Assassin's Creed Shadows preview: this could be the AC game of your dreams

I believe it was Aristotle who once said: “There is no video game that cannot be improved by the presence of a ninja.” A great man, to be sure, and one who clearly knows his video games. Just be sure to let him win at Mario Kart, or he gets in a right sulk.

Assassin’s Creed and feudal Japan are such a natural fit that it seems outright bizarre that it’s taken Ubisoft until the 14th(!) mainline entry in the long-running series to reach this point. Between the long wait for this highly requested era, and reports of a Ubisoft in dire straits, it’s fair to say there’s a lot riding on Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

This is a game that needs to: reinvent Ubisoft’s tired open-world formula; provide a fresh jumping-on point for players who might have given up on the series; silence the vocal alt-right haters who are terrified because the game includes a Black man; deliver on the promise of a Japan-set Assassin’s Creed releasing in a post-Ghost Of Tsushima world. That’s a tall order.

I was recently able to spend a good few hours with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and I’m thrilled to report that it’s a fantastic Assassin’s Creed game. Though I’m not entirely convinced, yet, that it’s a groundbreaking one.

If you’ve been following the game since it was announced, you’ll know Shadows gives us the chance to play as two completely distinct characters. Japanese shinobi Fujibayashi Naoe is on a quest to avenge her father, and is your best bet for traditional stealth gameplay. Then we have the African samurai Yasuke, a former slave who ends up in the service of a warlord.

Of the two, I found Naoe to be the far more compelling character from both a story and gameplay perspective. I’m loathe to give those that campaigned against Yasuke’s inclusion - for all the most transparently bigoted reasons - any more reason to spout their hateful bile, but based on what I’ve played Naoe’s mission of revenge, coupled with the fact she is this game’s Assassin, makes her an infinitely more entertaining choice.

That’s not to say Yasuke won’t have his own moments to shine, mind you. But I can only report on what I’ve played, and the prologue - which is excellent, by the way - makes it pretty clear this is Naoe’s story first and foremost.

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As a ninja and budding Assassin, Naoe will be much more familiar to longtime players. She can dart nimbly across buildings, slip into the shadows, and dispatch enemies quickly and quietly. The game’s parkour systems, while a bit fiddly, are much more refined this time round, and a huge improvement on the “you can climb anything” approach of the last few Assassin’s Creed games.

Naoe also has a bunch of excellent ninja toys at her disposal, and when all these different systems come together, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is poetry in motion. Leaping from the gloom to slit the throat of an enemy before tossing a kunai at his colleague’s head with a dull thud before grappling up to rooftops to scurry away before anyone realises what the hell just happened is a joy. I can’t wait to see how many more options open up later in the game when we can improve her skills and abilities.

By contrast, Yasuke is not an Assassin, and to its credit, the game does mine this concept for interesting possibilities. For example, there was one particular mission in which I really found myself struggling to remain undetected as Naoe. While she can handle herself in combat, she’s very much speed over power, and it’s all-too easy for her to become overwhelmed if ganged-up on.

Deciding to change things up, I switched to Yasuke, who can literally break down the front door and overpower everyone with slow, powerful strikes. This isn’t to say Yasuke automatically enables some kind of easy mode where you can tear through everyone. As a samurai, you still have to be careful and deliberate with your attacks. But if stealth isn’t for you, Yasuke is clearly the man for the job.

The fact Yasuke is a large, armor-clad samurai and not a quiet ninja is also reflected in the minor details. Attempt to perform an iconic leap of faith, for instance, and Yasuke will scream and scramble as he plummets clumsily into a pile of leaves or hay. He’ll also stumble and sway as you clamber up buildings or navigate tricky climbs with him.

It’s worth noting, too, that within one of the story missions I played, I was given the choice to switch between characters at certain points. The mission started with a stealth-heavy objective, which I used Naoe for, before a one-on-one encounter with a boss gave me the chance to sub in Yasuke. Regardless of who you play as, combat is crunchy and bloody, and arguably the best it’s ever been in an Assassin’s Creed game.

Where combat, parkour, and stealth hit all the right notes, I’m a little less convinced by Ubisoft’s new approach to how we engage with the open world.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is, visually speaking, jaw-dropping. It was, perhaps, worth the long wait for a feudal Japan Assassin’s Creed game just so Ubisoft could take full advantage of the currently available tech to make it really sing. Deer hop between bushes that gently sway in the breeze, cherry blossom petals flutter through the air and float gently atop the water, and brilliant orange sunsets illuminate torii gates and temples. You can even capture some of these striking moments as a minor open-world activity, sneaking up on a grazing deer or family of birds to take in the beauty and paint what you’ve just seen.

In an attempt to steer away from bombarding players with endless mission markers and points of interest, Ubisoft has instead opted for a new system in which players are given a series of clues that will guide them towards the general area of an objective. From here, you can open up your map and deploy a scout in what you think is the right area based on the clues, at which point a precise waypoint will become available for you to follow.

Ubisoft

Maybe I need to spend more time with this new system, but based on my preview, I don’t really see what it added beyond a pointless extra step. Three very easy to follow hints simply force you to open your map and navigate to the right spot. It’s not exactly a challenge, and it certainly didn’t prompt me to engage with the world itself, or my surroundings - it’s just more time on a menu screen.

With that said, I’ve obviously only seen a very small slice of what promises to be a huge open world, and I’m excited to explore more of it based on the strength of its presentation alone.

The best thing I can say about Assassin’s Creed Shadows is that despite my minor reservations, I haven’t really stopped thinking about it. Ubisoft has created a stunning world, and a potential new fan-favourite Assassin in Naoe. I can’t wait to dive back in and see more; even if this game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, we could still very well be looking at the best Assassin’s Creed since Origins.