The newest installment in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series, produced by French game developer Ubisoft, is set to drop in November. Though we haven’t seen many details about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows, what Ubisoft has revealed so far shows a game that will exhibit several exciting innovations never before seen in the series, and fix several of fans’ biggest complaints about the franchise’s latest games.
Shadows will take place in feudal Japan, a setting that fans have been waiting years to see. Set during the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the late-1500’s, Shadows will be right in the middle of bloody campaigns of conquest between warring factions of lords and samurai. Oda Nobunaga will be deeply involved in the game’s story. Known as “The Great Unifier,” Nobunaga is a key figure in Japanese history, as he launched a brutal war of unification which ended up conquering most of what is today Japan. Nobunaga is the daimyo (local lord) which one of our main protagonists serves.
Our first protagonist is based on a real person from history, the first known foreigner ever to have become a samurai, known only by his adopted Japanese name: Yasuke. Yasuke’s original name is unknown, but he was enslaved somewhere in Eastern Africa in the mid-1500’s and was likely forced to come to Japan by Jesuit missionaries as their servant. Nobunaga took a liking to Yasuke soon after meeting him. He was fascinated with Yasuke’s dark skin color and height (he was over 6 feet tall in a time and place when that was unheard of). After a few encounters, Nobunaga asked Yasuke’s enslaver, the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, if he would give Yasuke over to him, to which Valignano agreed. Yasuke received his new name, a sword, a home, and a stipend to live as a free man serving the daimyo as a retainer, and a warrior.
While Yasuke is the first main character in the entire franchise to be (loosely) based on a real historical figure, what makes Shadows especially unique is the fact that we will get to alternate freely between two different characters. Alongside Yasuke, we will also play as Naoe, a fully fictional character based on the shinobi (or ninjas) who waged guerilla warfare during this same period. Details about the storyline are sparse, but what’s clear is that a central aspect of the game is the fact that we will play as two different characters in an intertwined story. Along with this dual character system comes a whole set of new gadgets and strategies for us to use in this unique environment. Let’s get into some of the top features that we know about so far.
1. Dual-Character Gameplay
The selection menu at the beginning of one of the earliest missions in the game.
Shadows’ developers decided that to meaningfully explore the character of both the samurai and the shinobi in the same game, two separate protagonists needed to be created. Coming from totally different social classes and following entirely different fighting strategies, Naoe and Yasuke will basically bring two separate, but intertwined stories. The foreigner and the native, the soldier and the guerilla warrior, male and female; we’ll explore the world of feudal Japan from all of these perspectives as we please.
So, why does this matter to us while we play the game? Because it’s not just about completing missions anymore; it’s about how you choose to approach them, adding a whole new level of strategy and personalization to the game. One of the biggest complaints from fans of the series has been that the latest games such as Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla lost touch with Creed’s most important, distinguishing aspect: stealth. Ubisoft tried too hard to turn the franchise into a typical open-world RPG, focusing on open combat and even large wars between armies. Why bother sneaking around in bushes and slowly learning patterns of NPCs when you can just charge right in with a sword and shield like a one-man army? Shadows looks like it will solve this problem by designing more complex missions that can be approached with either gameplay strategy. This also means that the people who enjoy the more traditional RPG’s style of open combat can stick to Yasuke, while those of us that enjoy stealth can focus on Naoe’s character.
How it works:
- Both characters will be introduced one by one so that we meet them and progress through both skill trees gradually.
- At the beginning of every mission, you select between Naoe and Yasuke
- Your choice of character determines the entire way that that mission will be played. Your choices change the story.
- We can switch between the two characters freely in the open world, just not during combat or active main missions.
- Each character will have their own independent storylines and missions which you can choose to play or ignore.
- For more information, check out the full interview Charles Benoit gave to Xbox Wire in May: How Assassin’s Creed Shadows Will Blend Two Distinct Adventures in One - Xbox Wire.
2. Nonlinear Time
A scene from Ubisoft’s cinematic trailer reveal which involves a dialogue between the two protagonists that flows back and forth through the story’s timeline.
Something that hasn’t yet been discussed much is the overarching usage of a timeline that jumps back and forth nonlinearly. While there haven’t been many details revealed yet about how this will function practically for players, it was important enough that the developers went out of their way to emphasize it in the cinematic trailer.
