Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, which is the fourteenth game in the series, has probably gone through the most difficult development period of all the major projects in the franchise. After the full announcement and the first trailer in May, only the lazy did not criticize the game. It seemed that Ubisoft had stepped on every possible rake at once. Under a barrage of criticism, both constructive and openly biased, Ubisoft Quebec (Black Flag, Unity, Syndicate, and Odyssey) is rumored to have even resorted to rewriting the script on the fly to shift the focus from the black samurai Yasuke to the second protagonist, Naoe, which was received quite warmly by the public. Whether this is true or not, we may not know for sure, but the result is in front of us. In the Assassin’s Creed Shadows review, we’ll try to figure out how this journey to the land of the rising sun turned out for Ubisoft and players.We recommend reading the review to the soundtrack of the game
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As promised, Assassin’s Creed Shadows became the first game of the Assassin’s Creed Infinity service, which aims to combine all the games of the series into one hub. However, the realization of this idea in Shadows makes us disappointed even more than the combination of words «game-service». After a naive storyline explanation of the hub, to put it mildly, we are shown a timeline of the last five games in the series.
What’s the problem? The problem is that it doesn’t work as the developers promised. You can’t quickly switch between different historical periods by simply selecting the appropriate game. Instead, you need to have each part separately purchased and downloaded from the PlayStation Store. There is no quick switch between games, and even if you already have the last five games in the series installed, you won’t be able to quickly switch between them because the Infinity hub is currently only available in Shadows.
For clarity, here is an example of a currently available scenario of interaction with the Infinity system, which is essentially a test launcher for AC games to show investors.
The idea is generally interesting, and at first I even thought that maybe I would be given the opportunity to try the previous parts without downloading them separately. But as it turned out, this is far from the case. And here’s a question: if it doesn’t work as well as you advertised, why couldn’t Ubisoft have waited until the Infinity system was integrated at least into the latest installments of the franchise?
The story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes us to feudal Japan of the 16th century, in the final years of the Sengoku era — a time of bloody wars, dynastic intrigue, and the breakdown of old orders. Against this backdrop, a centuries-old struggle is unfolding between the Brotherhood of Assassins, who claim to seek peace through free will, and the Knights Templar, who believe in peace achieved through total control. The player has to control two characters in the third person — the agile shinobi Naoe and the powerful samurai Yasuke. The latter is based on a real historical figure shrouded in legend.
Yasuke is a bodyguard and part-time slave of a merchant priest who arrives in Japan to conduct business transactions. The local ruler, having appreciated the foreigner’s military potential, takes him into service for the greedy purpose of expanding his power. The dark-skinned samurai is tormented by doubts, but he blindly follows the will of his new master, who uses him as a tool to achieve his own goals.
Naoe is on the other side of the barricade, entrusted with an assassin’s blade that serves as the key to a mysterious box whose contents are unknown but which must be protected with her life. When the box is finally found, it turns out that it is being hunted by a band of enemies who claim that those who gain access to its contents will be able to rewrite human history. This is the prologue of the main story, which will take the player at least fifty hours to complete.
Compared to Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ direction has grown many times over Cinematography, editing, lighting — everything is on the level of a high-quality series.
Some scenes are shot with such attention to detail that you want to take a screenshot of every frame. However, this applies mainly to the main storyline. The side quests don’t have such elaboration, and this is expected.
As the story progresses, we will be pampered with flashbacks that are organically woven into the narrative and help us better understand the motives of the characters. But quite often, the lines of some characters sound naive and pretentious, as if they were coming from theater puppets, not real people.
For example, a few lines ago, Aunt Naoe wisely quotes a proverb about patience, and a minute later she calls for immediate action. Whether this is a peculiarity of the Japanese mentality or just a weak pen of the scriptwriters is up to you to judge.
In general, it seems that part of the script was written by experts, and part of it was written by screenwriters with a «here, it’s ready, now fuck off» approach. How else to explain the fact that even in minor missions, you can be told a story that touches you to the core, in which you truly sympathize with the characters or rejoice with them. At the same time, some of the main cutscenes leave you bewildered and feeling artificial.
There is appropriate humor in the dialogues. Although the game is serious and gloomy, many light moments have also found a place here.
The character development in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is done at a decent level: their motivations are easier to understand. However, there is no balance between Naoe and Yasuke in this regard. Naoe’s consistent personality development contrasts with Yasuke’s unclear character, who is often overcome by doubts about the correctness of his behavior. This can be clearly seen in his eyes and facial expressions, but his conscience is not always reflected in the decisions he makes, which creates a sense of inconsistency.
Despite its shortcomings, the story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows remains down-to-earth, understandable, and close to reality. After the fantasy Odyssey, this is a breath of fresh air. The unhurried pace of the narrative here works for the atmosphere and is not perceived as a drag on the passage.
Animation of Assassin’s Creed Shadows characters after smooth movements in KCD2 seems abrupt and sloppy. For example, Yasuke can punch through a goal by simply running at it. His movements are reminiscent of fighting games: unrealistically fast, jerky, while his opponents look slow.
