Booting up Assassin’s Creed Shadows for the first time felt surreal. I was looking at a samurai and a shinobi on the start screen of an Assassin’s Creed game. The series had finally made it to feudal Japan. As a longtime fan, though, I was nervous the actual game wouldn’t match the heights of the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed my imagination had cultivated over the past decade. After more than 55 hours in the feudal Azuchi-Momoyama era, I’m left somewhat conflicted about this long-awaited adventure. Its greatest strengths lie in its fusing of samurai and shinobi action to create the ultimate Assassin’s Creed gameplay experience. Its story is a letdown, however, not because it’s bad but because it’s simply satisfactory, lacking the twists, emotion, and (shrinking) sci-fi fusion I’ve loved so much in this series’ past. Still, it’s easier to forgive the by-the-numbers story when the gameplay is this fun and fresh.
Slow, deliberate, measured, even leisurely – all words I’d use to describe Shadows. Matching the tone and meditation of the cast of historical figures and analogs during this era of Japan, Shadows doesn’t rush anything. That goes for its gameplay, which frees players to tackle objectives how they’d like in various ways, and its story, which bubbles to the surface slowly as our dual protagonists learn more about this land. Its most fiery moments take place at the start, where we learn about Yasuke’s transition from Portuguese-owned warrior-slave to Oda Nobunaga’s best samurai, who then goes on to lead the charge of conquering the Iga region that Naoe calls home. If you’ve played an Assassin’s Creed game before, you can probably guess Naoe’s story and journey into becoming an Assassin, although I can’t emphasize enough how much the overarching Assassins versus Templar elements of this series are placed on the back burner in Shadows.
After a tragic loss, Naoe begins a journey of revenge and retribution, paralleling Yasuke’s quest for the same. Neither protagonist’s story kept me on my toes and I was usually able to predict where it’d take me next. But, using the “Immersive Mode” that features variable voice acting to match the moments – Yasuke speaks Japanese to Japanese speakers and Portuguese to Portuguese speakers, for example – I came to love the performances of these characters. Yasuke’s stoicism contrasts nicely with the explosive and brutal actions he’ll complete across this adventure, while Naoe’s burning personality intersects with her calm and collected shinobi way of life. Their stories weren’t the most exciting, but watching them interact with the world and the people of it was a treat unto itself. I just wish they had more to work with in the narrative.
Similar to the series’ larger open-world RPG entries such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, it’s not long before an objective board fills up with numerous targets. In no time at all, this small board will triple in size as more are added, including the Shinbakufu, the main antagonist group. These masked figures are responsible for the tragedy and treachery that kickstarts Naoe and Yasuke’s journey, and you spend most of Shadows’ run time engaging in quest-focused investigations to learn the identity of each. For the most part, doing so will consist of speaking to someone, invading a hideout or castle, collecting some information, and rinsing and repeating until you have the name you need. Then, you’ll be tasked with assassinating that person. It’s largely bland in setup and remains so through to the credits, yet I was never bored with the tasks before me because of how fun taking part in each was.
Once Shadows opens up after a lengthy Act 1 largely focused on Naoe, you’re free to select her or Yasuke to complete the majority of objectives. It was refreshing to switch the gameplay on a whim, deciding when and how to complete assassinations, and Shadows is impressively built to cater to both protagonists equally. Every castle and camp features enough wide open space to obliterate enemies with my favorite Yasuke weapon, the Tanto (i.e. a giant club), and foliage and high spaces to sneak around in the shadows as Naoe. I rarely felt at a disadvantage playing as one or the other, relying on my mood to determine how to approach situations.
As Naoe, I might climb around a wooden door and up a castle’s many levels to quietly reach my target on the top floor. As Yasuke, I’d barrel through the door, destroying it on impact, and massacre my way through each floor in a Raid-style fight to the top. AC’s best in-your-face action can be found in Shadows, as can its best stealth combat. The moment-to-moment gameplay is always exciting thanks to a great curation of era-specific weapons, visually explosive abilities that turn the tides of fights, and devastating combo finishers. Shadows features a rewarding but punishing combat system reliant on parries and sharp attention to enemy actions, and though it makes for the most difficult AC yet, it’s the first time in this era of the series that combat has felt this refined. Simply put, I always felt like a badass, but I always had to earn it.
