The brightly garbed Ronin isn’t happy. A few inches to the left with my stray kunai throw and he would have been dead.
But I missed, and now he’s on the warpath. Along with his crew, he’s chasing me through a wheat field.
I’m using the reeds for cover as I pick them off one by one, but he’s on alert now and it’s broad daylight. One misstep leads to yet another chase, and he’s not relenting.
Ten minutes after the botched toss, I’ve drawn him at least a kilometre in-game away from the bar he was drinking at. The sun is starting to set, helping my stealth efforts.
Then, I see my chance. I slink up out of the shrubs, and before he can turn around, shiv the Japanese mercenary with my hidden hand blade. The job is done, an assassination recovered. One target down, another six to go.
It’s these moments of intense gameplay where Assassin’s Creed Shadows truly shines, creating unique player stories where each assassination becomes its own tale.
Shadows is the latest game in the franchise which, after years of requests, finally sees the series extend into feudal Japan. Set during the 16th century Nobunaga era—a period defined by conflict and unification—it’s the same historical setting fans might recognise from the TV series Shogun.
You play as two characters this time around: Naoe, a new shinobi from the Iga province, and Yasuke, a Black samurai—an actual historical figure.
The game’s focal point is the invasion of the Iga province by Oda Nobunaga, driving a broader conspiracy that you unravel—attaining vengeance by assassinating the conspirators as you go. For the most part, the punishments you exact fit the crime. However, in an interesting departure for the series, there are targets you can choose to spare. This ties in with the game’s core theme of forgiveness—something that a vengeful Naoe comes to grips with as the story progresses, often thanks to Yasuke’s guidance.
The narrative is impactful but arguably only hits its stride just before it finishes. The best plot beats unfold during both protagonists’ final missions, leaving me energised as credits rolled—perhaps a little too late in the piece.
If there’s a protagonist here, it’s Naoe. Her story ultimately drives the plot, and you spend the first six or so hours playing as her and learning the game’s mechanics. She’s the stealth and parkour expert, equipped with tools that allow her to instantly kill enemies from the shadows.
Yasuke joins as a playable character later. He’s the muscle, forgoing stealth and manoeuvrability for sheer power. He’s designed to take on packs of enemies at once and come out on top, with most of his level-up perks dedicated to the various weapons he can wield. The game rarely forces you to play as one or the other.
You often choose how to approach challenges, but watch out—that changes in the final hours with little warning. Those who prioritise one character over the other may be in for a shock.
Regarding stealth and combat, the foundational mechanics are fantastic. Stealth is nuanced, with enemy detection measured by sound and light—significantly more complex than many other open-world games. Eliminating light sources or tackling missions in the rain to mask your footsteps improves your stealth viability.
Combat is slightly weaker but still the strongest it’s been in the franchise to date and a significant improvement from the last sub-instalment, Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
When you get sick of stealth, you can swap of to Yasuke for a more open assault.
This dynamic will likely see many players initially favour Naoe over Yasuke. Yet I found myself leaning towards Yasuke when stealth became exhausting. Playing as him, enemies come to you—including those needed for key objectives. As Naoe, you must seek them out.
This push and pull offers clear distinction between the pair and how they handle challenges. But the rigidness works against the game’s overall playability. Naoe struggles in larger fights with limited healing capabilities and less defence. In circumstances where she can’t quietly assassinate enemies, combat becomes a slog.
Meanwhile, Yasuke can’t climb environments with ease, meaning certain objectives force a character switch—and a loading screen as a result. Compared to Spider-Man 2, which also uses two playable characters, switching here feels rigid and interrupts the flow. There is an option to switch while fast travelling—a clever workaround—but it only saves time when you know what’s ahead, which is rarely the case.
Realism gives, and realism takes away
It’s much easier to show you how visually stunning this game is
The environment of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is beautiful—a new benchmark for open-world games. Seasons change as you play, and both landscape and gameplay adapt. Autumn and spring rains make stealth easier. Snow in winter slows traversal and freezes water sources that would break falls in other seasons.
On the PlayStation 5 Pro, it runs incredibly well, except for the main assassin’s base area, which is unusually capped at a choppy 30 frames-per-second. The rest of the game, on balanced graphics settings, is a feast for the eyes.
