Assassin's Creed Shadows Preview (Hands on) and Description

Shubh_C63 said:
NPCs standing there doing nothing is so immersive.

Even if this game is a 8.5/10 (non-IGN scale), would it really save Ubisoft. At this point a 10/10 will not be enough.
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Crazy how they went backwards from stuff like wd2 that has a robust npcs system with a shitload of unique animations and interactions.

I want to see more but it really look worse somehow.
 
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This being current gen-only I expected huge improvements in graphical fidelity but more importantly animation complexity and fluidity, NPCs and their behavior and dynamics but this game doesn't look like a step up from Valhalla in any meaningful way and almost feels like a regression in NPC dynamics.

The combat is still ridiculous, the animations are sloppy with the typical Assassin's Creed jank and teleportation bullshit. It tries to emulate Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro with a parry system, dodge and critical attacks but instead of leaning into these mechanics it chose the most arcade, idiot-proof version of both - it looks like shit and probably plays like shit just like the combat in every previous AC game was shit. What a wasted opportunity.

The fact that there is no wanted system, you can just casually kill anyone without the game reacting to it, the utterly bizarre restrictions of Yasuke's gameplay, his idiotic screaming assassination move. "Hey we made an Assassin's Creed game where one playable character can't really climb stuff, can't sneak, is clumsy as fuck but he can run through walls like a charging bull, isn't that cool?" No it's not you fucking idiot.

This game the videogame equivalent of Netflix making their version of Shogun.
 
analog_future said:
Looks embarassingly bad here

3sQ27Di.gif
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The ground textures look amazing. Wow.
 
Warning: melodramadic hater post incoming, read at your own risk!

I've watched enough gameplay to say that I'm pretty disappointed. It looks kinda fun sometimes, in a "let me get my AC fix" kinda way, but most times it makes me feel like "man, I'm tired of this shit". I was hard on this game when it got revealed, and after the little clips they showed prior, I grew a bit more optimistic. Now I'm kinda back to square one after seeing extended footage.

Here's my problem, it looks like a competently made, "good enough" kinda game. If you released this like 10+ years ago I think I'd be much more enthusiastic. But as time moves forward and tastes change and mature, your expectations change and so does your criteria for what constitutes a fun time. I've been playing AC since the original, you could kind of say I grew up with it. I've been watching this franchise like a hawk, and it has gone through many ups and downs, but today in 2025 I genuinely can't bring myself to defend this series anymore.

Just by looking at it you can tell that it's built on the bones of AC Origins. A game from 2017. That game was trying to ape Witcher 3, which released in 2015. Every single time I look at this game, and by extension Ubi's output in general, all I see are super dated systems. And while I was on the "well not everything needs to be a masterpiece, sometimes you just need some good ol' popcorn fun!" camp for the longest time, even I'm getting tired of just looking at this series now. My patience and tolerance has reached 0 after so many years of playing AC/Ubi games. Personally, I feel like we are getting a *BUNCH* of fantastic games from all kinds of genres, and we've been eating well for years now. Why should I play yet another Ubi borefest that looks the same as a game released 8 years ago? Hell, in some aspects they are getting *worse*. What's with the awful voice acting? The bits and pieces of the writing I've seen so far seem so incredibly shallow too. I know this is subjective, but I still believe that Tsushima looks MUCH better than this visually, much more vivid too. Why is everything so grey, lifeless and washed out?

Nothing here excites me. I'm just tired of the same design, same gameplay, same looks, same UI, same everything while other parts are somehow getting worse on top of that. Ubi used to be pioneers and you could see their production values were high/used well. But now they feel janky and outdated. I was pretty much on board to pay for the Ubi+ sub to just try it out and get done with it, but these previews killed that for me. Just looking at it fills me with immense boredom. I have much better games to play and invest 50+ hours into. If more people feel the same way as I do and the game tanks at launch, welp, goodbye Ubi I guess.

I really, really loved AC but I think Mirage is a good stop and send off for me. Ubi cannot make the kind of games I want anymore.
 
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analog_future said:
Looks embarassingly bad here

3sQ27Di.gif
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The Sparta kick is just absolutely retarded. I see this move all the time in every gameplay video and it's just so bizarre seeing characters rag doll all over the place. Imagine getting kicked by an NPC and flying 15 feet, it's the most immersion breaking shit.

