinct skills, and their own motivations even after the game allows you to switch.

Yasuke is the tank that you can use for open confrontations, and properly leveled, can be devastating even against stronger enemies. He also does not have an Eagle vision, is cumbersome to use stealth with, and is much slower than his shinobi counterpart so stealth with him is a challenge. Naoe has the benefit of the Eagle vision, a hidden blade, superior speed and agility, but her starting attack stats tend to suck in open conflict against better opponents like the Samurai Daisho, Ronin, and Guardians until you level up and learn new skills.

There are missions and areas that either can clear using different approaches, although there are some missions that are restricted to Yasuke or to Naoe only. Yasuke can also easily push aside barriers, or carry objects out of the way or throw them into enemies. Naoe can also carry bodies but with some difficulty especially with enemy types that are larger than her small frame. Yasuke has no such problem with bodies, but Naoe can grab enemies to kill them in a “safe” area, something Yasuke could not. These little details make the game cool as there are some real benefits and deficits to using either character.

The first issue I encountered with the dual protagonist narrative is that the game took two hours for the story to get its bearings. That part of the game was peppered with fast forwards and flashbacks that I felt break the pace. The game starts with Yasuke as he accompanies Father Valignano to an audience with Oda Nobunaga, then we move forward six months to the invasion of Iga. Then we switch to Naoe’s perspective of the invasion and you go back and forth with flashbacks as the game builds up its world. From there, the open world becomes accessible, and you control Naoe for about an hour before the story draws Yasuke back in. On top of that, Naoe’s flashback wasn’t complete, the rest of it leading to the invasion are hidden in your first five Kuji-kiri mini-game.

It’s not all negative since the flashbacks give out details with regards to Naoe’s past, but the way there placed in the story affected the pacing at the start. In contrast, when the story takes you further with Yasuke, he has his own flashback missions you have to go through as well but they did not feel as jarring as Naoe’s, probably because by the time to you them, you already have your bearings.

The second issue (or nitpick, rather) I have with the dual protagonist system is that Ubisoft could have allowed Yasuke and Naoe to tackle challenges together: Naoe infiltrating and marking enemies, as well as disabling alarm bells in the area, and then allow a switch to Yasuke for the frontal assault. You can do this to a degree in some story missions, but it doesn’t feel as organic as it could have been. I know that this might make clearing castles a lot easier, but if the developers are serious about the dual protagonist system, then both should have been utilized in all aspects of the game.

Story Progression

Story progression is tied to the main targets: the Shinbakufu, a group of masked individuals seeking control over Japan. They are dispersed throughout Shadow’s world map which consists of the provinces of Izumo Settsu, Yamashiro, Omi, Wakasa, Harima, Yamato, Tamba, and Kii. As you hunt your targets in each province, other quests also come in that expand on the back story, like Naoe’s mother Tsuyu who was once part of Kakushiba Ikki, an Assassin-adjacent league. Tsuyu who once led the league, was trained by an excommunicated Assassin who nevertheless built a Brotherhood in Japan with the same ideals as his old one. In her own turn, Tsuyu would lead other Assassins whose armor Naoe can recover and use.

You will also meet new members for your own league (also called Kakushiba Ikki) with some associated missions for them. Some, like Katsuhime, are characters you meet during Shinbakufu missions, while some, like Yagoro, you meet in the open world. Other characters will give you missions you can passively complete like kill an X amount of bandits in that area which is easy XP and besides, you’re bound to kill bandits, ashigaru and ronin anyway.

One important change in Shadows is the introduction of scouts. Basically, you are given a general direction of where a target is, and you will have to use your scouts to locate them. You can go there physically and scout them on your own, but since many mission objectives live within castles, it would be much easier to use a scout. They’re limited, although you can pay for scouts in the local hideout, but they reset upon the start of a new season.

Character Progression

Completing these missions and other world events earns you generous amounts of XP. Ad you will need it because certain locations have a level attached to it, signifying the level of enemies within that area. As with all Assassin’s Creed games since Origins, this forces you to grind for levels before taking on these areas. You can go into them if you wish, you’re just not likely to survive an encounter.

Character progression in Shadows involves a lot of grind, but it did not feel as tiring as Valhalla because the XP gained from missions and other world activities are pretty generous. In addition to normal level growth, skills are unlocked via Mastery points earned when you increase a level, or as a reward for completing missions. Mastery points are divided per weapon, so for Naoe, for example, you can unlock abilities and perks for the katana, the kusarigama, and the tanto, in addition to tools, shinobi, and assassin skill trees.

