Assassin’s Creed Shadows boasts a vast and varied depiction of feudal Japan that’s absolutely brimming with sights to see, areas to explore, activities to track down, and just all around things to do. In fact, in true Assassin’s Creed fashion, there’s enough going on that you wouldn’t be blamed for letting some aspects of the game to completely (or at least partially) slip you by. To help you dive into the open world action RPG in the smoothest possible fashion, then, here, we’re going to talk about a few tips and tricks – from the somewhat obvious to the not-so-much – for you to keep in mind.
STICK TO THE SHADOWS
Let’s start off with the basics first. Assassin’s Creed Shadows brings the series back to its stealth-focused roots, and it does so by, among other things, introducing several major new systems and mechanics. As its name suggests, the central one is using shadows to your advantage. Effectively, any time Naoe or Yasuke are hidden within shadows, they become significantly harder for enemies to see. When attempting to be stealthy, make sure that you’re avoiding light and light sources as much as possible- and, by extension, that you’re extinguishing lamps and destroying light sources to create new hiding spots as and when needed.
SEASONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES
Seasons keep dynamically changing in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and on top of bringing noticeable visual changes to the world, different seasons also have gameplay ripple effects. In winter, for instance, you can hit icicles from a distance to make them fall, which will create noise to attract enemies, or, if there’s someone directly below them, to even deal damage. On the other hand, guards can also become alerted to your presence if they spot your footsteps in the snow. Make sure you’re keeping the changing environments across the shifting seasons.
ASSASSIN MASTERY TREE
The first few hours of Shadows will see you primarily spending time as Naoe, the stealth-focused shinobi, so it’s only appropriate that you pripritize her Assassin Mastery skill tree first. From dealing greater damage with her Hidden Blade to being able to deal double assassinations, there are some pivotal unlocks available early on in the Assassin tree that we’d recommend prioritizing above everything else.
KNOWLEDGE RANK
Progressing through Mastery trees in Shadows requires some patience, because the game doesn’t just let you blaze through them at a pace of your choosing. All trees are tiered, and each tier is locked until you progress to the next Knowledge rank. Knowledge, in turn, is earned only through specific open world activities, from completing castles and tracking down lost pages in temples to finding meditation spots as Naoe and more. Make sure you’re actually engaging with the open world activities on offer, then, because if you don’t, progression is going to be significantly more limited for you.
KUKUREGA
Shadows’ vast open world map has a number of cities, towns, and settlements of varying sizes scattered throughout, and a number of them will have kukurega for players to find and unlock. Essentially homes away from the home that is your central Hideout (more on that in a bit), once you have paid to unlock a kukurega, you can use it as a fast travel point, to refill your rations and supplies, and more. Our advice is, any time you spot a kukurega, unlock it.
KEEP DOING CONTRACTS
Something else that you can do at each kukurega is accept contracts, which, like in every Assassin’s Creed game, we’d advise not ignoring- and for reasons you may already have guessed. Contracts give out healthy chunks of money and XP and often yield solid rewards by way of gear, so it’s never a bad idea to set some time aside for a contract or two every now and again.
SCOUTS
Naoe and Yasuke have a budding squad of scouts at their disposal in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, who are crucial in finding quest objectives and targets (among other things). At least in the early hours, however, you’ll find yourself constantly running out of scouts- at which point, it’s a good idea to head to a kukurega so you can pay a sum of money to refill your scouts. You can also wait for the season to change, which automatically restores all scouts for free.
HIDEOUT UPGRADES
Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t wait too long before getting you to the Hideout, your base of operations, which, in true Assassin’s Creed fashion, is customizable and expandable. Cosmetic changes are of course, part of the experience as well, but many of the upgrades you’ll be making will have tangible gameplay and mechanical impacts, which means ignoring the Hideout and available upgrades is definitely not recommended.
STEALING SUPPLIES
Speaking of Hideout upgrades, Shadows requires exclusive resources – like wood, crops, and more – for all enhancements and changes to your HQ, from building new buildings to upgrading existing ones. As such, it always pays to keep an eye out for stashes that you can mark for your scouts to take back to the Hideout, or for stashes and supplies lying around in encampments, castles, and bases that you can stealth yourself.
UNLOCK THE FORGE
There’s plenty to unlock and upgrade in the Hideout right off the bat, but the first thing you’ll want to focus on is the Forge. That is how you upgrade the gear and weapons that you have on hand, which, in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, ends up being much more important than in any past game in the series. Our recommendation is to keep returning to the Hideout every now and then so you can head to the Forge and upgrade your favourite equipment.
UNLOCK THE STUDY
Another important Hideout facility that we’d suggest unlocking as soon as possible is the Study. Earlier, we touched on the importance of ensuring you don’t run out of scouts. With the Study, you can increase your max scout count, which, as you might imagine, comes in quite handy for pretty much the entirety of the game.
USE YOUR ALLIES
You’ll be recruiting new allies from time to time in Assassin’s Creed Shadows (assuming you track down and complete their quests, which we definitely recommend doing), at which point the game will let you summon them at any point to aid you in battle. Not only is this something that can be quite useful in the thick of combat, you can also summon allies to use as a distraction, or even to clear a roadblock, during stealth. Smartly picking your active allies and summoning them at the right time can enable some devilishly effective on-the-fly strategies in both stealth and combat.
KEEP CHANGING YOUR GEAR
Like previous Assassin’s Creed action RPGs, Assassin’s Creed Shadows makes gear a crucial part of its progression systems, though this time, your gear and weapons feel far less disposable. That’s because it often comes with perks that end up being genuinely and tangibly impactful- like significantly improving your Adrenaline gains, or letting you deal an additional health bar’s worth of damage with assassination attempts. Even if a gear piece’s pure numerical value is lower, it can still be quite useful in specific situations, which is why it’s a good idea to keep swapping the gear and weapons that you have equipped based on what circumstances you find yourself in.
MERCHANTS
You’ll find merchants scattered throughout the map in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and though merchants have been notoriously easy to completely ignore in Assassin’s Creed games more often than not, here, they’re actually worth paying some attention to. Merchants often bring unique and exclusive items, while their stock also changes with the passage of seasons, which is why it’s a good idea to keep checking with them to see if they have anything useful that you may want to purchase.
SKETCHING ANIMALS
Finding and sketching animals is one of several side activities available in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and though it doesn’t yield any progression-related awards, it’s fun and compelling for no reason other than- well, you’re sketching wild animals! There’s a variety of them to find, each in their natural habitats doing different things, and they’re definitely worth seeking out. There’s also dogs and cats of all shapes and sizes to find and pet all throughout Japan, so keep an eye out for those furballs as well.
