Assassin's Creed Shadows is the series at its best

★★★★★ | Shadowplay

Reviewed on: PC (Ubisoft Connect)
Distributor provided a review copy

After years of waiting and an endless amount of hate from culture war tourists, Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally here.

It arrives burdened with expectations and the weight of an aging franchise, one that has struggled to adapt and evolve with the times. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't enough for Shadows to be just good, it has to satisfy the ludicrous sales fantasies of shareholders within the company.

Will it be a rousing commercial success? I sure hope so, because this is the finest Assassin's Creed we've had since Black Flag and the first in the series I've loved from beginning to end on a narrative level.

Alongside Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Assassin's Creed Shadows features one of the most immaculate and fully realized game worlds ever made. It is a staggering feat of imagination, both realistic and romanticized, that you can get lost in for months.

The Story & Gameplay

Shadows is a sprawling and epic mosaic of historical fiction set in 1579, the final years of the Sengoku period. It deftly weaves together real events with the intricate lore the Assassin’s series is famous for and does so with surprising grace and nuance. While I still have my issues with the overarching future narrative that is too messy for its own good, Shadows plays remarkably well for a title this late into the series’ lifespan.

Part of that is to due with how heavily it leans into themes of memory and history. From the outset, it’s clear that what we’re seeing is not the truth, but one specific interpretation of all that happened. Like Akira Kurosawa’s films, Shadows is at its best when it questions the very nature of absolute fact. In the end, all we can do is survive with dignity and let the future decide what story it wants to tell.

The story begins with Oda Nobunaga’s civil war to unify Japan under his banner. As his troops burn through the land, Naoe and her father, the last surviving warriors of the Iga Clan, are ambushed by a group of eleven masked assassins. Wounded and left for dead, Naoe is rescued by a local monk and an orphaned boy in his care.

Meanwhile, in Nobunaga’s court, Portuguese traders negotiate for the exclusive rights to trade in Japan’s waters. Sensing the turning tide and the rise of Christianity in his country, Nobunaga grows curious about the Jesuit’s bodyguard, a towering African slave who will one day become the fierce warrior Yasuke.

As the years pass, Yasuke’s and Naoe’s journeys intertwine as they find each other washed away by the great currents of history. For them, it’s a mission of revenge. For Japan, it’s a time of change that will define the centuries ahead.

Playfully and smartly weaving together cultural and historical influences, Shadows crafts an intricate web of melodrama, court intrigue, and assassin fantasy. For fans of the Tenchu series, this is the closest we've got to a modern revival.

At its best, Shadows strikes the immaculate balance between reverence and joyous freedom to experiment with the form that filmmakers like Takeshi Kitano and Hiroyuki Nakano pioneered.

Listen, for example, to the superlative mix of styles in Yasuke’s theme, or how effortlessly the soundtrack bobs through modern sensibilities in Naoe's combat beats.

Similarly, the world reacts to our heroes in ways that make it feel alive and vibrant. Villagers will react to Yasuke’s imposing figure, commenting to one another that he’s the man they’ve heard of so much. Other samurai will mock him for his status, or lack thereof in their eyes, while whispers in the upper classes ask why he hasn’t left the country since Nobunaga’s downfall.

Naoe, likewise, faces her own persecution as the Iga clan is looked down upon by other villages who’ve submitted to Nobunaga’s rule. At key points, the player can choose how both she and Yasuke respond to these events and, as time passes, some of these decisions can return to both haunt and reward them.

As a story-driven adventure, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a major improvement on every level to previous titles in the series. It’s a mature, sharply observed tale that kept me nailed to my seat for its entire 50-plus hour runtime.

Yet this is not a perfect game, even as its good bits greatly outweigh the negative.

In typical Ubisoft fashion, it's packed to the brim with pointless distractions and gameplay elements. Most of which feel like additions for the sake of adding something. At worst, they're time sinks designed to lure players into buying boosters and extra gear from the in-game store. For a premium priced title, this is an aggressively bad look, and it left a foul taste in my mouth every time I bumped into it.

At this point, Ubisoft’s insistence on monetizing everything comes across as desperate and crass, and it robs an otherwise gorgeous title of the limelight. Assassin's Creed doesn't need any of this, and it's a detriment to everyone to force it into the final product.