Ridiculous.
 
Feels like Yasuke got nerfed at the last second to make playing as the chick look like the focus and way more appealing. She's the stealthy, sneaky ninja murderess that's fitting for the time period and the franchise.

He's the big, bumbling tank with a snoozefest moveset that can't climb shit. It's obvious that Ubi is clearly trying to sweep him under the rug by making him superfluous without outright deleting him :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Climbing shit is 90% of the gameplay in these slogs and that fucker is now incapable :messenger_tears_of_joy: No way was he originally designed that way.
 
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James Sawyer Ford said:
I was fooled by Valhalla

Never again

The combat looks like trash. It's unacceptable to play a massively long game like this and have horse shit combat

Pass. I'll wait for Yotei
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How is Ubisoft just figuring out now that everybody is tired of their terrible combat? They really just believed gamers would buy the same generic slop 5+ years later. Combat will always be king. Good to see gamers not buying mediocre RPGs, even with game worlds as beautiful as AC
 
Chuck Berry said:
Feels like Yasuke got nerfed at the last second to make playing as the chick look like the focus and way more appealing. She's the stealthy, sneaky ninja murderess that's fitting for the time period and the franchise.

He's the big, bumbling tank with a snoozefest moveset that can't climb shit. It's obvious that Ubi is clearly trying to sweep him under the rug by making him superfluous without outright deleting him :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Climbing shit is 90% of the gameplay in these slogs and that fucker is now incapable :messenger_tears_of_joy: No way was he originally designed that way.
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From what i know, it was always like that even before the various scandals.

They had to differentiate them somehow.
 
GymWolf said:
From what i know, it was always like that even before the various scandals.

They had to differentiate them somehow.
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Like I said, climbing is 90% of this franchise and that lumbering oaf is now revealed to be basically incapable of it. What the fuck is even the point of his inclusion? :messenger_grinning_smiling:

Oh thats right

Destroy
Everything
Intentionally
 
Fake said:
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I never found open battles particularly fun in AC Odyssey, but sneaking around was where the game had its strengths. So I don't think Ubisoft is the right studio to make a game with only samurai fighting style, which is why I won't be playing as Yasuke more than in the obligatory parts (if I try it out). A samurai game requires a pretty good combat system to not get boring.
 
Chuck Berry said:
Like I said, climbing is 90% of this franchise and that lumbering oaf is now revealed to be basically incapable of it. What the fuck is even the point of his inclusion? :messenger_grinning_smiling:

Oh thats right

Destroy
Everything
Intentionally
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I was against the double character since the beginning, going fluidly(?) from combat to stealth and viceversa has always been a staple of the ac games.

I would not had much of a problem if it was just yosuke doing everything from stealth to combat, i don't inherently hate the character.

And even if you tell me that i can play most of the time with naoe, you are basically renouncing to half of the weapons, armours, skills etc.
 
Some clarifications I am seeing that are a bit confusing.
1 Both characters absolutely have stealth. Can't even figure out how thats said as stealth is instantly usable by both. While its harder with Yas you do for sure have moves and we have seen them in many videos.
2. Climbing can be done by both but Yas jumps shorter and in some areas has to take another path to the top that Naeoe can grapple to. (one area Yas did say that a grapple would be needed but I couldn't tell if that spot had another climbing location I couldnt see as I was getting shot at.
3. Ai has changes on hard versus difficult in exploration including moves as well as alert areas(explains some examples in the diff section of the game).
 
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DeafTourette said:
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Oh my....did I just see an animus wall blocking the mission area? This is a bad Omen....I want this game to do well but some things just seem very off ...like check the combat...theres no stamina, and the guy was just button smashing the enemies which couldnt even react, apparenly some elite enemies do some counters but the majority of the fights in the preview he was cheesing his way out...I dunno....
 
MangalaX said:
Oh my....did I just see an animus wall blocking the mission area? This is a bad Omen....I want this game to do well but some things just seem very off ...like check the combat...theres no stamina, and the guy was just button smashing the enemies which couldnt even react, apparenly some elite enemies do some counters but the majority of the fights in the preview he was cheesing his way out...I dunno....
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Yes they had those up in the areas to stop some location exploration. Not sure its everywhere and wasnt in many of the places I went. Basically in some spots a preview area cutoff
 
The english voice acting of naoe is...umm...peculiar :messenger_neutral:

I think i'm gonna play this one with jap dub.

