HomeFeaturesAssassin’s Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is actually two games competing for your affectionsNinja vs Samurai vs choice paralysis
Ninja vs Samurai vs choice paralysis
Image credit:Ubisoft
Image credit:Ubisoft
Naoe is apparently the smallest and therefore least conspicuous assassin ever to grace Ubisoft’s venerableopen worldseries. What’s more, she’s the first who can go prone and crawl – a tactic that has somehow eluded later generations of killer, possibly because they’ve got so many spring-loaded contraptions attached to their belts that they are no longer capable of lying down.
Image credit:Ubisoft
Naoe excels at wearing the titular shadows, which shift about a lot more than in previous Creeds, thanks to a day-night cycle and new seasonal weather system. She can throw shuriken to extinguish lanterns, and cast wires to dash from roof to roof or, as the case may be, roof to neck. But she’s just as happy in a brawl, overwhelming enemy samurai with kicks and stabs or wrapping them in the chains of her kusarigama. Her major weakness is that she doesn’t have a block: you’ll have to parry blows or combos instead to open foes up for a riposte.
Blocking is the province of Naoe’s friend Yasuke, a huge warrior who has rustled the jimmies of the crypto-racist “historical accuracy” crowd for being a Black man in Japan, despite Ubisoft basing his story on a real-life historical figure. Where Naoe is an all-rounder with a stealth focus, Yasuke is a one-trick-pony whose one trick is hitting things with a club the size of a pony. He doesn’t wear the shadows. He stamps through them smashing the furniture, shooting people with his arquebus or (at his most restrained) slicing them up with a katana. He’s Alexios/Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, but specced exclusively for melee, with no parkouring abilities. He’s the bulging heart of a combat system which reminds me a fair bit ofFor Honorin terms of the camera positioning and the rhythm of deflections and counters.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Official World Premiere TrailerWatch on YouTube
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Official World Premiere Trailer
What don’t I like? Well, there’s nothing massively novel going on here, the change of setting aside: it’s another rearranging of the pieces and a repainting of the fittings. A shocking turn of events for a blockbuster sequel, I know. I also have misgivings about the progression system, though that’s mostly a hangover from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – I’ve yet to lay my beady eyes on an upgrade screen, or get a sense of how much levelling might break up your exploration of the world.
Image credit:Ubisoft
Naoe, meanwhile, is the fictional daughter of the legendary ninja master Fujibayashi Nagato, and is trying to fulfil ‘an impossible promise’ to her family. She’s the less intriguing piece of writing, but with her bamboo pipes and chain scythes, she’s nonetheless the character I expect to spend most time with whenAssassin’s Creed Shadowslaunches on November 15th 2024. Assassin’s Creed but set in late Sengoku Japan, eh? They might just pull it off.
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