Since its announcement in May, we have already learned quite a bit about Assassin’s Creed Shadows even in the absence of too much gameplay footage, and at the recent Ubisoft Forward showcase, that, too, was remedied, with Ubisoft showcasing extensive new gameplay footage for the upcoming open world action RPG. Thanks to a new 10-minute gameplay walkthrough as well as a deep dive with developer commentary, we’ve learned plenty of new information about Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which we’re going to go over in this feature.
OPEN WORLD DETAILS
Ubisoft has previously confirmed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ map is going to be roughly as large as that of 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, with major cities such as Kyoto and Osaka being fully explorable. In addition to that, the world will also contain a number of different castletowns, such as Fukuchiyama, which is where the game’s recent gameplay demonstration took place. Meanwhile, the open world will now also make the wildlife a much more integral part of the experience, integrating them into biomes and ecosystems more strongly, which means the wildlife you see around you will evolve and change based on the season, with Ubisoft looking to deliver “more natural behaviours and awareness systems”. During springtime, for instance, you’ll see plenty of puppies in the world. While out exploring the world, similar to Ghost of Tsushima, players will also find torii gates that, if you follow, will lead you to various rewards, including secrets, loot, assassination targets, and more.
COMBAT
We got to saw Yasuke the samurai – one of the game’s two main protagonists – engaging in combat, thanks to which some intriguing new mechanics were revealed- like props and objects in environments being almost completely destructible, making for much more dynamic fights. When taking enemies on in combat, players will also have to pay attention to their armour, which is represented by a yellow bar under their main health bar. Unless armour is broken, you won’t do too much damage to their health, and different weapons are useful in different situations. Meanwhile, similar to its predecessors, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will also fill up your adrenaline meter during combat, with which you’ll be able to unleash special abilities.
POSTURE SYSTEM
In addition to the armour system, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will also task players with juggling the new posture system. Shadows’ posture system allows you to hold your attack and posture at any time during combat within a combo to then unleash more powerful attacks to deal devastating damage to enemies. These attacks, when used with the right timing, can also turn into out and out executions for your foes, but at the same time, they also leave you vulnerable to attacks yourself, which means there’s a risk-reward mechanic to keep in mind.
MORE COMBAT DETAILS
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will head into each fight equipped with two weapons, and you’ll be able to swap between both freely, allowing you to further personalize your loadout in combat. Meanwhile, working in conjunction with the aforementioned posture system, players will need to carefully read enemies’ movement and attack patterns and use different attacks, dodges, parries, tools, and what have you at the right time.
STEALTH
Combat is, of course, only one part of the core Assassin’s Creed experience, with stealth being just as important, if not even more so. Ubisoft has previously stressed that Shadows is going to be a much more stealth-driven game than its recent predecessors, especially when you’re playing as the shinobi Naoe, and during the recent gameplay showing, we got plenty of new details on that front as well. For instance, the cover system from past instalments is back, while players can now also go prone and crawl, so you can crawl in tall grass, crawl under small openings, and the like.
MORE STEALTH DETAILS
Through different options across weapons, gear, and abilities, players are going to have a number of different stealth abilities at their disposal. In fact, which weapon you have equipped will determine what type of assassination opportunities are available to you- some weapons, for instance, will allow you to put your enemies to sleep until they’re woken up by their allies. Among other stealth abilities, players will also be able to quietly stab enemies through shoji doors (again, similar to Ghost of Tsushima), while players will also be able to find places to hide in interior environments, such as using the grappling hook (more on this in a bit) to shoot yourself up to the ceiling and hang on to it. In addition to hiding, this particular technique can also be used to drop down on and take out unsuspecting foes.
LIGHT AND SHADOW
Another way Assassin’s Creed Shadows is expanding its stealth mechanics is by introducing a new light and shadow system that seems to be taking cues from the Splinter Cell series. In a nutshell, enemies’ vision and perception will be dynamically affected by light and shadow, which means players can manipulate the same to their own advantage. You can, for instance, destroy or turn off lamps to create shadows that allow you greater freedom of movement and make it harder for you to be detected by foes.
GRAPPLING HOOK
When playing as Naoe, one of the key shinobi tools that you’ll have access to that you won’t when playing as Yasuke (who instead benefits from having much better strength and defensive attributes) will be agrappling hook, which, as you can imagine, is going to be quite a useful and versatile tool. Interestingly enough, the grappling hook is going to be fully physically simulated, which means the direction and speed of your jumps when you’re using the tool to, say, swing across gaps, will vary each time. You can also assassinate enemies seamlessly from grappling hook leaps, while using the hook, you can also grab enemies and drag them to specific spots, in case you want to get them out of line of sight from other foes before then dispatching them quietly. The grappling hook also allows you to non-lethally knock enemies out instead of outright killing them.
WEAPONS
During Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ recent gameplay showing, we saw a number of interesting weapons being used. For starters, we saw Yasuke using a kanobo, a massive, blunt, mace-like weapon that is particularly good for destroying armour, and later in that same fight, he also whipped out a katana, a sleeker, faster, a much deadlier weapon that he used to devastating effect. Meanwhile, during Naoe’s section, we saw her use the kusarigama, a chain weapon that she used during stealth to assassinate an enemy from range, and during combat to give herself access to a balanced stable of ranged and up-close attacks.
SEASONS AND STEALTH
As we’ve known since the game was announced, seasons are going to have a big part to play in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, with several aspects of its open world changing as it goes through different seasons, and affecting different aspects of the gameplay in turn in unique ways. That will apply to stealth as well. For instance, there will be times when Naoe will be able to hide herself underwater while breathing through the use of a breathing stick, but during winter time, when those water bodies will be frozen, that will not be possible. In winter, however, players will be able to hide themselves and crawl through mounds of snow. Similarly, if you’re infiltrating some place in the middle of a thunderstorm, you’ll be able to use the noise and the wind as camouflage for yourself.