The usage of nonlinear time in the series isn’t entirely new. Most of the games have had several separate smaller storylines that the player could go through completely out of sync with the main storyline. This aspect will definitely remain in place, but it seems that the main storyline itself is going to be making time jumps, and these will be projected on the landscape through changes in the seasons; a feature all its own that we will discuss later on.
How it works:
- Each character’s storylines will be unfolding separately with entirely different timelines, and aside from this we will have all the types of side quests we are familiar with from other games.
- The main storyline will sporadically jump between seasons and periods in the characters lives.
- The open world will be removed from the storylines of the missions, with seasons set by either the progression of the main questline, or possibly changed at will by the player. This part is not yet clear.
3. Combat Posturing and Armor Durability
An assassination from the official gameplay demo demonstrating the use of posturing and counterpasturing in combat against an enemy with no armor.
Combat is set to get a lot more difficult and complex compared to the rest of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. There will be a system of posturing that allows you to strike enemies in certain weak points, but also leaves you vulnerable in the process. This is reminiscent of the sort of combat you would see in a game like Sekiro, but way toned down from that. Presumably, there will be increasingly difficult enemies who are better at exploiting your weak points as you try to do the same to them.
Some of this posturing was showcased in the gameplay demo released by Ubisoft. In it, the enemy quickly reacts to the movement of the player and eventually gets set into a sword lock. This brings a whole new dimension to combat, and will make you think twice about going into combat against multiple enemies. The posturing complements an armor system that involves surprisingly complex differences between weapons and armor. To penetrate weak points in enemies’ armor, the player will have to get in just the right position and attack with the right level of strength. Certain weapons will be more effective than others against armor, so there will be a lot of variety in the way that we go about fighting depending on the circumstances.
How it works:
- The position of the player’s body changes the way that each attack will land. Enemies will be counterposturing actively in response to your movements.
- It seems like there will be a very face-paced, maneuvering test at times when swords are locked against each other.
- There will be a wide range of different types of weapons that have different tradeoffs for speed and armor penetration. Some will be unique to one of the two characters
- Different enemies will require different movement speed and weapon choices. Yasuke or Naoe may be significantly better suited to certain types of enemies.
4. Interactive Environment
Naoe kills the lights with a throwing star during an early mission shown in the Ubisoft gameplay demo.
Just like everything else in the game, players will get more autonomy and freedom to interact with the world that they are playing in. Much of the world will be breakable, including lights, doors, and foliage. What’s true for the player is also true for the enemy. They will cut through grass and bamboo to find you, and can smash through doors and other obstacles during combat.
How it works:
- Knock out lights to reduce vision of enemies.
- Assassinate targets through paper doors and other obstacles.
- Enemies cut through foliage to search for you.
5. Changing Seasons
A scene from the game demo which showed the seasons rotating around the same location, foreshadowing this feature of the game.
Like many of the other features of the new game, the developers created an environment that will be extremely dynamic compared to games of the past. Just like having two characters rather than one, the choice of rotating between all four seasons allows for a much wider range of variation in new challenges and approaches to missions than having just one static environment.
For players, this will mean that each location will have to be treated differently based on the in-game season. Whereas in Summer, enemies will be scattered around and can be drawn into the cover of deep greenery, the land will be more bare during the winter, and enemies will be more prone to stay huddled around their fires. So not only will the missions vary based on our character choice, but also on the season that we are playing in.
How it works:
- The seasons will change as you progress through the main storyline, and it seems like they will follow a more nonlinear time variation while you explore the open world.
- Weather conditions will shift according to the season and also by the region you are in. These weather conditions directly influence enemy behavior and visibility.
- Grasses and shrubs will grow up during the summer, making for good cover, while during the winter this will be absent, but snow will reduce visibility.
- During the Winter, NPC behavior will also change. Enemies won’t stray far from their fire in extreme cold during the winter, for example.
6. Light Sensitivity
Screenshot from the gameplay demo, exhibiting features of Naoe’s stealth gameplay including the manipulation of light sources.
Alongside enemy NPCs’ higher level of sensitivity comes a whole system of light exposure that will have to be taken into account. The time of day that you approach a mission will significantly impact how stealthy you can be, but even more exciting is the variation of the weather and seasons that was mentioned earlier. Weather can conceal or reveal the player, and change the behavior of NPCs. Where you might have been able to hide during the summer might be bare in the winter, and where enemies might have patrolled might be ignored.
