Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review – A New Dawn for the Series?

Whether or not you’re a fan of Assassin’s Creed, there’s no denying its impact. What started as a Prince of Persia spin-off slowly grew into its series. It focused on the conflict between the Knights Templar and a mysterious order of Assassins working to stop them from world domination. 

It’s silly on paper, but it has worked for close to 20 years, with Assassin’s Creed Shadows being the latest game in the franchise. With the development led by Ubisoft QUÉBEC, Assassin’s Creed Shadows marks a lot of first-time experiences for the series. 

This time, we’re taken back to 16th-century Japan at the cusp of Oda Nobunaga’s war for unification. And while Assassin’s Creed Syndicate featured dual protagonists already, this time, we get to play as two dramatically different characters. 

With many long-time fans and casual players feeling that the series is overdue for an update, how does Assassin’s Creed Shadows stack up? After several last-minute delays, we finally got a chance to experience Ubisoft QUÉBEC’s vision for the franchise and decide for ourselves. Is this the road we want Assassin’s Creed to go down?

TL;DR

Assassin’s Creed Shadows updates many of the series’ mechanics and introduces fresh ideas that liven up its open-world formula. With a brand-new historical era and two different characters to play, franchise fans will find plenty to love here.

Story – A Brutal Conflict

Assassin’s Creed Shadows opens in 1579 as we’re introduced to the game’s historical setting of Japan. Oda Nobunaga, one of the leading political figures of his time, is on a path to unify Japan under one ruler. However, his methods were perceived as merciless, earning him the title of the Demon Daimyō. 

This is the historical framework with which Assassin’s Creed Shadows establishes its main protagonists and the Templar/Assassin conflict. Ubisoft QUÉBEC decided to give historical events and context a stronger focus this time around, abandoning the mythical elements of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for a more personal story. 

You won’t find mythical creatures, visions, or monsters here—only people trying to do their best under impossible circumstances. In this aspect, Assassin’s Creed Shadows already stands out compared to the previous few games which had lighter tones.

Yasuke – An Outsider Among Outsiders

The first of two characters you’ll play is Yasuke, a samurai serving Oda Nobunaga. He finds himself in Japan as a Portuguese slave and attracts Nobunaga’s attention not only with his appearance but also with his mind and worldview. 

Yasuke’s skin colour and origin play a vital role in this story, as he doesn’t belong in this country but participates in its conflicts. He is a giant, using heavy armour and two-handed weapons to fight his foes. However, he is less nimble and much slower because of it, making him a good fighter but a poor stealth character.

Naoe – An Assassin Born from Tragedy

The second character you’ll play is Naoe, a small and fragile girl from the Iga province. A province now under attack by Oda Nobunaga as the next stop on his unification war. 

As Assassin’s Creed Shadows opens, Naoe and Yasuke find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. Naoe’s world is torn apart by the war and she has no other choice but to fight the only way she knows how—from the shadows. 

She is not a fighter and can’t survive combat for too long. However, she’s unparalleled when it comes to stealth, traversal, parkour, and staying as quiet as possible. She uses kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, and other shinobi tools to overcome her opponents.

Gameplay – Evolution, But not a Revolution

It’s important to preface that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not a revolutionary new entry in the series the same way Assassin’s Creed Origins was. This is an iterative game that builds on the foundations that came before it and mixes up the formula in interesting new ways. 

As you play two different characters, the events and side quests they can participate in are different. The same applies to combat and exploration, which is dramatically different between the two. High-quality motion capture sells you on the idea that these are unique individuals who couldn’t be more different from one another in terms of gameplay.

Climbing Towers and Chasing Question Marks

Assassin’s Creed Shadows works hard to eliminate map clutter found in previous games. The game offers immersive exploration with minimal map markers and quest objectives by default. This means you’ll have to go the extra step of investigating and discovering new activities, targets, and locations to complete your missions. 

Unfortunately, the series is forever associated with climbing towers to reveal new map markers and the same applies here. Fortunately, though, you can fast-travel to any synchronized viewpoint instantly and swap characters while doing so if you want. And once you’ve revealed enough of the map, you’ll also be greeted by plenty of question marks you’ll want to explore. 

Open-world activities never take more than a few minutes to complete, so you’ll always be on the move to the next exciting thing to do. It’s a formula that works well for some and less so for others, so your mileage may vary.

Using Seasons to Your Advantage

A major area where Assassin’s Creed Shadows aims to differentiate itself from other open-world games is in its seasons. Just like other games feature a day-and-night cycle, this one features seasonal cycles. 

Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter all shift from one another in sequence and at regular intervals, transforming the entire world map. It’s a monumental visual accomplishment and it also affects gameplay in subtle but important ways. 

During Winter, small bodies of water can freeze over and you can hide in the snow. During Summer, frequent rains mean that you’ll have shallow bodies of water to hide in and tall grass to sneak through. While not revolutionary by any means, Assassin’s Creed Shadows really gives you the idea that this is a living world.

Loot-Based Gear Progression

Unlike Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Valhalla, this game goes back to loot-based progression found in Origins and Odyssey. This means you’ll discover plenty of gear scattered around Japan and then use, upgrade, or break it down. 

