Assassin’s Creed Shadows is perfect mix of classic and new

When Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017, it seemed like the franchise was at the start of a transformation. While previous entries focused much more on stealth, Origins started to move in a more action-focused direction with a major emphasis on open-world exploration. 2018’s Odyssey and 2020’s Valhalla continued the trend and refined its combat mechanics, which cemented Assassin’s Creed as an action RPG series.

When 2023’s Mirage came around, it was billed as a return to the series roots with an extra emphasis on stealth. It largely succeeded and was a sufficient, yet unremarkable adventure. With the franchise at a gameplay crossroads, what would the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows play like?

After a six hour demo, and interview with game director Charles Benoit and creative director Jonathan Dumont, it seems like Ubisoft has fused two worlds together. The gameplay and combat in Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels like the perfect mix of both the classic stealth focused Assassin’s Creed games and the more modern action-heavy ones, thanks to its dual protagonist structure. Shadows feels like the game that can finally unify a series with two directions.

Best of both worlds

Assassin’s Creed Shadows follows shinobi Naoe Fujibayashi and samurai Yasuke as they work together during the Sengoku period in feudal Japan. Naoe is the more nimble protagonist of the two, and she definitely felt like a throwback to the older Assassin’s Creed games, but with a few new tools.

One of the biggest game changers is Naoe’s grappling hook. Assassin’s Creed has always had impressive verticality and parkour movement, but Naoe’s handy hook lets her grab onto virtually any surface, making her getaways easier. She’s the perfect character for hit-and-run styles. With the series iconic Hidden Blade, I’d often jump down from buildings to assassinate enemies and then climb back up to scope out my next target, just as I used to in older Assassin’s Creed games.

At some point, we had four playable characters.

Yasuke, on the other hand, is a much more upfront character. Instead of scaling tall buildings, he can actually charge straight through the door, making a much grander entrance. Whereas Naoe had trouble breaking through enemy armor, Yasuke had no issues doing so with his katana and his giant club (a kanabo). At the end of a story mission, I had the choice to choose between Naoe or Yasuke to take on a boss, and I chose Yasuke because I knew his playstyle was perfect for direct conflicts like this.

Dumont told Digital Trends that Shadows originally started with just the shinobi archetype. As the development team tried to add in more gameplay and gear styles, they realized they couldn’t fit them all into a single character.

“We were trying to sort of force it into one character, and then we said, ‘no, we need two characters,’” Dumont tells Digital Trends. “We need it so that the classes feel distinct so that they evolve into two perspectives.”

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There’s even more duality to the heroes, even down to their cultural status. Naoe grew up with the Japanese Brotherhood of Assassins and wasn’t as affluent as Oda Nobunaga, who Yasuke served under. “Shinobi and samurai come from two totally different social classes, so it felt like we’re missing something. It was clear, yes, we need two characters,” Benoit tells Digital Trends.

The team had so many ideas that even two characters almost wasn’t enough. During the ideas pitching process for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Benoit recalls an even more ambitious idea that didn’t make the final cut: “At some point, we had four playable characters. Maybe we could have different archetypes, like monks and ronins.”

In the end, however, the shinobi and samurai archetypes best represented franchise themes of stealth and combat, so the development settled the pair as dual-protagonists.

The devil is in the details

Other than the different gameplay and combat styles, there are some subtle details that separate Naoe and Yasuke. During one story mission when I successfully retrieved a box with Naoe, I secured my escape route but my curiosity got the better of me. I scaled up a temple and saw a hidden door, thinking I could shake the enemies off my trail.

That door turned out to be a trap. As I made my way down the inside of the temple, multiple enemies showed up and cornered me. Knowing Naoe couldn’t take them all on, I quickly ran to the bottom. The door was blocked by a wooden beam and Naoe took what felt like ages to lift it and open up. I was sweating bullets, praying that enemies won’t attack me from behind.

When I came across a similar door while playing as Yasuke, his strength easily let him remove the wooden beam. When climbing onto short walls, Yasuke and Naoe switch roles. Yasuke struggles to pull himself up quickly due to his hulking figure while Naoe effortlessly and swiftly parkours to the top. It’s instances like these that make the seemingly miniscule details make huge gameplay differences, especially when trying to escape. That dynamic is designed with intention.

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“We actually want weaknesses in each of these characters,” Dumont says. “For Naoe, it was very important that fighting three or four people at the same time or fighting larger archetypes was tough.”

“We made sure that Yasuke feels stronger in a fight, but not in a way that Naoe is punished,” Benoit adds. “Finding this tight balance of not having a character feel useless while the other is overpowering is hard.”

Considering the time period and historical context of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, dual protagonists felt thematically fitting as they offered a fresh perspective on the long running franchise. This approach helped the game separate itself from other similar AAA games like Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin, which had solo protagonists, with the former having a fully realized character and the latter having a silent one. Both Naoe and Yasuke played much differently from each other while being equally fun, and I can’t wait to explore their stories later.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on March 20 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.