Edit: yosuke is not much better :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
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Man the combat in Valhalla was shovelware quality and this looks just as clunky, only 5 years later. With the 1000s of people churning this game can they really not allocate some resources to making it actually play well?
 
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Seems like your standard Ubi open world game with an added DEI slap in the face to the Japanese man. Probably going to score in the mid 80s but I think I'll pass or wait until a STEEP discount.
 
Chuck Berry said:
Feels like Yasuke got nerfed at the last second to make playing as the chick look like the focus and way more appealing. She's the stealthy, sneaky ninja murderess that's fitting for the time period and the franchise.
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There was a little rumour a while back that the main male character was supposed to be a male Japanese ninja basically, but during the George Floyd events in 2020 Ubisoft decided to change him to a black character. I didn't see anything to substantiate the rumour, but looking at the game now I'm almost inclined to believe it. They'd have to scramble together a playstyle for a completely new character with a different moveset which would require the world to be somewhat redesigned to enable Yasuke. Listening to SkillUp's preview Yasuke felt almost like an afterthought.
 
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Yeah, from all the previews I've seen it really looks like Naoe should've been the one and only protagonist in this game. Yasuke as a side character helping you out on a few missions here and there just like Leonardo back in the day would've been more than enough.
I don't particularly care about all the cultural war bullshit but in some instances like this one it is a bit difficult for me not to roll my eyes...
There's a reason why the last actually good AC protagonist was Bayek from all the way back in 2017, these games' writing was always better when they could focus on single protags instead of having to flip-flop around with this "choose your protagonist" style of gameplay and writing (Mirage doesn't count for me since that character's story was already pretty much doomed because of Valhalla anyway).

Why Ubisoft? Just why?? Fucking hell...
 
AC Shadows was planned as 2 protags. It was gifted some of the same design ideas and team group ups that Syndicate had and of course Oddessey had. While there was also a discussion that the mobile one with the created character would be the main one but internally it seemed they wanted to go with the same duel protags that worked for them with all the others versus the created character. But they had a mandate to make sure Jacob and Evie(very close playing to one another) situations werent repeated.
Ubisoft also does a lot of groupthinks about the characters and how they fit(Eivor) for instance and its DLC and that story which were built into it from the base and reflected at times in some of the main game narrative.

Also as someone who did say...50/50 across both maybe 60/40. I can't say I agree at ALL about Yasuke being a side character. In fact with his world activities and more weapons, findable katas that are secret and you locate that add moves that you can't see normally in skill lists. He has a ton of stuff to do all of it built into the game in the same way as the other character. Even just looking at my notes and footage he has an equal number of if not more. This was also available right in the notes everyone got for coverage about whats in the full game as well as reflected if you looked at particular things in the game when doing the preview.
 
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If this game is anything like Odyssey (as they say), we're in for a world full of bloat and jank. Soulless, plastic NPC's and repetitive copy paste mission design. I said this before but Ubisoft always tries to sell old women as hot chicks.
 
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meh. guess i'll try it out.

The PS5 Pro version of Assassin's Creed Shadows will feature:
Advanced ray tracing technology, including RTGI, for more realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows14.
Improved rendering systems for increased photorealism1.
Enhanced environments, ambiance, and atmosphere1.
More detailed visuals, both up close and at a distance1.
 
Karak said:
AC Shadows was planned as 2 protags. It was gifted some of the same design ideas and team group ups that Syndicate had and of course Oddessey had. While there was also a discussion that the mobile one with the created character would be the main one but internally it seemed they wanted to go with the same duel protags that worked for them with all the others versus the created character. But they had a mandate to make sure Jacob and Evie(very close playing to one another) situations werent repeated.
Ubisoft also does a lot of groupthinks about the characters and how they fit(Eivor) for instance and its DLC and that story which were built into it from the base and reflected at times in some of the main game narrative.

