We’ve always thought it interesting that the Assassin’s Creed franchise went for a remake right after a reasonably successful outing with Shadows. On the one hand, it makes sense for the franchise to revisit its glory days with Resynced bringing a modern take on a classic Assassin’s Creed title, while Shadows works as a potent blend of its legacy action-stealth formula while integrating the modern RPG elements from recent games quite well.
The new Anvil Engine powering both games can make Resynced feel like a proper, faithful remake of the experience we know and love, while it has helped Shadows stand out with its dual-protagonist approach to combat and stealth, that allow Naoe and Yasuke to stand out as worth additions (sort of) to the Brotherhood’s ranks. To that end, we’ve put these two successive instalments in the franchise’s lineup in a conversation with each other, intending to examine if a return to the franchise’s roots is a good move for Assassin’s Creed right now.
Let’s hop in the Animus and visit two vastly different, but equally captivating takes, on the franchise’s formula.
The Past Versus The Present
There was a time when an Assassin could tear through groups of soldiers with impunity once they could deflect a single attack, punishing a badly timed swipe or stab with an onslaught that could make even the most experienced warriors fall without ever seeing the move coming. Of course, that was often discouraged by the game’s premise and gameplay loop, but it was often an option when those pesky optional challenges were proving to be an annoyance, and you just wanted to cut loose after thinning out the herd and disabling their alarm bells.
That was classic Assassin’s Creed and it’s a time when the franchise was riding high on the novelty of its premise, and its ability to recreate eras of history with passionately written stories for each new Assassin we’ve had the privilege of meeting. Well, those stories are definitely still a part of the franchise’s overall narrative, but its recent titles have placed them squarely in an RPG-esque structure that does bring a bit of grinding before you can seamlessly experience the story into the mix.
Shadow’s take on Japan is so massive that this problem becomes glaringly evident, irrespective of how engaging the world was to explore and dig into. It worked against story progression diluting the impact of the budding guild of Assassin’s against the larger world that seemed to always have a threat that was beyond Naoe and Yasuke’s current abilities, requiring engaging, yet unwelcomed diversions for those of us who wanted to know where the story was going.
The Caribbean’s more focused in comparison, and while setting off on your own without a care in the world is very much part of the pirate fantasy, you could always choose to chase Edward’s time with the Assassin’s at your own pace, with the game’s balancing giving you a fair bit of control over your chosen direction. We see no reasons for that to change in Resynced, and this is probably a good place to talk about the different experiences they offer.
Let’s begin with Shadows and the way it has been a great take on ancient Japan with a samurai/shinobi-themed fantasy working very well as its beating heart. It’s that very premise that has helped all the game’s ambitions come to life as satisfyingly as they have. The stealth mechanics made Naoe feel like a literal shadow, while storming enemy strongholds with Yasuke never gets old. It’s a heady mix of Assassins, samurais, and shinobis, all working within a Japan-themed sandbox that lets you decide what you’re going to be at any given moment.
However, there’s something to be said for Edward’s intriguing blend of a lawless pirate and a noble Assassin. He’s got layers and enough charm and charisma to sell each of those layers in ways that have allowed not just him, but his son to become crucial parts of an important chapter of the franchise’s overarching narrative. His impact on the franchise is undeniable, and his very character was the perfect vehicle for Black Flag’s identity as a pirate-themed adventure that would introduce a naval identity to the franchise.
That’s helped Black Flag, and Resynced by extension, differentiate themselves from the more traditional open-world exploration loop in Shadows. But wait, there’s more.
The Fight In An Ancient War
Fighting off the Templars and any unfortunate enough to be in their service is always an important facet of the experience on offer, and the franchise’s combat systems have largely been about stylish takedowns and smooth movement between foes. Edward was probably the peak of that particular formula before more methodical approaches in Unity and Syndicate made way for the modern RPG-like systems that have been a part of the franchise since Odyssey.
Each one has its merits, but Resynced is looking like it could be a solid balance between two varying approaches. With hitbox-based action that requires more skill than the original version that could trigger killstreaks off a single parry, a better movement system, and a less heavy emphasis on RPG-style mechanics that could help it feels like a logical continuation of what was on offer in Shadows. And that, in turn, could point to a better balance between the two approaches in future titles, and this is before we consider stealth.
When things need to be done quietly, you’ve got to admit that there’s no finer Assassin in the Brotherhood’s ranks than Naoe. She’s the perfect huntress in Shadows’ stealth sandboxes, and the sheer number of options she has in her toolkit and skill set are simply unmatched. Pair that with a gear system that’s paved the way for some truly insane stealth builds, and you see why Shadows just takes the prize for a better stealth experience.
But Edward’s time spent prowling among the bushes and grass in the Caribbean does have that old-school charm to it, and Resynced bringing a few logical additions like the ability to crouch at any time and so much more is a good sign that the old approach’s simplicity is being augmented with some modern touches, which once again points to an effective balance between the old and new in the upcoming remake.
That extends to the traversal systems as well, with Edward gaining the Parkour abilities that have made Naoe such an effective asset in missions that required quite infiltrations and for targets to not even realize they’ve just become prey to a warrior as relentless as she is nimble. He was already an agile Assassin to begin with, and his new abilities are sure to work well and make exploring the Caribbean feel fresh yet familiar, a sentiment that Resynced needs to nail down consistently enough for it to work. It’s clear that Shadows has been an inspiration on this front, and a valuable source of lessons learned that could help the new game feel better than the original experience.
Of course, the world designs that these games offer, and how those worlds look do deserve their due consideration.
Sustaining Style and Substance
It’s time to get to the biggest differentiator between the two games: the way their worlds are structured, and the kind of gameplay experiences they bring out of those different approaches. Shadows is a massive take on ancient Japan, full of mystery and intrigue that has you scouring every square inch of a vast land to uncover its secrets. It’s systemic because it has to be, otherwise running the risk of feeling rudderless and opaque to its players.
But that very structure becomes a trap that encourages a more framing-focused approach to natural discovery, a facet that even its Exploration Mode can’t fully diminish. You feel like you’re chasing down endless lists of objectives, never mind the fact that they’re excuses to try out either the combat or stealth mechanics that made the game so awesome. It’s good then, that Resynced is coming along to take us back to a time where the story and exploration were better woven into a cleaner, more condensed, but no less ambitious experience.
Of course, visual improvements to that experience are definitely welcome, with ray tracing, a new approach to rendering water, dynamic weather, and PS5 Pro-focused enhancements that are quite beefy making a great case for Resynced being a beacon for the franchise’s future. It helps that it shares the Anvil Engine with Shadows, while making it apply to a structure that might make the most of it while needing less from it. The result? A very polished experience, which would indeed be very welcome.
Shadows might offer more systems to exploit and design things to suit your playstyle, and that’s an approach that could appeal to those among you who like min/maxing your builds, and pushing them to their absolute limits. Of course, exploring the world is a great way to do that, but your ability to do so being tied to a number kind of defeats that purpose. You can’t put a number on having fun, after all.
And that’s where we’d argue Resynced has a distinct edge. It’s got the potential to have you spending hours on land and at sea, never feeling the fatigue of RPG systems that limit where you can go. Instead, it’s going to be a cleaner, more memorable return to an adventure that often encouraged you to chase what was on the horizon more than the objectives it laid in front of you. And that, perhaps, is what the Assassin’s Creed franchise needs to go back to, all things considered.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
