Assassin's Creed Shadows

Ubisoft has finally struck the perfect balance between the series’ roots and modern advancements. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a masterclass in stealth-action storytelling and, without question, one of the finest entries in the franchise.

The wait was well worth it for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The fans have been asking for an AC game set in Japan, and Ubisoft has finally delivered, with a dual-protagonist experience that offers crisp combat mechanics, a bombastic musical score, and a beautiful visual presentation. Assassin’s Creed is so back.

Shadows, like its predecessors, has now yielded its own memory for me to store in my personal Animus: a reminder that when it comes to this medium, gameplay is king. And in Shadows, playing as Yasuke and Naoe is as powerful as the treacherous Shogun at the heart of this adventure.

Although Shadows gives the Assassin's Creed formula a much-needed update, it continues to falter in some areas. The long cutscenes and dialogues are still present, and you encounter so many enemies that the battles get boring at times. We know that sounds crazy in a game where you play an assassin, but sometimes you just want to achieve your goal instead of killing one guard after another. Those two shortcomings are especially noticeable at the beginning of the game, which is a shame, because it kind of took away our desire to continue playing. Fortunately, we bit through, because the further we progressed, the more Shadows blossomed. There is an enormous amount to experience, and Ubisoft clearly invested where it was needed: in the storyline. It is vastly expanded and rarely bores.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a balancing act that teeters towards brilliance, despite the occasional wobble.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is another strong entry in the AC universe, excelling by building on the series' strengths. Japan is stunning, and both Naoe and Yasuke shine as some of the franchise's best protagonists to date. However, even for seasoned fans, its repetitive and unimaginative mission structure may be tough to overcome.

As always, Ubisoft has crafted a highly detailed and undeniably beautiful world. Roaming the historical Japanese cities and countryside is undoubtedly one of the game's highlights. However, once again, Ubisoft fails to take a single step forward in its action, platforming, and-most crucially- stealth mechanics, making each new iteration of its beloved franchise feel increasingly stale and tiresome.

this games is .

While the story is quite mediocre for the most part the game makes up for it by showcasing stunning graphics and great combat/stealth. Though I’m still not fond of the RPG looting system.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Ubisoft never fails to disappoint. The map is AWFUL. You can't see anything but trees and bushes in your face for half of the game. Trying to get around is a nightmare. Near where you start and in general they put higher level areas where you are just starting. If you try to open the million stupid fast travel points you will be dead one hit in the higher areas. I bought this cheap. I hated Valhalla so much that I wasn't going to buy anymore of these. I swear only when they are on ps plus from now on.

It's unfortunate that Ubisoft still don't understand how to make fun open worlds. It's a game that gives the impression that the developers were targeted on increasing playtime as many of the choices made here are just needless bloat rather than fun. The map is a huge let down as usual. Between the countless map markers there's just nothing to do here. It only exists to make you travel from one space to another which can take a while if you're yet to unlock a travel point near to your destination. The world looks pretty but that's about it - even going off the beaten path is met with either slopes too steep to traverse or vegetation so dense you can't see where you're going and keep getting stuck. There's no wildlife you can hunt, no resource nodes to farm, no random secrets or puzzles to discover. You may find the odd chest but these are few and far between and also your scouts can locate them when you unlock that ability. So what other purpose does this world have if not to provide bloat and a metric that Ubisoft can use to brag about their map size and average time to complete but that doesn't make it fun. The combat is fun however. Naoe is your typical stealth character with a grappling hook for more traversal options and Yasuke is the brute that wades in loudly and destroys everyone. The only problem is that many of the viewpoints are only accessible to Naoe or things like scrolls in temples that are on roofs that only she can get to so for the most part I play as her as switching back and forth can get tedious after a while. The story bored me very quickly. "Why use 5 words when 1000 can do" is their motto here and it really drags on with cutscene and cutscene. You can skip them at least but it's not exactly gripping enough to warrant me spending that much time watching them. Like being stuck in a cinema watching a very mediocre film - you'd walk out and find something fun to do. I'd advise staying away from the franchise - they'll never learn how to make fun open worlds of activities for players sadly. The potential is there, they just don't use it.