Assassin’s Creed Shadows is out now, but has Ubisoft redeemed itself after the failures of recent games like Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Mirage?
In this review, we will take a deep look into Ubisoft’s newest release.
Right off the bat, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has some glaring issues that won’t sit too well with the audience. But before getting there, let’s dissect the game a bit to understand what’s going on with the latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Graphics And Performance
Shadows is the first game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise that skips the older generation consoles. So, it’s only available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. This has allowed Ubisoft to significantly improve the visuals.
Compared to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, it is a big step up.
This is mostly again due to the game being a current-gen-only release. So, from the character models to the environment to the vegetation everything looks a lot more detailed.
But even with the new and improved visuals, an issue remains.
Ubisoft’s animations still struggle. Even with the performance mode on consoles, and higher FPS on PC, there is not so much fluidity to the experience, making it feel compromised.
As for the performance, the game mostly runs fine. It has some hefty specifications for PC but that is now expected from most new AAA releases.
We did face some frame drops and bugs at some points in the game, but the overall experience was decent.
Gameplay
If you can get imperfect animations, which honestly are pretty easy to ignore, comes the gameplay.
For us, the overall impressions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ gameplay are quite positive.
Because there are two protagonists, you can experience the game from two different points of view. In addition, both the characters have their unique style and abilities that make you approach the game in two completely different ways.
Let’s jump into Yasuke’s skillset first. He is a rough and tough guy who likes to take a more direct approach towards their enemies.
Yasuke is a weapon’s master who apart from a Katana uses various two-handed weapons as well, making him formidable during combat.
Stealth isn’t Yasuke’s strong point due to his heavy armor and the general character design.
This makes it a great segue to introduce Naoe, the other protagonist. Unlike Yasuke, Naoe is stealthier and has a very classic Assassin’s Creed style to her.
Naoe’s character gets a lot of parkour abilities including a grapple hook. Her skillset and gameplay are closer to older Ubisoft games like AC3 or Black Flag which focused a lot on stealth and parkour.
So, each character approaches the game in a very different way.
Moreover, the NPC interaction has been made unique for both characters. So, if you approach someone, there will be different dialogues based on whether you are playing as Yasuke or Naoe.
This makes the game a lot more immersive.
A very fun gameplay element with Shadows is the exploration. You can make your network hire allies and train them to spread throughout the map.
This opens new possibilities and missions to you.
The Plot and the Protagonists
This may be the most controversial point about the game.
As discussed earlier, Assassin’s Creed Shadows features a dual protagonist design, reminiscent of AC Syndicate. So, there is a male Samurai Yasuke, and a female Shinobi, Naoe.
This sounds interesting and certainly gives the gameplay more variety, but the problem it faces is bigger than that.
Shadows is set in 16th century Feudal Japan, which makes for an excellent setting especially tying in with the rich history associated with that era.
However, that’s our biggest gripe with the game as well. It was marketed as a historically accurate title but is far from it.
The biggest controversy is around the game’s male protagonist, Yasuke.
Japanese historians have proved that the story Ubisoft goes for regarding the origins of the character is way off from the actual history of the character.
For context, Yasuke was a real-life person, who is associated deeply with Japanese history. Then there is the simple fact that the game faces a flux of forced inclusivity.
This affects the story as well, again making it different from what the historians say.
So, even though the game actually offers decent gameplay, the world is beautiful with plenty to offer.
The offsetting plot and protagonists are a huge element that makes the game less entertaining than it may seem initially.
Final Verdict
Assassin’s Creed Shadows managed to impress us in many areas.
The graphics are finally next-gen, and the performance is decent enough for a AAA title.
Furthermore, the not-so-smooth feeling animations are still there, but they don’t impact the game that much. The gameplay is quite fun at most times.
The dual protagonist system, with each of them providing a distinct gameplay and skillset, provides the game a much-needed variety in controls and how you approach the game.
If only Ubisoft hadn’t fallen prey to the weird story and character choices, it could’ve been a great game.
However, those elements make the story a lot less interesting especially after all the backlash will undoubtedly affect the sales of the game as well.
If the game indeed suffers in sales, it will put Ubisoft in a very weird position.
They already experienced a huge drop in their stocks after the failure of Star Wars Outlaws, so they must be counting on Shadows to do much better.