Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review – Great, But The Blade Still Needs Sharpening

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows is finally here, almost six months after it was supposed to be released. As a fan of the franchise since day one, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this open-world adventure set at the heart of feudal Japan, an era that players have been requesting for many years. It’s finally here, and I’ve already logged stacks of time exploring my authentic, dual-protagonist journey.

This game is great, but it’s not perfect. It’s one of the best ‘modern’ Assassin’s Creed games in the series, boasting the RPG mechanics and the gargantuan open-world environment we’ve come to expect from these titles since 2017’s AC Origins was released. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to land well with every fan – myself included.

Read on and check out my full Assassin’s Creed Shadows review to understand what I mean.

Feel free to check out the video version of this review if you’d rather digest it that way:

Saved by the World

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has one of the most stunning worlds in franchise history. If there’s one thing I can say quite openly, it’s that 1579 Japan look gorgeous. The ability to move through seasons only adds to that beauty, allowing players to transition from the incredible colours of autumn to a world blanketed by a layer of snow in winter.

The world might feel overwhelming at first, but the pacing helps with that. Like in previous games, certain areas are considered off-limits until you’re tough enough to venture into them. And I mean off-limits – I found myself getting thoroughly humbled with a one-tap death from some hulking samurai because I crossed borders far too early more times than I can count.

At first glance, it seems perfectly smooth, with all aspects like weather patterns and day-to-night transitions functioning seamlessly. However, as I delve deeper into Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the issues that bother me begin to emerge.

Wildlife abounds, yet it appears haphazard and confusing, making it difficult to discern its purpose. Similarly, non-player characters (NPCs) are present everywhere, but as in previous titles, they lack facial expressions, which I find irritating.

If you choose to play via the non-guided mode, you’ll have to naturally explore the open world and find your objectives based on clues and tips, which is nice enough if you’ve got the time to do so. Exploring Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is nice enough, and there’s plenty of scenery and hidden locations to uncover, but ultimately, it’s yet another enormous Assassin’s Creed map.

Variation by Design

The dual-protagonist system is relatively effective and provides a balanced approach to gameplay tactics. In the year 2015, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate was introduced with a comparable structure, yet Jacob and Evie Frye didn’t seem distinct enough. In contrast, Assassin’s Creed Shadows features Yasuke and Naoe who are starkly different individuals, almost as if they were deliberately designed to be opposites.

Yasuke is cumbersome but immensely powerful and imposing. Naoe is at the other end of the spectrum – she’s light, agile, and stealthy, but much more susceptible to succumbing to a brutal death at the hands of enemies. I’ve stressed that Naoe is the most entertaining character to play as in series history. She’s so fast and fluid, and her combat mechanics are intense and so refreshing.

It’s a very intentional split, and you’re often given the choice to play through certain sequences as either character, but open-world exploration can be completed as you see fit. If you prefer the heavier hand of an armoured samurai, then opt for Yasuke, but if you want to control a speedy shinobi, then you’ll pick Naoe.

Each character’s dialogue, reactions, and music elements in the game are distinct, adding an interesting layer to the overall experience since they change based on whom you choose to control. This is yet another intriguing aspect of the game design.

The acting between each character is also superb, with special props being given to Naoe’s actor, Masumi Tsunoda, who makes her major video game debut in Shadows.

There are plenty of weapons to get to grips with, abilities aplenty, and stacks of skills to learn. The ability system works similarly to every Assassin’s Creed game since 2017, but these aren’t demigod warriors, so they’re a little more bound to realism, which I love. I was never a fan of the mythical stuff.

One issue I’ve noticed with the combat system is that the finishing moves can get repetitive quite quickly. In a single battle, you might witness the same ending move multiple times, which isn’t ideal. Despite having exceptional stealth mechanics, the open fight scenes could benefit from some improvements.

Also, Yasuke might be a phenomenal powerhouse, but my word, he is clumsy. As you sprint around, he’ll clash with everything from barrels to fences and from screens to doors, falling head over heels through every breakable object in the world.

Authentic but Empty

I’ve explained that the world in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is beautiful and a wonder to explore, but the meaningful content spread around the world is quite thin. Most of the side objectives I picked up as I explored were simple tick-box quests such as ‘Kill 100 Enemies in This Region’ or ‘Find 10 Things in This City’.

Here’s a possible rephrasing:

The main aspect of the game is excellent and highly cinematic. The music, visuals, and set pieces combined with the acting all earn high marks from me. However, there are areas that require improvement. Specifically, the additional content such as side missions, Shadows Projects, and collecting items feel lackluster and can quickly become tedious.

It’s unlikely that I would choose to eliminate 100 bandits repeatedly in a specific region, just to get a new hat, wouldn’t you agree?

There is a lot of side content, from assaulting enemy castles to finding spontaneous missions from NPCs, but once you’ve done it all a few times, you’re left not wanting to do it again – but you need to if you want to unlock everything.

If you want to eliminate every target that pops up, you’ll be in for a pretty tough time, too. As I dug into Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I found myself constantly finding more circles of enemies to assassinate:

It’s a similar story with the base-building elements of the game. You can build a full-fledged Hideout complete with multiple, open-ended buildings, ornaments, trees, rocks, and so on. It’s great, but I feel that the requirements for constructing certain buildings are unrealistic and such a grind, casting a pall over a feature that I was looking forward to.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent hours in photomode capturing every angle of this idyllic, incredible world, but there’s only so much depth you can get from snapping photos in a fairly empty world.

Verdict: Buy

There’s enough meat on the bones here to justify the purchase, and the game’s visuals, stunning world, and cinematic campaign all contribute to my recommending the title. However, the cracks in the game’s foundations are evident, the flaws that have existed for years are front and centre, and it’s not enough of a change from the formula that we’ve known for years to feel all that different.

Ultimately, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is technically sound and authentic and represents a world that fans of the franchise have wanted to explore for many years. The artistic choices are great, the soundtrack is impressive, and the ambience is stellar, plus Naoe makes for a phenomenal lead, but there are just too many niggling flaws for me to consider this a perfect title.

Buy it, but don’t expect anything too different from the last game – or the one that’ll probably follow this one.

For more Assassin’s Creed Shadows content, check out my breakdown of what the game is about

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2025-03-18 21:17