Assassin’s Creed Shadows PS5 Review
Summary: Combining the tight stealth gameplay of the classic games in the series with the more expansive open world RPG elements of the more recent games, Assassin's Creed Shadows has plenty to love for both past and present fans.
4.4
Feudal & Brutal
Much like the series warring factions of the Templars and the Assassin’s, the Assassin’s Creed fandom has grown increasingly divided as the series has progressed. Some believe the series has lost its way as it has moved away from its stealth origins and tight narrative. Some have welcomed the ever expanding maps and the transition into an action focused open world RPG. So it feels like Ubisoft has a lot riding on Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Not only are they finally tackling one of the fanbase’s most requested historical settings in Feudal Japan, they are trying to combine both the classic and modern era of Assassin’s Creed into one complete package.
This is exemplified by Shadows’ inclusion of dual protagonists, with both representing different ages of the series. Naoe the Shinobi represents the series’ roots. She is nimble, a parkour expert and deadly with the hidden blade. Yasuke the Samurai represents the more recent entries. He is hefty, powerful and brutal. A very cinematic heavy prologue introduces you to both styles of gameplay, before spending several hours with Naoe. Eventually once the game progresses you can flick between the characters at will depending on your preferences, or what you believe the mission at hand requires.
The stealth build of Naoe is sure to please long time fans. Everything down to the revenge focused plot feels like classic Assassin’s Creed. There are several crucial new gameplay innovations that enhance the stealth experience. It is hard to believe, but this is the first Assassin’s Creed game with the ability to go prone and lie in wait. Hiding in the tall grass until unleashing an assassination on a target is incredibly satisfying. Fitting for a game with Shadows in the title, careful use of light and dark is required to sneak past people. Choosing to raid a location at day or night comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Go in broad daylight and outdoor locations may have less places to hide, but the layout and the enemies are more visible. Go during night time and it becomes easier to sneak by people at a close range. Light sources can also be extinguished or ignited to prevent being spotted.
One of the major complaints about the move to huge open worlds is that it has somewhat sidelined the parkour elements the series became known for. While it may not be the vertical playground that Venice is, Shadows includes several cities and large towns that give Naoe a great playground to jump around in. Creeping on rooftops in the dead of night while the townsfolk walk below blissfully unaware really nails the Shinobi experience. There are also several parkour spots to be found in the map hat provide rewards for navigating them successfully.
Yasuke on the other hand is all brawn. You can feel the weight behind him as you move around the map. In combat he is an absolute beast, and can take on several enemies at a time like it is nothing. He can barrel through doors and use his sheer size to knock people down. If you prefer your Assassin’s Creed with brutal combat, Yasuke is the way to go. The combat is fun, but tends to feel a little clunky when facing multiple enemies at once. This is slightly disappointing as the excellent Ghost of Tsushima was released 5 years ago with the same setting and feels like a more complete combat experience.
Sneaking around with Yasuke is not advised as he is incredibly conspicuous. Even his assassination is a big brash and noticeable action. Attempts to climb often look hysterical, like a bear climbing a greased pole. Yasuke will even address certain things he can’t reach and make a point of saying that Naoe might be better deployed to accomplish this goal. Yasuke is also harder to hide due to his bulkier frame and full samurai outfit. In one instance I was patiently waiting on a rooftop and decided to walk across a rope to the next roof. I had done this several times with Naoe in the opening hours. However, a few steps in with Yasuke and the rope buckled under his weight and dropped me to the ground into a large group of enemies. Luckily they were easily dispatched but it did teach me that leaping head on into situations is where Yasuke excels.
Overall, Naoe is probably the more fun character to play with as she requires more knowledge of the terrain and her play style interacts with the world slightly better. Yasuke possesses the more interesting story but both characters are well written and performed. Admirably most of the game can be played with either Yasuke or Naoe and it never feels like you are being guided towards one protagonist over the other.
Where Shadows really shines is in its navigation. The map is big, but has been scaled down compared to Valhalla, which really is for the best. Shadows manages to pack a lot of detail into its world map and how you find it is almost entirely up to you. Often with open world games, fatigue sets in when the map becomes a series of waypoints, and accomplishing your goals starts to feel perfunctory. Eventually the game settles in to a rhythm of fast travelling from one goal to the next, essentially cutting out the wonder of exploration in favour of ticking off an overstuffed list of quests.
Shadows features more organic exploration. Initially the world map is pretty bare and it is up to you to head out there and find quests, shrines, towns and people. The main line quests do not immediately tell you exactly where to go. Instead, they will provide you a couple of hints as to the location and then send you off to find it yourself. These hints will usually tell you the region, then in what direction it is from the region, and possibly something more specific as to the location.
If you are having trouble finding the location there are a few ways to help out. The first is that you amass a network of scouts. Scouts can be sent to investigate the world map and then will mark where you are supposed to go on the map. Scouts are limited but grow the more people you recruit during the game. So in the early hours of the game you will only get a certain amount of chances to scout the area, and if you look in the wrong place, the location will not be revealed on the map.
If you really want to just be led to your next objective, that can be arranged too. Once you select a marker on a map you can press a button that tells you exactly what route you need to follow to get you where you need to go. I did find a couple of times when using this though that the route the game provides does not discern between a safe one and one fraught with peril. One minute I was following a waypoint on horseback charging through the landscape, the next I was in a castle surrounded by angry guards with no idea that I wasn’t supposed to be there. Still, the fact that Ubisoft provides multiple options when you navigate is admirable.
In fact, one of the best parts of the game overall is that Shadows seems determined not to hold your hand. In an era of 20 hour tutorials, waypoint marked maps and games doing things for you it is refreshing that Shadows wants you to think for yourself. Early on in the game Naoe has to infiltrate a tea ceremony in order to meet a contact who may be up to something shady. To gain access to the ceremony Naoe has to have an outfit made, pick a gift and learn the customs of the ceremony itself. At no point does the game explicitly tell you which outfit and gift are best, but from observing customs and listening to side characters you can glean a better indication of what to choose. Then when at the ceremony you have to use the knowledge you ascertained from the teaching session you had with a tea master. The game does not remember what you have to do for you, you have to remember what was told to you and select the correct option. It is these kinds of touches that make Shadows a more immersive experience.
On the flipside, some of the towns and cities themselves feel a little lifeless. Sure, they are all populated and feature people going about their business but it all seems a little… perfunctory. There isn’t lots of background character chatter unless they have a role to play in missions or the story, and a lot of the characters seem to just be moving around for the sake of it. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or the Witcher 3 managed to populate their small towns in ways that made the towns feel alive and Shadows doesn’t quite reach this point. It feels a little odd to enter someone’s house uninvited, and then have the occupant of the house remain seated and not acknowledge your presence in any way. Especially when there is so much to see and do around Japan in general.
Final Thoughts?
Trying to give everyone what they want can often be a risky move, but Shadows is a remarkably accomplished package that both new and old fans should be able to enjoy equally. The stealth gameplay has seen a significant leap in quality and Ubisoft’s realisation of feudal Japan does them proud. The main quest is probably the tightest one in years and the side content is fun but not overwhelming. If Assassin’s Creed Shadows is lighting the way for future entries, it seems like the franchise will be in safe hands for years to come.
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