Since its release back in March, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been praised for many things, from its stealth gameplay mechanics to its open world. One minor point of criticism for some has been how the open world title highlights ledges that can be used for parkour-based traversal through the use of yellow paint.
Speaking to GamesRadar, creative director Jonathan Dumont spoke about how the game uses yellow paint to let players know at a quick glance what nearby ledges and platforms can be used for parkour. In the conversation, Dumont revealed that earlier builds of Assassin’s Creed Shadows didn’t use the yellow paint at all. It was, in fact, added in later because of playtesters getting confused about what they could and couldn’t parkour on.
“Well, we didn’t have it until players were really struggling in playtests to find their path when engaging in hidden trails activity,” said Dumont. “The environment is lush and full, and giving a bit of guidance was needed.”
This should come as no surprise, since the use of markers like yellow paint for objects that can be interacted with or jumped on largely came about when visuals in video games started getting more and more photorealistic. This could even be seen in titles going all the way back to early PS4 releases. Even older Assassin’s Creed games were not immune from this; Assassin’s Creed 2, for example, used white cloth as an indicator of an object that could be used to start a parkour trail.
Dumont also revealed last month that, while Assassin’s Creed Shadows got delayed quite a few times leading up to its release, the extra time wasn’t used to make any sweeping changes to the game. Rather, the developers made use of the extra time they were afforded by polishing the game as much as they could.
“We were basically trying to make the most polished game that we [can],” said Dumont, going on to say that the delays were because, “our game was there, so just making sure that we don’t have bugs and that the experience is clean for people.”
The few things that the studio did add to the game during the delays were scenes that would help in fleshing out the relationships between characters in better ways. “We had a few already, and people love those things,” he said. “So alright, let’s try to get a little bit more in there.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 20. Since then, the game has proven to be quite successful. A recent report revealed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows was the US’s best-selling game of the week it came out in in terms of dollar sales. Overall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has ended up becoming the second biggest game launch of the year, right behind Monster Hunter Wilds, which recently celebrated having sold 10 million copies.
For more details about Assassin’s Creed Shadows, check out our review. Also check out 15 small details that stand out in the game thanks to its attention to detail.