The stealth component has improved significantly. The crawling mechanic has been added. Instead of the classic bird to survey the area, you now have to manually tag enemies. Stealth has become a more serious challenge. For example, enemies can notice the shadow you cast on a sunny day and raise an alarm. They check haystacks, grass, pay attention to lighting, time of day, weather. Their behavior is logical.
However, the control is not always obedient. For example, during the escape from one of the locations, I climbed up on a narrow wall ledge, pressed the appropriate button to go down from the outside, and Naoe stubbornly jumped off the inside. Moments like this happen regularly, and it’s a shame, because Naoe’s parkour looks smooth and beautiful.
The combat system of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is built in an interesting way: Yasuke holds a defensive stance and blocks almost everything, while Naoe relies on parrying and dodging. Naoe is much more vulnerable than Yasuke in battles: her health bar melts down very quickly, so you have to use your rations even in combat.
Naoe is much more interesting to play as, the game reveals itself in full — that’s why the imbalance between the characters is felt not only in the narrative, but also during the game itself.
The attempt to combine an action-RPG with an urban planning simulator is frankly weak. The development of the settlement looks like unnecessary ballast. Compared to, for example, Arno’s hub in Paris or Jacob and Evie’s train in London, the settlements in Shadows that you have built up do not make you want to return there again and again after difficult story missions.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows makes you not just walk around virtual Japan, but inhale its flavor, hear its rustle, and live in its rhythm. From the first minutes, it is clear that Ubisoft Quebec did not just draw another beautiful map — they carefully assembled it bit by bit, creating an environment that is fascinating even without missions. Here, the landscape is not a background, but an independent character.
Each town, each temple, or hut is not a template copy-paste, but a location thought out to the smallest detail. The seasons change not only the visuals but also the behavior of the environment itself: in autumn, the rustling of leaves underfoot can give you away, and in winter, snow will leave footprints. At night, guards behave differently than during the day, and villagers react to strangers more cautiously on cloudy, rainy days.
I am particularly impressed with the way the developers work with the pace of the research. There’s no sense of checklists overload — instead, the player is encouraged to move organically: to turn off the road because there’s an interesting pagoda shape over the hill, or to follow a slow-moving boat without knowing where it will lead. This is the case when you just want to sit under a tree and watch life go by.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows keeps the quality bar high when it comes to the open world. It is large, extremely beautiful, and full. Historical virtual tourism is a hallmark of the series. We are waiting for the tourist mode that was in Origin, Oddysey, and Valhalla.
Visually, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was not the breakthrough that Unity was in its time, but it is not a failure either. The game maintains a decent level for the series. The characters’ hair dynamically reacts to movements, facial animations successfully convey emotions — you can see how the eyes fill with tears, how it unevenly rolls down the face.
Unfortunately, this level of detail is available only to Naoe. Yasuke, despite his status as the protagonist, is technically noticeably inferior. And this, of course, is striking. In the cutscenes, the difference between them is especially noticeable — you get the feeling that they’re trying to deceive you, which affects the immersiveness.
The dynamic destruction of Assassin’s Creed Shadows deserves special attention. Almost all movable objects in the world can be destroyed — amphorae fly apart beautifully, water spills out of jugs, wooden buckets are cut into pieces, and pieces of baskets fly apart at the right angle, taking into account the physics of the impact. These are not just scripts, but a truly advanced physics engine. It looks incredible… but, unfortunately, not everywhere. Somewhere the crop is knocked down, and in a few seconds it just disappears. It’s a good idea, but it’s not perfect.
Naoye’s animation is a special treat. Her parkour feels light and graceful, and her movements are smooth. However, as always, not all paths are equally suitable for movement. Sometimes you come across strange places: you can go there with a horse, but the character itself — cannot.
As for the development of animations and NPC behavior, Ubisoft is still halfway there. For example, a worker mows a sheaf, but the sheaf itself does not disappear, and the character simply repeats the animation. It looks nice in motion, but stop — and it immediately becomes clear that it’s all for show. RDR2 has already shown that it is possible to go much deeper.
I was impressed by the optimization of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This is probably one of the most stable AAA games of recent years. I played through the pre-release version on PS5, and I didn’t encounter any serious bugs that would spoil the experience.
Characters didn’t get stuck in textures, FPS didn’t dip even on graphics-priority settings, and textures were always rendered correctly. Only occasionally could you notice how the lighting caught up with you in motion. But overall — the result is impressive, especially nowadays when optimization often suffers at release.
The sound component in Assassin’s Creed Shadows works like clockwork, enhancing the atmosphere where it is needed. Even the heavy breathing of your horse adds depth. Somewhere on the horizon, you can hear wolves howling, geese cackling, owls screeching, rustling in the forest. All this creates a living world that you want to listen to.
Music is always appropriate: whether it’s a dramatic scene where it raises the tension, or just a journey where the melodies sound lightly in the background without distracting from the gameplay.
I would especially like to mention the Japanese voice acting. The actors are well chosen, emotions are conveyed subtly and truthfully. Especially in the work of actress Naoe. She plays a young girl who has survived a tragedy so convincingly that it is difficult to remain indifferent at times. In addition, the lip animation is adapted to the Japanese voice acting, which adds even more believability.