Looking Ahead: The setting of feudal Japan, highly anticipated by fans for an Assassin’s Creed game, is set to come alive in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows this November. Despite the absence of gameplay footage, Ubisoft has shared details suggesting significant deviations from the series’ norms.
Ubisoft has unveiled a pre-rendered trailer for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, marking the continuation of its acclaimed historical fantasy adventure series. The game is slated for a November 15 release on PC, Mac, and gaming consoles, inviting players into the world of late 16th-century Japan.
In a departure from previous games where players could choose from two characters, Shadows introduces two protagonists with deep ties to actual historical events and figures, each offering distinct gameplay experiences. Players will have the flexibility to switch between these characters throughout most of the game.
Players seeking a combat experience akin to Assassin’s Creed Origins or Odyssey can play as Yasuke, a historically documented African samurai who served Oda Nobunaga. Yasuke’s role provides a unique bridge linking numerous historical narratives involving samurais and Portuguese traders. His story as a samurai of African origin might draw parallels with other adaptations like the portrayal of William Adams in Nioh and the TV series Shogun by FX.
For those inclined towards the series’ stealth-based roots, Naoe, a fictional ninja and purported daughter of the historical figure Fujibayashi Nagato, serves as the alternative. Ubisoft has revealed to IGN that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature a new stealth mechanic reliant on dynamic lighting and shadow play, reminiscent of the Thief franchise and Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell. Enhanced by a novel prone position for improved concealment and a physics-driven grappling hook for navigation, the game aims to elevate stealth gameplay.
The dynamic weather system, featuring changing seasons, promises to transform the game’s map and modify NPC behavior, thereby introducing varied challenges. Certain missions, tied to historical accuracy, will be season-specific, though others may occur irrespective of the season.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will permit a more open-ended progression, offering players greater autonomy in how they approach objectives and assassinate targets without the necessity of initiating specific missions.
Spanning a geographical area in central Japan, the game’s world will compare in size to the Egypt setting of Assassin’s Creed Origins but with a looser density to accentuate natural and historical landmarks, moving away from the series’ traditional icon-populated map exploration.
Despite being a single-player experience, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’s PlayStation Store entry hints at a potential online-only requirement, a detail not mentioned for other platforms.
System requirements for the PC version indicate a step up in hardware demands, with recommended specifications suggesting an RTX 2070 or RX 5700 XT for optimal performance at 1080p. The game will also require 100 GB of disk space.
Set to launch on November 15 at a price of $69.99, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Ubisoft Connect, the Epic Games Store, and the Mac App Store, with the Mac version necessitating an Apple CPU. Detailed system requirements for the Mac version remain pending.