How it works:
- There will be a monitor on screen showing how concealed you are. In brighter environments it will go up, in darker environments it will go down.
- The weather will change throughout the game based on the season, and will increase or decrease visibility due to rain, snow, etc.
- Artificial light from lanterns and other sources can be destroyed and turned off to reduce enemy visibility.
7. Underwater Stealth
Naoe approaches an enemy from underwater using a straw to breathe in the gameplay demo.
Assassin’s Creed games have long included swimming as one way of moving through certain environments. In Shadows though, it will become a much more integral part of stealth. Naoe will be able to go prone to move through shallow water, and use a bamboo breathing straw like a snorkel to lurk under the water as long as necessary. In one of the earliest missions, the use of water as a form of cover is shown off as the player approaches an enemy who had no other hidden angle of approach.
How it works:
- Just like in previous games, going underwater maintains the player's anonymity.
- Now, a breathing straw can be used to stay underwater longer, allowing the player to wait underwater for the right time to attack.
- The world will be designed to provide new and interesting assassination opportunities to match this new function.
8. Map Scanning
Usage of in-game “informants” gives varying degrees of precision on the map as you search for targets, shown in the gameplay demo. This replaces the old system of using a bird flying overhead to locate enemies.
Shadows will be doing away with the “eye-in-the-sky” feature that has been central to all of the most recent games. This seems to fit with the general trend towards making a more dynamic, less predictable world. You won’t be able to know ahead of time the location of every single enemy, and you also won’t get anything but a vague hint at where your targets are located. A new system is also being introduced for the location of targets on the map. The details are still fuzzy, but there will be some system of cultivating informants in different areas who will be able to give you a smaller search zone to explore before locating the assassination target.
Locating targets is set to become significantly more challenging in this game. Rather than just having your trusty eagle fly overhead for a few seconds, you will have to physically explore locations to find your target. To give us hints, the developers have included more idle NPC dialogue that will be overheard as you approach them. This means you will have to be paying attention and using stealth to get close enough to hear them if you don’t want to be aimlessly wandering around a castle for half an hour.
How it works:
- When given a target, we will somehow use informants in a given town to get a search zone. Depending on how good your informants are, you’ll have a bigger or smaller search zone.
- When infiltrating an area you want be able to mark out all the enemies.
- To figure out where a target is, there will be a lot of hints dropped by enemy NPCs in their dialogue.
9. Grappling Hook
Use of Naoe’s grappling hook to bypass enemies and scale a wall in the gameplay demo.
The grappling hook is something that we have seen in the series before. Naoe’s grappling hook is different from the ones featured in Syndicate, though. Unlike in Syndicate, we can’t instantly zip up to the top of a building. It looks like we will have to wall climb up to the grappling point, giving enemies an opportunity to spot us. The grappling hook in Shadows will also feature swinging mechanics that didn’t exist in Syndicate, alongside several different combat features that will present unique strategies in open combat and in silent assassinations.
How it works:
- Grappling points are scattered all around the open world.
- You can scale walls by or bypass them by swinging from overhangs.
- You can grapple enemies to pull them towards you for a ranged assassination.
- Naoe will also be able to grapple up to ceilings, hanging totally still above enemies in buildings where there would otherwise be nowhere to hide.
10. Prone
Naoe is prone to sneak through grass surrounded by enemies in the gameplay demo.
Going prone has long been a feature of many different stealth video games such as the Solid Snake series and Dishonored. Assassin’s Creed seems to finally be catching onto the trend on this one, allowing for more nuanced movement across enemy territories. What’s interesting about Shadows’ usage of this feature is that the environment will be designed with this in mind. Certain grasses will be too short to conceal the player unless they are prone. The catch here is that it seems like this game is also going to make enemies more quick to investigate after catching a glimpse of the player. So, if you simply walked crouched from one cover to another, you’re going to be seen plain as day by the enemy, while going prone may avoid this.
How it works:
- As mentioned earlier, Naoe can move prone through shallow water to sneak up on unaware enemies.
- Certain grass and other types of cover will only be tall enough to conceal the player when prone.
- We’ll be able to move between two obstacles while drawing less attention than when crouching.
- Enemies seem like they will be quicker to react when they see the player moving in the distance.
