I have a complicated relationship with the Assassin’s Creed series. With the original “trilogy” of games, I only enjoyed Assassin’s Creed II. I played through the others, but they were either frustrating or forgettable. That changed with Black Flag, which was a lot of fun as it took the series in a new direction. But outside of Syndicate, I’ve skipped the last few games. I spent almost two hours with Mirage last year, but it didn’t do enough to keep me interested. With my fascination with Japan, I went into Assassin’s Creed Shadows with high hopes. Some parts are fun, but this still has the same problems as past games.
So much bloat
At the time of this blog post, I’ve put in over 15 hours into Shadows. I’ve managed to explore quite a bit, with most of the map still undiscovered. I’m at the point where you can switch between both characters. The time it takes to give you this “free rein” is long and a bit awkward. They start you off as Yasuke, but his intro sequence feels like it only lasts 15-20 minutes. So, for the first 8-10 hours, you’re only playing as Naoe.
Naoe is an interesting character, but her storyline is far from original. Until you cross paths with Yasuke, her story focuses on revenge. Yes, I like the idea of hunting down a series of masked people who are responsible for your father’s death. It’s an unoriginal concept, other than the number of people she’s seeking. Once the game started doing flashbacks and montages, I was shaking my head in disbelief.
As for Yasuke, we learn very little about him at the start. We see his loyalty for Ode Nobununga, but when he pairs up with Naoe, their partnership takes a lot of time to “blossom”. I’ve only encountered one “friendship” setting, and it was by accident. Once you can play as either character, you can tackle most missions as either one. There are clear pros and cons to each, so it’s up to you which you use. Unfortunately, this creates a secondary problem I found with the game.
One story with two main characters
There is a reason for Naoe and Yasuke’s partnership. Without going into spoilers that you can’t find in a history book, it makes sense. But early on, it feels that this is more about Naoe, with Yasuke there to offer his strength. Her revenge story is the key, and Yasuke is there to offer his support and strength.
One of the first story missions I played with the duo, it didn’t matter which I used. They can tackle any leg of the quest since in cutscenes, they always appear together. It was only once we did the final part of the quest that we had specific sequences for each of them. This shared screentime was awkward because they don’t reflect this in the game world.
When you reach the “boss” of this quest, the game lets you pick which of the two to use in battle. What’s odd here is that they are both acknowledged as present in the previous cutscene. But once you start the fight, the other character disappears. This feels weird because in this mission, Yasuke is on the ground, while Naoe is on a roof. It means you can tackle the fight in two ways (stealth versus brute), but that doesn’t mask the fact that it’s awkward.
Yasuke deserves better at the start
It’s clear that Shadows is Naoe’s game, but that’s not to say that Yasuke is unnecessary. It’s annoying that for the first 10% of the game, he disappears after his interesting introduction. He does have his storyline, but I only began it at hour 16 of playing. Like Naoe, he has his fair share of flashbacks. The first one you can play as him focuses on his Samurai training, and we learn how he took the name “Yasuke”.
Naoe has all the cool Assassin’s traits fans of the series will enjoy. It also means she is more prone to the legacy control issues. Meanwhile, Yasuke is a beast. I love getting into brawls with him because he’s so vicious. He has this front-kick that tosses enemies over five meters ahead. His frame, in comparison to smaller Japanese enemies, is clear. Even the bulkier foes don’t seem that much bigger.
But when it comes to exploration, I prefer to use Naoe. I struggle to reach viewpoints with him, so I will switch back to her to do these sections. Yasuke does have some archery mini-games you can do, and those are a lot of fun. The two I’ve found so far are so short that I hope there are more of them to find.
Parts I love and parts I despise
When you venture off and explore Japan, I am in love. For those first handful of hours, when the story lets you, I would get sidetracked because there was a “?” marker I wanted to check out. This game has a lot of side content, which has its pros and cons. One I liked involves Noae performing a prayer/meditation ritual. For those sections, you have to time button presses in tempo. Sometimes, these unlock flashback sequences with your father. I’m not sure how many of these missions there are. I did manage to encounter at least one that granted a knowledge point without giving me a flashback.
There is a lot of repetition, especially when it comes to shrines/temples and castles. After visiting your first castle, every other uses a similar floor plan. You will know what to expect as you go from the rooftop to the bottom. I was hunting down Samurai Daisho, which is necessary to clear these locations. Unfortunately, if you have the right weapons and get them in spots where they are alone, they are easy to take out.
The stuff I found annoying with previous Assassin’s Creed games is still here. The context-sensitive controls frustrate me, especially in close-quarters combat. I hate being in a corner only for Naoe to grab a wall when I want her to dodge an attack. This is something I don’t know if they will ever manage to fix.
This is going to take a while
Basing an opinion after 15 hours is usually tough. But, for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it’s easy. I don’t hate the game, but I’m not in love with it. This is a middle-of-the-road open-world game. The story is forgettable, but I enjoy wandering the world and exploring. I don’t mind the combat, but I wish there was more variety in how enemies behave. There will be the AC defenders who will defend this as the best game in the series in a long time. I don’t have that luxury of comparison. If you’re looking to get back into the series after being away, I should wait until it’s on sale.