These Mastery skill trees are supplemented by Knowledge ranks that can be increased by earning Knowledge points from activities such as locating temple scrolls or praying in temple shrines, or doing kata for Yasuke and Kuji-kiri for Naoe. With each Knowledge rank increase, new and much better skills and abilities are unlocked. This turns Yasuke and Naoe into forces of nature. For Naoe, getting the right abilities and perks will overcome her initial deficit in open combat. For Yasuke, the tank will get tankier, in addition to unlocking better benefits when using the teppo or the yumi.

Shadows still retains gear and weapon levels from previous games, but I felt that looking for better gear becomes moot once you unlock the Forge in the Hideout, where you can spend money (called Mons) and supplies to upgrade your weapons and gear to your level, and also engrave perks that increase that weapon’s lethality. In the end, I only looked for gear that I liked (like the Assassin Apprentice robe and its variants), and just ran away with it. But the game also has transmog that allows you to use the appearance of your favorite gear while using another. The only thing I don’t like about the gear? The head gear disappears in cutscenes. You create these elaborate helmets or hoods but they magically disappear during a story scene.

Way of the Shadows

It is clear that Naoe’s one of the fastest and most acrobatic Assassins in the franchise. While I love Yasuke’s combat, movement with Naoe is a joy, being the better runner and climber, and her stealth skills are second to none. Infiltrating castles is a joy to do because there are a lot of stealth options from hiding in tall grass and bushes, to going prone and breaking line of sight. Enemies from normal to high stealth levels look up to the rooftops and they also thrust their weapons in traditional Assassin hiding spots when an alert is triggered, upping the challenge even more.

Shadows also allows you to use the er… shadows as a stealth option. Extinguishing lights help keep you hidden at night which in turn, helps your infiltration. You can still get spotted if an NPC gets too close to you, but playing with light and dark adds to the fun in stealth infiltrations. This is about the most “Assassin” I’ve felt since Syndicate, and something this franchise badly needed to return to.

Should Naoe get spotted, Shadow’s parkour system is quite easy to get the hang of: pressing X while running will make your character jump, while pressing circle do a “parkour down”. Pressing circle while running makes Naoe do a front somersault which, if timed correctly, can make Naoe jump over obstacles. You’ll need this if you chose to avoid direct confrontation or if various enemy types are starting to swarm you (which they are bound to do if an alarm bell rings.

And Yasuke’s stealth? Let’s say that I did try to infiltrate with him, gave up less than a minute in and just slaughtered the inhabitants.

Way of the Blade

Shadows has revamped combat to fit the setting. Certain enemy types wear armor that you would have to destroy before you can begin chipping their health bars away. You can make quick attacks with R1 while R2 is for heavier attacks. Both can be blocked by enemies so you need to do posture attacks to break their guard. Posture attacks are done by holding R1 or R2 respectively, and they can break an opponent’s guard or take off a chunk of their armor or health at the cost of leaving yourself open to attack.

For defense, you have the standard block which the opponent can break with their own posture attack (prompted by a red glow). But quick attacks (the blue glow) can be deflected which leaves your opponent in a vulnerable state and open to attack. Certain perks increase your attack damage upon deflecting, (like a riposte for Yasuke and an equivalent skill for Naoe) which comes in handy against multiple foes.

As with all the games since Origins, you need to look for patterns to take down your foes. This can be challenging if you are fighting several high level enemies like the Samurai Daisho, Brutes, Elites, and Guardians, at the same time. This usually happens if an alarm bell has been rung and everyone in that area rushes to your location. Oh, and the character who got that alarm bell will have a wanted status for the rest of the season. And while you can qiuickly become the strongest characters in this game, even a decently levelled Yasuke can fall if you’re not careful.

If you’re wanted in a province, Guardians will accompany regular Ashigaru and Samurai patrols who are now looking for you. Thankfully, the Wanted status won’t affect the other protagonist. So, if Naoe goes wanted in Harima, for example, you can either wait out till next season where alerts will reset, or use Yasuke for the time being.

