Assassin's Creed Shadows review: Vast and beautiful, with a story mode

Mint

2 days ago

Among all of the world's most popular games, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise is one of the most recognizable names globally. By itself, the lore created by this 18-year-old game series has been a landmark experience in gaming—giving players the experience of an open world that can be explored freely, close links to actual historical events in its storyline, and a narration that connects the protagonists of each game with multiple previous ones. Now, Assassin's Creed Shadows takes all of these elements to give fans of its franchise a setting that many forums had demanded for years—medieval Japan.
Straight off the bat, Assassin's Creed Shadows does a fantastic job of recreating Japan in the late-1570s. This is not just because of the visuals, which are undoubtedly poignant, realistic and befitting of the game's set-up—the design of the terrain's layout, including the hideouts and the strategically placed side quests alongside the 22 main mission levels, actually makes Assassin's Creed Shadows a title that gamers can continue to explore well beyond finishing the main storyline.
For those without prior context: this is the 14th game in the 18-year history of Ubisoft making Assassin's Creed. The plot is simple: players don the shields and armours of a fictional member of the ancient Order of the Assassins—dropped in the game within real historical context and events. The goal is largely to defeat an opposing faction—for the most part, the Knights Templar that sought to establish order in medieval and ancient societies with an iron fist. But through this journey, the game has evolved to offer historical clues for players, including links and tributes to older games within the main game itself.
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Assassin's Creed Shadows, too, has the same spirit. You play either as Yasuke, a former imprisoned slave, or Naoe—the daughter of master assassin Tsuyu and Nagato, a leading member of the resistance faction Iga ikki. Both the characters have their strengths and limitations—Yasuke is a humongous force of nature, capable of breaking down doors with sprints and going on a rampage as enemy numbers escalate. Naoe, meanwhile, is ideal for stealth and swift assassinations—throughout the game, you'd often find Naoe's nimble-footed approach to be ideal.
As you set off in the game, you realize that the storylines and character developments have still remained one of Ubisoft's biggest strengths, making Assassin's Creed Shadows stand on the same podium as some of the world's best third-person role-playing narrative-driven games—such as The Witcher, The Last of Us, Uncharted and Control. You get absorbed with Naoe's predicament, and you find Yasuke's journey a fulfilling one as you progress through the game.
It's important to note here that as you progress in the game, choosing the normal and expert difficulty settings will need you to invest heavily in upgrading your gear, attire and weaponry. If you're not a hardcore gamer and would rather enjoy the game's story, there is a 'story' mode where the combat is toned down to the bare minimum, with protagonists barely ever taking a hit.
What's interesting is that even in the story mode, Ubisoft has ensured that players stay immersed enough in tactical movement and swift combat to get the most of the ideal experience of Assassin's Creed Shadows. But, the presence of such a mode increases the appeal for such a game with those who do not want to go into extreme levels of combat.
Back to the story, though, and about halfway through the game, you realize just how massive the world of Shadows really is. For the average casual gamer playing about two hours a day, it took almost a full month to finish the main story levels of Assassin's Creed Shadows. With side quests and additionally discoverable regions to explore, it can easily take up to three months to really straddle the full expanse of the game.
As you go through the game, you can't help but feel that the exchange of dialogues and the narrative stretches on for a bit too long. While most combats are nearly ideal, some design elements interfere with the smoothness of the gameplay—in certain battles for instance, Yasuke's weight and armour levels just do not come through. Such glitches can become increasingly frustrating, especially since after a point, you tend to feel that even the story is rather loose, and should have been much crisper to let the game's open world shine through more.
The present-day binding narrative, which plays right at the onset to set you up for the game, also feels rather forced—surely, there could've been a better way to establish context and history to the assassin's journey.
That said, Assassin's Creed Shadows put forth a glorious insight into just how fun this game series always was, and in many ways, continues to be. It may come across as tedious, and those who are not good at combat-and-stealth gameplay may even struggle to finish it or continue beyond a point. But, perseverance lets you discover various parts of medieval Japan where the sights are gorgeous, and getting to the top of the pole still gives you the 'master of the world' appeal that has remained intact since the very first of this series.
Is it worth playing, then? Definitely. Assassin's Creed Shadows' biggest 'fault' per se is in just how big the game is—and that's not necessarily bad for those at whom the game is aimed at. Is it the best that the series has offered to date? Based on pure visuals, some would certainly say so.
Played on: Xbox Series S; Price: ₹4999 onward; Developer and publisher: Ubisoft.
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