Ubisoft has revealed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will not be getting one of the most popular features of the franchise – Discovery Tour. The confirmation came through an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit where developers were answering questions from fans. In this AMA, a developer said that there are no current plans for a “Japan Discovery Tour” in the vein of “Viking Age” that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla got.
Rather, the developer explained that the decision was made to offer educational content and historical context directly into the in-game Historical Codex. This means that players can directly read up on all of the varied history of the Sengoku-era Japanese period that Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in without having to switch to a separate Discovery Tour mode.
“On Shadows, we have decided to integrate the Historical Codex directly in the main game so it’s available to everyone,” said a developer. “So compared to games like Odyssey or Valhalla, all players can access that historical information directly in the main game.”
“But to get to the core of your question, we do not currently have a ‘Japan Discovery Tour’ like we had for ‘Viking Age’ in the works.”
For context, Discovery Tour is an educational game mode that first made its debut in 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins. The mode allows players to explore the worlds of the Assassin’s Creed games while also providing historical context and details about the people and places of the times that the games are based in. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and later Valhalla would both also end up getting their own versions of Discovery Tour.
Since its debut, the Discovery Tour mode has been widely praised thanks to the care and level of detail that often goes into not only the Assassin’s Creed games themselves, but also the educational context behind them. The mode also saw use in some school classrooms to help provide further details and visual context for history lessons.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was released earlier this year on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title has proven to be quite a hit, having reached 5 million players as of July. The success was probably a great thing, considering the fact that the game’s development budget had exceeded €100 million. Check out more details about the game in our review.
In the meantime, while Assassin’s Creed Shadows might not be getting a separate Discovery Mode, it doesn’t mean that Ubisoft isn’t working on more content for the game. The title is slated to get its first story expansion, Claws of Awaji, on September 16. The expansion is also free for those that had pre-ordered Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Its content can only be accessed once a player has completed the base game’s story.
The title has also been getting its fair share of post-launch updates that not only fix bugs, but also bring with them more content. An update from back in July, for example, brought with it a New Game+ mode, along with associated rewards for completing New Game+. It also brought with it a new Animus Rift that players can work on completing after unlocking Yasuke as part of the game’s story.