Shadows’ combat will inevitably draw unfavorable comparisons to Ghost of Tsushima which was praised for making its combat look and feel lethal. However, I feel that this is unfair as Shadows is not trying to be Ghost of Tsushima, just as the Ghost games aren’t trying to be Assassin’s Creed. The combat itself is engaging, because different enemy types use different ways to attack, not to mention that most enemies know how to block. Enemies that are five levels above you can still be defeated by near-flawless playing. Heck, I almost defeated an enemy 15 levels above me until an incorrect button press did me in, indicating that it is possible, but would require a gaming skill level that admittedly I do not have.

A Feudal Japan that is both Beautiful and Bloody

Ubisoft outdid themselves with Shadows’ open world. It doesn’t have the size of Odyssey or Valhalla, but each province is big enough with vistas and locations to visit and clear. The new weather and season system coupled with Japanese scenery, pushes this game into one of the most beautiful titles in this setting. The game also encourages you to explore, as synchronizing no longer fully opens the map, but indicates locations of interest that you would have to physically go to.

Gone is the ability to climb and travel anywhere like Kassandra or Eivor, there are mountains and locations that you simply cannot scale either because of the environment, or there are no edges for Naoe to latch on. This makes you use the roads which for some reason, I’m actually enjoying in this series. Travel isn’t that difficult, although unlocking synch points and local Kakuregas (hideouts) allow for fast travel mostly for convenience. Looking for hidden paths and tombs (called Kofun) require you to either listen for clues, or stumble upon them while going around the map. Exploring these places earn you powerful gear, knowledge points, and some scroll that contains information about your Assassin heritage.

And visually, nothing beats walking around in a town in Harima or Yamashiro during autumn. Some places even have Sakura trees which are as beautiful as they are in real life.

My only gripe about the visuals is that some character animations look diminished in quality to others. Some look polished and thankfully have emotions in their faces. But some times they can look robotic, though not as much as before. Ubisoft needs to continue this path of improving facial animations and not regressing because if they can keep animations consistently good, it is really good. But if it doesn’t it falls back into the old Ubisoft robotic faces.

The Hideout

Before I wrap up my review of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I want to touch upon the new hideout feature. You basically have a main base of operations that you can add buildings to (both functional and aesthetic). These buildings like a Kakurega, a dojo, a forge, among others, give you perks like improved level for league recruits, more scouts to use, and the upgrade of your weapons and gear.

Within the hideout, you’ll find members of your league, and any pet that you can unlock by petting them anywhere you see them. So you can create a virtual haven where humans, cats, dogs, and foxes live together in harmony. I don’t know if I was just getting old, but going to this hideout that I built, from materials that I “collected” from various locations during the course of the game, along with outfits, sumi-e drawings I made, and other objects I collected. There is just this sense of accomplishment you don’t usually get in games. One that has real gameplay benefits in addition to its aesthetic value. I did not feel this even with Rise of the Ronin’s own hideout feature, and I enjoyed it a lot in that game.

Work in the Dark to Serve the Light

Despite a few hiccups and misses, Assassin’s Creed Shadows manages to bring back the fun in the game even while retaining relatively the same amount of content that bogged down Odyssey and Valhalla. The vast improvement in stealth and movement vindicates fans who have long hoped for a return to the parkour of Unity and Syndicate. The tweaks made to combat also made it a lot more enjoyable especially with the right abilities and perks. Grinding for level is very easy especially if you do those side activities, and there are rewards in store for people who love to explore, both in terms of gear, money, or bits of in-game lore.

In addition, Shadows is the best looking in the franchise not just for the beautiful locations but also because Ubisoft improved facial animations, although they still have a ways to go. But other details such as mud and blood on your character after a particularly testy battle in the mud which carries over to cutscenes if it hasn’t washed away really add to the sense of immersion. Each season looked and felt distinct, and each province had its own feel to it that makes it worth travelling to. There are entries explaining the historical side of things like in Mirage, giving the player an educational tour of Japan in the midst of all the bloody stabbing.

But for me, the best part is just being an Assassin again in Naoe. Although Basim is a Hidden One, and they’re basically the Assassins before the name change, Naoe is the first protagonist who is part of the post Altair Brotherhood since Assassin’s Creed Syndicate literally ten years and four games ago. We’re back into the thick of the Assassin-Templar war again, and despite having fun with the RPG games, I really hope we stay there.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the best Assassin’s Creed game in over a decade. I don’t know if this will save Ubisoft the company, but this game is certainly worth your money.