The downside is that due to the map’s size, it’s a feast you likely won’t finish. Shadows’ overall map covers approximately a quarter of Japan, spanning from modern-day Osaka to north of Kyoto, including the popular deer-petting tourist spot, Nara. (Yes, there are plenty of deer in Nara.)
Ubisoft has committed to realism, attempting to mimic Japan’s actual landscape in both shape and scale—incredibly mountainous with roads scattered through valleys and gaps. While commendable, this has led to an open world that encourages exploration but ultimately funnels you onto beaten paths due to impassable terrain.
Just keep riding. Just keep riding.
Traversing the map is perhaps the least enjoyable aspect of Shadows. For example: Playing for an hour, I spent 20 minutes on horseback trekking between objectives. While fast travel points are scattered liberally across the map, you need to at least sight them to access some, or unlock them by climbing towers. This leads to excessive riding that ultimately erodes the excellent moment-to-moment gameplay of combat and stealth.
Worse still, some regions feature only one or two story missions. These areas could have been trimmed but remain, adding unnecessary travel time. There’s plenty to do—countless missions, castles to raid, towers to climb—but no side quest really drew me far off the beaten path, though that may be down to play style preference.
Veterans of the series will note this map is smaller than Valhalla’s, but comparing Assassin’s Creed titles to each other isn’t always the best benchmark. I’d easily choose a smaller, more intricate play map over a larger but sparse one.
Speaking of past games, fans may wonder how prominently the Animus features here. For those unfamiliar, there’s some rather absurd lore tied to the franchise around aliens, genetic history and powerful artefacts.
That backstory, including the war between Templars and Assassins, is kept to a minimum in favour of telling a more historically relevant tale.
I have no problem with this, having only dipped in and out of the series. Other franchise staples remain, including a full historically accurate encyclopaedia of the period.
Too many systems, but a lot of good options
The map isn’t the only victim of excess. Shadow’s core combat and stealth systems are underpinned by a levelling system, gear system and several in-game currencies. You can also upgrade your assassin ‘base’ to further boost abilities. It reaches a complexity level often seen in MMOs, but this isn’t that type of game.
Consequently, failure sometimes comes down to equipping the wrong gear. The game liberally provides new gear and loot but sends mixed messages about how to equip your character.
Some gear perks break the game, while low stats lead to drawn-out encounters. I couldn’t help thinking this could all be greatly simplified for a more streamlined experience that uses story to drive progression rather than its systems.
More of the game’s visual prowess. It overlays this neat filter when you kill an major enemy.
Ubisoft does give you plenty of options to tailor your experience. Immersive mode allows you to play with voice acting in languages native to the scene—a combination of Japanese and Portuguese. It’s an interesting approach, and in some ways, the Japanese voice acting is stronger than its English counterpart.
You can toggle map waypoints too, making the game more about discovery than simply going from point to point. You can also enable classic assassinations—where stealthy takedowns kill enemies in one hit.
This isn’t the default; tougher enemies will initially survive your attempts and need multiple strikes to die.
But it’s my preferred way to play, as it makes stealth gameplay cleaner and easier to execute. New features continue to be added, including a recent auto-ride feature for your horse, allowing it to trek the map itself while you check you Youtube.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will likely be a better game in six months as patches further refine it—similar to Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws.
My quibbles are minor and potentially fixable. The auto-ride feature goes some way towards addressing the map size; making me wish I hadn’t picked up the game at launch.
An option to make gear levels less crucial could be next. But I must judge what’s in front of me, not what might come later, even if future features could remedy my concerns.
Even with the base launch-day game, I enjoyed my 30 hours with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
This title wears many hats—an excellent history simulator and a compelling exploration game. If you enjoy maxing out stats, unlike me, there’s something here for you too.
But all this left me wondering: what is Assassin’s Creed at its core? What makes this game stand out?
I return to my botched Ronin assassination attempt. It was frenetic, fun and a story in its own right—not scripted or a set piece, just something that happened organically. It’s these moments that define games like Assassin’s Creed and what the series needs to focus on.
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Pro
Worth trying if you like: The Assassin’s Creed Series, Ghost of Tsushima, Infamous, Elden Ring.
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows, Mac.
Harrison Polites writes the Infinite Lives newsletter. Follow him here.
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