The progression system surrounding combat is one of worthwhile investment, too, thanks to the aforementioned abilities you unlock with Mastery Points and the ways it lets you craft a build specific to your preferred weapon and playstyle. I suspect it will be a contentious aspect of progression, but I liked that to unlock additional tiers of abilities, you have to level up your Knowledge Rank by completing other in-world activities. It creates a breezy loop of exploration and combat that feels satisfyingly subconscious after a few hours, and it mashes well with the constant influx of gear and weaponry that features unique perks, afflictions, and more.
Outside of combat, Shadows is a feast for the senses. Capturing the temperamental weather of Japan, changing seasons bring about new scenery every couple of hours. Naoe struggles to run in the deep snow of Winter, while the rising sun blinds the landscape in the Summer. Autumnal forests come alive with bright oranges as the wind breathes through the leaves, and naturally, Spring brings about gorgeous Sakura that blankets the paths of towns and villages. Crickets and frogs pierce through the serenity of a lakeside coast while falling leaves and windy storms accompany the most beautiful scenery in any AC game ever. On PlayStation 5 Pro, I was constantly stunned by how great everything looked, especially the light peering through towering trees everywhere I went.
Going a step further, the Hideout fuses progression and customization with the game’s standout art to allow players to create their own personal Japanese garden. By collecting resources out in the world, you can build additional facilities to help you on your journey and customize the surrounding scenery with things like statues, pets, trees, and more. Though I didn’t dabble much with it beyond the practical builds that advanced Yasuke and Naoe’s progression, fans of the game’s Japanese aesthetic will find plenty to indulge in at the Hideout.
Because of Japan’s mountainous foliage, Shadows feels more linear in exploration than its RPG contemporaries. Sure, you can try to climb mountains but it’s a struggle; instead, Shadows urges you to follow the natural and manmade pathways to discover new shrines, villages, and more. Like the rest of the gameplay experience, exploration feels heavily curated to ensure you are heading in the right direction. And though I was rarely surprised by what I’d stumble upon, I never tired of finding lost scrolls in a temple, praying at a shrine, or climbing to yet another viewpoint. They could become stale, and perhaps they will as I trek through all the side content left in the game, but moving around in Shadows, existing in this world, is so enjoyable I doubt it will.
I am disappointed in how little sci-fi and Templar/Assassin conflict is in Shadows, although I recognize I might be expecting too much from a series that has signaled it’s doing its best to let those aspects of the franchise fade away. I simply wanted more. The sci-fi modern-day elements are relegated to the new but poorly implemented Animus system, and it basically amounts to free gear you can earn by completing random objectives in the game (though there are microtransactions for cosmetics and map unlocks like usual, you can’t accelerate these reward tiers with real money). It’s not terrible – neat gear you can unlock for free is nice, after all – but it feels strangely unattached to the rest of the game, even as you unlock additional modern-day vignettes. And the Templar/Assassin conflict doesn’t rear its head until the final hours, and it mostly lands flat. I understand the appeal of this series is the fantasy its historical era provides, but Ubisoft has forgotten about me, the longtime fan, and what made the series’ intersection between history and fantasy so thrilling in the first place.
Despite feeling little when the credits began to roll in Shadows, I am excited to get back to it. Where its story leaves me wanting more, the gameplay picks up the slack and then some. It is the ultimate shinobi experience and though there might be one better game out there when it comes to playing as a samurai, controlling Yasuke is still a bloody blast.
As a day-one fan, every Assassin’s Creed game has meant something to me. Ezio’s trilogy is an all-consuming conspiracy through my favorite period of world history; Edward’s journey is the best pirate game out there; Bayek’s story is one of loss and love I won’t forget; and Kassandra, well, who can forget Kassandra? Shadows, like its predecessors, has now yielded its own memory for me to store in my personal Animus: a reminder that when it comes to this medium, gameplay is king. In Shadows, playing as Yasuke and Naoe is as powerful as the Shoguns that ruled during this era of Japan.