The system wasn’t the most popular with many players but it works nicely here. Fewer gear pieces are lying around than you might assume, and enemies never drop equipment. Instead, you’ll be rewarded with new items for completing quests, assassinating important targets, and opening specific chests. 

But, this does mean you’ll need to spend a few minutes here and there breaking down unwanted equipment to declutter your inventory. For players who love to mix and match gear, this is great news.

Building your Base

Just like a few previous games, Assassin’s Creed Shadows features a home base. This is where you’ll upgrade your equipment, train your allies, show off your loot and artefacts, and talk to side characters. 

Your home base also features intuitive building mechanics, allowing you to create new buildings for various purposes, such as upgrading your weapons or earning more experience from various activities. 

You can also fine-tune the buildings’ decoration, place plants and animals around the base, and create walkways for NPCs to use to move around. It’s not a major gameplay addition but it’s a neat layer of immersion to your journey through Japan.

The Animus Hub – A New Home for the Series

Animus Hub is Ubisoft’s new initiative to merge all Assassin’s Creed games into a single hub. In practice, this means you’ll always launch into the Animus Hub when you start Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and then select the time period you want to visit. Each one represents a different game in the series, letting you either launch the game or visit the store to buy it. 

The Animus Hub also promises to be the new centre for all things related to the Modern Day story. As many fans complained that the Modern Day story has become stagnant, Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t pay much attention to it—at least within the main game. 

You can unlock various videos and diary entries related to the Modern Day story outside the game, within the Animus Hub. This approach would allow story elements from Assassin’s Creed Shadows to easily pass on to Assassin’s Creed Hexe and other titles coming down the line. 

One less ideal decision is to lock Modern Day story diary notes behind the game’s new battle pass system. As you progress through the game, you’ll gather points you can then spend on your battle pass to unlock various items, and some of them are story-related. It’s a somewhat bizarre choice but we’ll see how it plays out once more story elements have been revealed in the coming months.

Visuals – 16th Century Japan Comes to Life

Built on the Ubisoft Anvil Engine, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a visually stunning game. From the forests, mountains, and rivers of Japan, to the villages, cities, and castles, it’s a highly immersive open world. 

Paired with the changing seasons and dynamic weather effects, the team at Ubisoft QUÉBEC did an outstanding job at bringing this world into digital reality. The same applies to character models and animals that inhabit this world, ensuring that everyone moves and speaks as they should considering the cultural norms of the time. 

The clothing, armour, and weapons are all extremely detailed, especially considering the motion capture work it took to make them fun to play with. There are also plenty of NPCs who engage in daily activities, such as fishing, shopping, farming, building, and other actions specific to their societal roles. 

Solid Technical Performance on Day One

Assassin’s Creed Shadows plays beautifully on day one which is a pleasant surprise. It turns out that the several delays made to polish the game have paid off. We tested the game on the base PlayStation 5 where it features 2160p upscaled resolution at both 60 and 30 FPS. You can also enable a balanced 40 FPS mode if you have a 120/240hz display. 

All modes maintain their target framerates very well, ensuring smooth gameplay regardless of which options you choose. While we did experience several crashes during testing, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will receive a day-one patch to address many of these issues. 

One thing to note is that the review build featured a different framerate when visiting the home base as opposed to any other location. Assassin’s Creed Shadows would default to 30 FPS in your home base regardless of your chosen settings and then go back to your preferences after you’ve left the base. It’s bizarre and hopefully unintentional.

Audio – High-Quality Sound Design and Voice Acting

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is dedicated to making its depiction of Japan as immersive as possible in the context of the world of Templars and Assassins. It features a so-called ‘Immersive Mode’ which allows you to play the game with full Japanese and Portuguese voice acting. 

This means everyone speaks in their native languages and you’ll really feel like you’re visiting 16th-century Japan. Combined with stellar environmental sound design that elevates the game’s atmosphere, Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t cut corners on the details. The same applies to the game’s music, which features covers of beloved Assassin’s Creed pieces while also expanding it with an original score. 

Ezio’s Family has become the staple of the series and hearing it rendered in ancient Japanese instruments will be a joy for old-time fans. The English dub is just as delicate and immersive as the Japanese and Portuguese ones, ensuring that you can enjoy Assassin’s Creed Shadows no matter your preferences. 

Conclusion – Should you Play Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a solid open-world game with a lot of great content packed into its virtual depiction of 16th-century Japan. But it’s still the same open-world AC game we’ve been playing since Assassin’s Creed Origins. Whether or not you’ll enjoy that is up to personal preference and expectations. 

Many fans still hold games like Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag on a high pedestal. But, they often do so while wearing rose-tinted glasses, not remembering just how unintuitive their control schemes and mission design are by modern standards. Assassin’s Creed Shadows respects the games that came before it and usher in a new era for the series. 

With frequent updates and DLC expansions already announced, this is a great game for anyone looking to roam around Ancient Japan and role-play as a shinobi or a samurai. Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on March 20th, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, as well as PC.

Big thanks to CD Media and Ubisoft for sponsoring our review!