Also as someone who did say...50/50 across both maybe 60/40. I can't say I agree at ALL about Yasuke being a side character. In fact with his world activities and more weapons, findable katas that are secret and you locate that add moves that you can't see normally in skill lists. He has a ton of stuff to do all of it built into the game in the same way as the other character. Even just looking at my notes and footage he has an equal number of if not more. This was also available right in the notes everyone got for coverage about whats in the full game as well as reflected if you looked at particular things in the game when doing the preview.
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Naoe still seems like the most versatile protagonist of the two by far though, isn't that a bad sign right of the bat?
She can stealth, climb and fight head on, Yasuke even with all the additional weapon types just seems like he's there to hulk smash.

The only thing I'm still midly curious to see where they go with the story. I haven't read anything about it and I'm a bit afraid to do it tbh.
I was so excited about it after Origins, then Odyssey ruined it all... then I stupidly got myself excited for Valhalla since they were hyping up the Hidden Ones once again and by the end of that game I was absolutely enraged, barely any hidden ones and Eivor's story was pure pain to go through...
I still haven't forgiven McDevitt for this tweet...

Buj77n8.jpeg
 
GudOlRub said:
Naoe still seems like the most versatile protagonist of the two by far though, isn't that a bad sign right of the bat?
She can stealth, climb and fight head on, Yasuke even with all the additional weapon types just seems like he's there to hulk smash.

The only thing I'm still midly curious to see where they go with the story. I haven't read anything about it and I'm a bit afraid to do it tbh.
I was so excited about it after Origins, then Odyssey ruined it all... then I stupidly got myself excited for Valhalla since they were hyping up the Hidden Ones once again and by the end of that game I was absolutely enraged, barely any hidden ones and Eivor's story was pure pain to go through...
I still haven't forgiven McDevitt for this tweet...

Buj77n8.jpeg
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If we ignore that Yas is more versitile and has more in combat but that seems weird. Why would we ignore one grouping and say its 1 thing, then break down the other grouping into many aspects. Especially when you can indeed do stealth with him as well as limited parkour. If we count out(as we should) then counting both sides is the only way a comparison could be made.

For example if we say he is hulk smash ONLY then she is Stealth only. But neither are remotely real. While someone may LIKE stealth more or LIKE smashing more, which is fine, it doesn't add weight when discussing the actual things done.

I can't speak towards the other games issues. I have had my own with Valhalla and Origins.
 
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Trilobit said:
There was a little rumour a while back that the main male character was supposed to be a male Japanese ninja basically, but during the George Floyd events in 2020 Ubisoft decided to change him to a black character. I didn't see anything to substantiate the rumour, but looking at the game now I'm almost inclined to believe it. They'd have to scramble together a playstyle for a completely new character with a different moveset which would require the world to be somewhat redesigned to enable Yasuke. Listening to SkillUp's preview Yasuke felt almost like an afterthought.
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That rumor started here.

GAF -> Internet -> GAF
 
GudOlRub said:
Naoe still seems like the most versatile protagonist of the two by far though, isn't that a bad sign right of the bat?
She can stealth, climb and fight head on, Yasuke even with all the additional weapon types just seems like he's there to hulk smash.

The only thing I'm still midly curious to see where they go with the story. I haven't read anything about it and I'm a bit afraid to do it tbh.
I was so excited about it after Origins, then Odyssey ruined it all... then I stupidly got myself excited for Valhalla since they were hyping up the Hidden Ones once again and by the end of that game I was absolutely enraged, barely any hidden ones and Eivor's story was pure pain to go through...
I still haven't forgiven McDevitt for this tweet...

Buj77n8.jpeg
Click to expand...
Outside of the Animus you play as what most people wanted to play as in a Japanese/Samurai/Assassin game, a Japanese male.
 
Fake said:
I watching Skill Up video and I'm shocking how bad this is.

Is astonishing bad. Yasuke can kill anyone, including inocent people, no guards come after him or not even the game tell to stop. There is no 'bounty' mechanics, no guards to protect civil. You can keep killing without any problem.

I kinda wonder if this have anything to do with police vs black people premisse. Is unbelievable bad.

Not only that, but he is like a super human. He put much force in their katana slash, his charge attack can even break rocks.

IDK if this game is a satire or not.
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I'm guessing that they are sticking with the "Yasuke is a Samurai" trope. Samurai where basically above the law and could kill any peasant that "disrespected" them. Although, there must have been some kind of limit and repercussions if they failed to explain themselves to their superiors
However, it also does feel a bit like: "we can't have a black man be chased and attacked by the law".
Who knows what they were really thinking; nothing surprises me anymore.
 
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