TheAssassins Creedseries tells the ongoing fight between the Templars and the Assassins.
Due toStar Wars Outlaws reception, particularly about its glitches, developerUbisofttook the extra time to polishAssassins Creed Shadows.
During the first several hours,Shadows pacing feels strange.
Naoe (left) and Yasuke, the dual protagonists of ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’Ubisoft
Yasuke is introduced first in the tutorial section, with Naoes introduction coming soon after.
Their personal stories also flip their motivations.
Without going into spoilers, Yasukes conclusion is satisfying, but Naoes is more anticlimactic.
Shadowsis loaded with side quests, fleshing out its vision of Japan and its people.
Shadowshas some of these sci-fi elements.
The game only briefly explains the Animus and then it doesnt touch on it outside of some side quests.
This is contrasted by Yasuke, whose hulking figure couldnt be more different from hers.
His attacks do much more damage and he doesnt fall to strong hits as easily.
Both characters are well balanced to suit different combat approaches.
The differences between the two are highlighted even outside of battle.
In the series, the player can scale landmarks and certain buildings to reach the top and unlock viewpoints.
These unlock new fast travel spots and reveal other points of interests or towns surrounding the area.
This makes Naoe the ideal character to unlock them with.
Naoe can also climb walls of enemy hideouts faster, but struggles with opening doors.
Yasuke, on the other hand, can literally break down wooden doors just by charging into them.
Yasuke proves to be the most useful when wanting to complete a quest as quickly as possible.
His more straightforward playstyle makes quick work of enemy hideouts compared to Naoes more methodical approach.
This completely gets rid of any needless grinding as quests have a recommended level before taking them on.
However, they can be overcome with enough skill and smart play.
Tackling other side quests before is also a great way to keep up with the leveling pace.
Mastery points can be earned by leveling up, completing quests, and eliminating unique enemies.
The impact of Mastery points and level progression can be sensed throughout the game.
With more abilities unlocked, both characters really do feel like theyre becoming stronger.
Unfortunately, the same cant be said about weapon passive effects.
Its lush grasslands and graphics are beautiful to look at, but feudal Japans landscapes can appear homogeneous.
Every region looks indistinguishable from another aside from the enemies that reside in them.
Given how largeShadows open-world is, having a similar feature wouldve been much appreciated.
Instead,only certain ledges can be climbed.
Instead, three clues are given to narrow down where it might be.
This is an engaging way to uncover the map as it forces players to familiarize themselves with the map.
Scouts can also be used to gather resources needed to build new structures in Naoe and Yasukes hideout.
Its a town builder mini-game thats worth spending time as it provides useful gameplay benefits as well.
Assassins Creed Shadowslaunches on March 20 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and macOS.
