Game review: Assassin’s Creed Shadows (PS5)

Late 2007 was always a memorable time for me because it was the end of my high school days. While I should have been studying more for my NCEA exams, I was instead having fun playing NBA 2K8 and the first Assassin's Creed on the Xbox 360. 

I remember the first Assassin's Creed game being innovative at the time. It featured cool parkour and sneaky stealth mechanics. Ubisoft knew it was onto a winning franchise because now we have millions of Assassin's Creed games!

Assassin's Creed used to focus on lots of stealth and assassinations, but that all changed in 2017 when Assassin's Creed Origins came out. Assassin's Creed Origins, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla changed the series to be more like an action RPG. 

The action-RPG focus alienated some original fans because the franchise did not feel like a traditional Assassin's Creed game. Every enemy had life bars, boss fights were present and the main character had to level up by grinding and completing quests. 

When Assassin's Creed Mirage was released in 2023, the series went back to the basics as the game was more stealth-focused than the original games. By the time Assassin's Creed Shadows was announced, I was hoping the stealth focus would return because the game is set in Japan. Alas, Assassin's Creed Shadows is more like an action RPG than anything else. 

One of the unique aspects of Assassin's Creed Shadows is the fact that the game has two main protagonists. Naoe is a Japanese shinobi woman from Iga, but things aren't going her way when her village is attacked. Not to mention something bad happens, and then she vows to get revenge on the masked group who committed the crime she witnessed. 

The other character players can take control of is the African samurai Yasuke. Thanks to story spoilers, I cannot comment on how Yasuke and Naoe meet, but they join forces in order to take down the evil group I mentioned above. 

Due to the game having dual protagonists, Assassin's Creed Shadows feels unique because the game has two distinct playing styles. Old-school Assassin's Creed might prefer to play as Naoe because her gameplay is more stealth orientated. 
Naoe has small daggers, throwing knives as well as samurai swords in her arsenal. She is also more delicate on her feet compared to Yasuke because she's smaller and can hide in the bushes more easily. Another advantage of playing as Naoe is that she is also armed with a grappling hook that enables her to get to higher ground in an easier fashion. 

Fans of the action-RPG style of Assassin's Creed games might want to play more as Yasuke instead. Yasuke's armed with samurai swords, spears, a bow and arrow, and other devastating melee weapons that aren't focused on stealth. 

One of the funnier advantages of playing as Yasuke is that he can literally bust through doors by running through them! If you need to face a hard boss or a huge group of enemies, Yasuke is better at face-to-face combat situations. Some missions allow you to choose who to play, so it's up to the player who they feel is best for the job. Bonus note, seeing Yasuke fall on top of haystacks in a must see. 

Depending on the mission and situation though, players can switch between the two characters almost at any time. The only time you cannot switch characters is when they're in active combat and during certain missions if a quest is tied to a specific character. 

While Assassin's Creed Shadows still has some elements of its stealth past, the game is still an action RPG at heart. This is because the game heavily focuses on a levelling up system, and you will be screwed if you aren't on the same level as the enemies and bosses during a mission. 

For example, if Naoe and Yasuke are at level 26, they could be able to finish missions as high as level 29 or even level 30. However, things will get too difficult for them if the missions are level 31 or higher. Enemies that are five or more levels above are going to be very hard to kill!

Levelling up is arguably the worst part of Assassin's Creed Shadows because this isn't a game where you can speedrun through the story missions only. I remember having lots of fun playing Avowed because I was able to finish that game by completing only the story missions. I only decided to play through some of the side quests after the main missions were over. 

However, in Assassin's Creed Shadows players will be severely underlevelled and weak if they try to only complete the story missions. Completing the many side quests is mandatory if you want to stay competitive against the more powerful enemies in the game. 

The only frustrating part about this type of game design is that some players (like me) might see themselves at a standstill. I assassinated a large number of the main story mission targets and I thought I was progressing well reaching level 26. However, I became stuck in a rut because every other mission I had discovered was level 30 or above. I wasn't sure how to level up anymore because I wasn't able to find any other side quests out there that were around level 26!

I have a feeling the developers designed this on purpose to force players to explore the entire region. Much like other Assassin's Creed games, players will have to climb several 'viewpoints' that act as fast-travel locations. Some viewpoints can be annoying to get to though because they can be located inside enemy bases. 

I also thought the start of the game was boring and tedious because there weren't many fast-travel locations to choose from. Not to mention several missions require you to travel several kilometres to the quest giver, but then you have to ride on horseback in the opposite direction to get to the mission itself! The boring travelling only gets better once you unlock more viewpoints. 

What I like most about the exploration though is that Ubisoft has added a helpful pathfinder option that makes it easier for you to find mission waypoints. If you see a cliff blocking your way, the Pathfinder option draws a line on the ground showing you a way to get to your location properly. 

Graphically, Assassin's Creed Shadows is a current-gen exclusive releasing only on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Feudal Japan looks downright gorgeous the beautiful vegetation looks lovely no matter where you go. You can even pet cats and dogs that roam around some of the towns too. 

On a technical level, the PS5 version has three frame rate settings. PS5 owners can play the game at 30fps, 60fps, and even a balanced 40fps. The latter option is preferred if you like both performance and graphical fidelity. PS5 Pro owners get better ray-tracing options on top of this. 

While Assassin's Creed Shadows has some annoying game design choices, I still feel the game might appeal to both new and old AC fans due to the two different gameplay styles. The game might be long, but fans will appreciate the story and the huge number of quests they can undertake. 

Verdict: 7.5/10