Assassin’s Creed Shadows is great, when you’re an assassin
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game Assassin’s Creed fans have been dreaming of for years. Players have long yearned for a Japanese setting in Ubisoft’s flagship open-world series, eager to leap across tiled Pagoda rooftops and execute enemies from above. Shadows fulfills that dream with Naoe, a female Shinobi protagonist on a vengeful path that leaves a trail of bodies. However, Ubisoft’s depiction of Yasuke the samurai feels like a rusty attempt at recreating Sucker Punch’s 2020 epic, Ghost of Tsushima.
During an exclusive presentation at Summer Game Fest, the Ubisoft team showcased one of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ target elimination missions. The target is Lord Hayashi, a magistrate who has been terrorizing the local villagers. In this latest iteration of the open-world series, players can choose to complete missions as either Naoe or Yasuke, with the freedom to switch between them, reminiscent of the mechanic in Syndicate. Each character offers a unique playstyle, with Naoe’s versatility effectively providing a third, jack-of-all-trades option.
We start our adventure as Naoe, immediately taking to the rooftops. She swiftly climbs up the rope of her grappling hook, leaping from building to building, and silently eliminates her enemies using the familiar mechanics that made the earlier games so beloved. As she navigates the palace, currently cloaked in darkness (the game features a day/night cycle and dynamic weather), she comes across an innocent maid just before reaching her next target.
In the more recent games, you would have to assassinate the maid or risk her screaming and alerting everyone nearby. Instead, Naoe grabs her, pulls her into a nearby room, and leaves her unconscious. This feels like a mechanic every Assassin’s Creed game should have—and indeed it was included in older games like Syndicate and Odyssey—but recent entries like Valhalla rely on fistfights to subdue NPCs. Naoe’s skillset aligns more with Ezio’s than Eivor’s, making this small yet welcome addition feel just right.
With the maid taken care of, Hayashi is now in our sights. Naoe drops to the ground and slowly crawls into a nearby ornamental pond. Moments later, a tiny reed emerges above the surface, allowing her to breathe—a fun little animation that brings a ripple of laughter from the audience. But within seconds, Hayashi is dead, splattering the now black and white screen with torrents of bright red blood. It’s certainly more violent, but I absolutely love it.
Speaking of violence, on our next mission, the team adopts a much more aggressive strategy with Naoe wielding her trusty kusarigama, or chain sickle. This weapon is a far-reaching, jugular-slitting menace in area-of-effect combat, and it promises to be a lot of fun. In one fight sequence, several guards rush at her, but Naoe skillfully knocks them back, keeping them at bay. Although she’s more vulnerable compared to Yasuke, the kusarigama’s ability to disengage aligns perfectly with her assassin-focused skill set. While she leaves a trail of bodies behind, the mission concludes once again with Lord Hayashi dead and his minions stunned into silence.
Naoe is a perfect throwback to characters like Altair and Ezio. She’s quick, nimble, and deadly, but she doesn’t go down without a fight. She’s the assassin I’ve been missing in games like Valhalla, which shifted away from the stealth-centric archetype to a more typical RPG bruiser. While I know I’ll prefer lurking in the shadows instead of charging in head-on, her combat style is fluid, dynamic, and all-around impressive. She genuinely looks like she’ll be fun to play, and I believe many others will feel the same. So where does that leave Yasuke?
Yasuke has become the standout character in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. As a fascinating historical figure, Ubisoft's portrayal of him captures the essence of the fierce, Eivor-like warrior that the Assassin’s Creed series has perfected over the years. However, with Naoe bringing back the classic style of a stealthy, agile assassin with high damage output, it makes me wonder if Shadows will truly do justice to Yasuke's legacy.
We revisit Lord Hayashi’s castle, now bathed in the blazing Japanese sun. While Naoe opts for stealth to bypass the guard at the entrance, Yasuke charges in with deliberate, powerful strikes (though somehow, the NPC doesn’t notice him unsheathing his katana and seems shocked when he is eventually cut down). As Naoe, we surveyed Hayashi’s domain from above, but as Yasuke, we carve a direct path through it – he doesn’t climb but rather smashes through walls. I notice the enemies have lifeless, unsettling stares as they approach, devoid of any realistic facial expressions. The maid mentioned earlier is similarly expressionless, and even Hayashi struggles to display any emotion as he meets his end by Yasuke’s blade.
The problem I have with Yasuke’s combat is that it feels like a weak attempt to mimic Ghost of Tsushima, further hindered by the game’s overall lack of character development and immersion. While Ghost of Tsushima captures the violent yet graceful action reminiscent of the best samurai films, Yasuke’s movements, as well as those of his opponents, seem awkward and stilted.
In contrast to Naoe, who seamlessly switches between stealth and sporadic fights before retreating, Yasuke comes off as entirely one-dimensional. His approach is simply to charge in, hit hard, demolish obstacles, and repeat. There's no room for stealth, just constant fighting. This might appeal to fans of the newer Assassin’s Creed games, but for me, it falls short of the dynamism and excitement found in Naoe’s skillset.
Atmospherically, it feels like a low-budget version of Ghost of Tsushima. Naoe’s voice actor sounds unenthusiastic, and lines like "Fujioka must be the samurai Yasuke took out" feel out of place in the traditional Japanese setting.
If Ubisoft had released its Japanese Assassin’s Creed before Ghost of Tsushima (or even Rise of the Ronin), Assassin’s Creed Shadows might have stood a chance. Now, it seems half-baked and far less thrilling, with combat that feels like a poor imitation of what Sucker Punch has already perfected. It looks like Ubisoft may have missed the mark with this one.
And that’s really unfortunate. Honestly, I’ve struggled to connect with the newer Assassin’s Creed games. Valhalla lacked the ‘assassin’ element for me, and Mirage, despite its interesting setting, felt like a weak copy of earlier games. With its historical setting and Naoe’s nostalgic playstyle, Shadows is the first Assassin’s Creed game I’ve wanted to play in years, but I’m just not convinced.
It's important to remember that everything I've observed is still in development, and this is just one mission out of many. When the release date for Assassin’s Creed Shadows finally arrives, I anticipate we'll see a broader range of quest types, as well as improved facial animations and overall enhancements.
With two compelling characters and the highly anticipated setting, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has the potential to surprise me. However, it will need significant refinement to step out of the shadow cast by Ghost of Tsushima.
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