But looking past the obvious clumsiness, Shadows reveals a wealth of fun, addictive, and wonderfully staged gaming to be had. From exploring the vast countryside to helping out villagers across the colossal map, there's always something fun to do in every session.

This is further emphasized by the fantastic pacing, which allows the player to tackle the story at their own pace. The first five to ten hours set the stage with Naoe's story, after which you're free to explore the main campaign with either hero.

Both Yasuke and Naoe play very differently, and it's a wonder how well the world is designed to cater to both. I found myself enjoying the acrobatic delights of Naoe a bit more, mostly thanks to the Tenchu vibes, but letting out steam as Yasuke was never any less of a thrill.

As in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the main quest centers around finding the members of the order that wronged you, and each target comes with its own subplots and intricacies. Happily, you can also find clues and push the story forward just by exploring, and it's always a treat to realize you've stumbled upon something important by accident.

Combat has likewise been refined even further, although it's the area where Assassin's Creed most shows its limitations. At its best, the action is visceral and fun, but more often it turns clumsy due to the mechanics that are still more fiddly than necessary.

Luckily, those moments are less severe than they sound, and despite my grumbles, I kept coming back to Shadows every day during my review period. Even now, after finishing the review, I look forward to continuing side quests until everything is done.

Oh, and you can pet not just cats, but tanookis, dogs, and other animals as well.

Accessibility

Assassin's Creed Shadows continues Ubisoft’s excellent work in accessibility. Everything you'd expect to find is accounted for, from visual and audio impairment aids to gameplay accessibility options that remove QuickTime events.

The sound design is stellar, as well. Everything from the vast natural landscape to military skirmishes comes through crystal clear, and the mixing is notably improved from previous titles. You can even toggle a setting that emphasizes dialog and important sound cues, which is a blessing for neurodivergent gamers.

Overall, Shadows is a fantastic title that takes all kinds of players into account and crafts a great gaming experience for everyone.

Technical Aspects

I reviewed Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the PC, playing through Ubisoft’s own launcher. My test rig is middle-of-the-road: Ryzen 5 5600, 32GB DDR5, RTX 3070. I set the game to run at 1440p with upscaling set to balanced. For the vast majority of my week with the game, I rarely saw dips below 60fps. When it did happen, it was in heavily crowded scenes and in the hideout, which doubles as a base-building mini-game.

The extra months of waiting have paid off. Shadows is a polished final product that, sadly, we can’t take for granted. I encountered no game-breaking bugs nor did the game crash on me. While the updated, yet still aging game engine has numerous faults, as detailed earlier, Assassin’s Creed Shadows proves just how well Ubisoft knows how to utilize it.

On an audiovisual level, Shadows is a triumph. Voice acting is top-notch, especially in immersive mode, which lets the characters speak their native languages. The soundtrack mixes together styles from different continents and time periods into one of the most sophisticated and captivating works this series has ever produced.

Who’s It For?

If you’ve fallen off the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Shadows just might be the game to lure you back in. While I greatly enjoyed Mirage, the partial spin-off released in 2023, it was clearly meant as a throwback for old-school fans. Shadows, on the other hand, is a wilder swing designed to attract new players. As such, it’s a fantastic showcase for the best — and worst, let’s be fair — parts in the franchise.

At best, it shows that Ubisoft still has what it takes to craft memorable and exquisite game worlds. In Shadows, they’ve reached a point where the amount of things to marvel is downright overwhelming. I spent the first ten or more hours of my review week just wandering up mountains, wading in streams, and losing myself in this vision of Japan. For fans of virtual tourism, this is as good as it gets.

But at its worst, Assassin’s Creed Shadows should be the final word for this type of AC game. Its mechanics show their age, and Ubisoft’s aggressive monetization antics are downright insulting. The attitude that more is more feeds into diminishing returns, and I can’t help but imagine how even a game as great as Shadows could be improved with a more limited scope.

If that sounds contradictory, it is. Because I loved every minute I spent with Shadows, even as I can acknowledge that it suffers from systemic issues that need a new beginning. Its five-star rating means that this is the best Assassin’s Creed can get, and that is both high praise and damnation at once.

Whatever happens in the future, it needs to be different. Shadows shows that Ubisoft has the capacity to improve and iterate to brilliance. Now it remains to be seen do they also have the capacity to change for the better.

For now, we can enjoy Assassin’s Creed Shadows for what it is: The finest installment of a legendary franchise and one of the best action adventure titles of the year.