WithAssassin’s Creed Shadowsfinally out, I’ve begun reflecting on my time with the series. I used to love it, thoroughly enjoyingAssassin’s Creed 2and3and being one of the few people who genuinely lovedAssassin’s Creed Unity.Black Flagonce eluded me, but it’s now another feather in myAssassin’s Creed-shaped cap, and I’ve even dabbled in a handful of the spin-off titles. Suffice it to say, prior toOrigin’sreleasing, I had nothing but admiration and love for theAssassin’s Creedfranchise. That changed somewhat when Ubisoft altered its approach to theACformula.
It wasn’t so much that I was opposed to the shift to a more RPG-heavy open-world structure - as at the time, I was quite fond of that - but rather that I was unsure it was the right direction forAssassin’s Creed. Of course, everyone will rank thebestAssassin’s Creedgamesdifferently, butI was assured in my belief that this direction was the wrong move for the series whenOdysseyand especiallyValhallawere released. Well, that was untilShadowscame out, altering my perception of the franchise and making me love it all over again.
I Haven’t Enjoyed Assassin’s Creed In 7 Years
Odyssey, Valhalla, And Mirage Didn’t Do It For Me
My mainproblem withAssassin’s Creed Odysseystems from its sheer amount of bloat. For all my talk about disliking the modern approach toAssassin’s Creed, I rather enjoyedOrigins. It is huge, much like all of Ubisoft’s open-world titles of the time, but it doesn’t feel quite as overwhelming asOdysseydoes. The thousands of miles one has to trek acrossOdyssey’srecreation of Ancient Greece, the auto-traveling while exploring the open world, endless level-gating of content, and dozens, if not hundreds, of side activities to complete allspeak of a game far too big for its own good.
I had hopedValhallawould scale back, and it almost did. Rather than one seamless open world,Valhallais separated into distinct regions. That helps somewhat with managing exploration, but these regions are still ridiculously large, and there are too many of them. Its newfound approach to mission design and emergent gameplay felt novel initially but quickly became grating whenI realized Ubisoft had little of substance to say with any ofValhalla’sstories, main or otherwise. Eivor also controls horribly, as Valhalla features the worst parkour of the series. Suffice it to say, I thinkValhallais absolutely awful.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Director Teases What’s Coming To The Game With New Updates
The director of Assassin’s Creed Shadows touched on what is coming next to the game, with new updates, big fixes, and more enhancements planned.
Once again, I assumed this would all be solved withAssassin’s Creed Mirage, as it was taking the series back to its roots. However, bad parkour coupled with a meandering narrative and lackluster stealth mechanics made it impossible to get into.With each of these games, I struggled to invest more than a handful of hours, which has made the past seven years feel like a break. I barely remember my time with them, which is why I feltShadowswouldn’t be a good fit. However, I can’t resist anAssassin’s Creedgame, and I boughtShadowsimmediately.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Changes The Worst Parts Of Ubisoft’s Formula
It Feels Like A Fresh & Innovative Entry
As alluded to, I loved my time withAssassin’s Creed Shadows. In fact, I love it so much that I frequently express to everyone I meet how I thinkShadowsis better thanGhostof Tsushima, its direct competitor and a game many believe to be the pinnacle of the Ubisoft formula. However, unlikeGhost, which admittedly perfected the original Ubisoft formula,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsinnovates on it, adding something new that the franchise has never seen before, while also fundamentally understanding what made pastACgames so great.
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis the first open-world game in the series that doesn’t feel ridiculously overwhelmingout of the gate. UnlikeValhalla’ssurprisingly large tutorial area or evenOdyssey’shuge first island,Shadowstakes players through linear prologues, introducing them to the new characters and mechanics before setting them loose in the open world. That world is also quite linear, with the region’s mountains and hills forcing players onto the beaten path. It may seem counterintuitive, but it makes exploration more manageable and allows Ubisoft to direct your attention to interesting things.
Shadowsalso makes stealth funagain, for the first time sinceUnity.The parkour is a huge step-up fromMirageand especiallyValhalla. Naoe is incredibly compelling to play as, and her impressive toolkit, coupled with a vastly improved AI, makes sneaking around feel incredibly tense. Combat has also been vastly improved, with Yasuke delivering a power fantasy like no other and Naoe serving as Ubisoft’s approach to theDark Soulscombat model. Even the open-world activities are more interesting, with world events providing interesting and tangible rewards and side quests offering engaging narratives.
I Hope Future Assassin’s Creed Games Learn From Shadows
It Should Serve As A Series Blueprint
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis a clear indication of which bits Ubisoft likes about its current RPG format, and which it doesn’t.AC Shadowslearned fromOdysseyandValhallain many respects, especially when it comes to narrative structure and valuing level-gating.The series' favored segmented narrative structure works for a game about hunting down targets, even if it doesn’t lend itself to a focused narrative, and, as much as I dislike level-gating, there are benefits to it, which Ubisoft mostly manages to extract.
No season pass, no intrusive microtransactions, and no early access period for pre-ordering makeShadowsa better experience.
However, whereShadowsdiffers from otherAssassin’s Creedgames is what I find most fascinating and, ultimately, enjoy the most. Its more cinematic narrative, bigger focus on stealth, dual protagonists, and more dynamic world design - including changing seasons and more nuanced NPCs - are all excellent additions to this formula that futureAssassin’s Creedgames absolutely need to adopt. While combat still needs to be refined and the difficulty could do with a tweak,Shadows’best elements must be carried over into future installments to keep the series' rejuvenated momentum going.
Perhaps most importantly, however,Ubisoft’s newfound approach to quality control and protecting its developers from toxic players is incredibly importantand needs to be applied across all of its series, not justAssassin’s Creed. Shadows is only as successful as it is becauseUbisoft delayed it numerous timesand removed all the cynical monetization practices it has become known for. No season pass, no intrusive microtransactions, and no early access period for pre-ordering makeShadowsa better experience.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Was Originally Planned Without A Major Character
In a new interview, developer Ubisoft reveals that a major character was originally not planned for Assassin’s Creed Shadows during development.
Ubisoft needs to learn from these vast improvements both to its game design and its approach to development as a whole. If it does, then not only will futureAssassin’s Creedgames be great, but all Ubisoft titles will likely benefit. Considering that Ubisoft needs more games likeAssassin’s Creed Shadowsnow more than ever, it would do it a lot of good to use it as a blueprint going forward rather than ignoring its accomplishments and reverting to its old ways.
