Hello and Happy Easter, everyone! š°
At the time this post will go live I'm spending some offline time with my boyfriends family which I haven't seen since 2021, but I really wanted to write this post, so after a long week of writing and constant adjustments brought to it, here's the final version of my thoughts after completing this game fully! Hope you will enjoy it!
I'm not sure how many of you know but Assassin's Creed has been one of the first series of games I've got into, also growing up with this franchise. So owning most of the games released was something that I always paid attention to, right now Assassinās Creed Liberation being the single title missing from my collection. There are also two remastered versions of older titles but I've never been a fan of remasters considering most of them pretty useless, with not considerable adjustments brought to worth the buy again.
Based on these thoughts, every single title you see in my collection of games, has at least 20 hours of gameplay, some of them even reaching 100 hrs depending on how many missions you could take advantage of, that obviously applies on the newer titles as the first games were pretty focused on the main story only.
Now I know that this post is going to be a delicate one because as some of you might know, there is a large category of haters who constantly bully every single game released by Ubisoft, especially when it comes to Assasin's Creed and Star Wars, which I don't believe is really worth it.
I know some of the reasons that caused so many people get against this company, but frankly speaking, they are the developers of many cool franchise of games out there (The Crew, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy, Watch Dogs, etc.) that are fairly amazing games if you ask me.
So despite the thing we have lots of games to play and not even 10 entire lives would make us able to play everything, I think we can all agree that the gaming world would be a less happier life without this company and its games. Making mistakes is normal. What matters is to learn from these which I believe Ubisoft has already made. Plus, I know a few people who work on this company and obviously on the titles we are all playing, and their life is not an easy one inside the company, making things very uncertain and full of stress instead of being a fun and beautiful working place.
I really wanted to share my thoughts about the overall situation with Ubisoft at the beginning of this post but today's topic is going to be about the game that stirred so much controversion and opinions, so let's stick on that.
Assassin's Creed Shadows was released on 20th March, 2025, being available on all gaming platforms with a few hours of exclusivity offered to those who played directly on the Ubisoft platform.
Personaly, I've always enjoyed having my collection of games in a single place if possible, even if in the end the game would still be launched using a secondary platform as well. So what I really loved was to see this game be available on Steam from the first day of its release, compared to what happened with the previous AC titles that came on Steam a few years later since their initial release.
It's not that I don't have fun anymore playing these games on a later date, but considering the lack of free time and the constant release of good titles, makes it hard to keep up with what you haven't played when it was first released, if it makes sense.
Anyway, it's been many years since I last pre-purchased a game just because I felt like I should first get really well documented before making such a purchase (we all know that games are quite expensive these days and it's hard to see something released under 50 euro anymore...), but somehow I felt like the time to make this step again is going to be worth it, and that Assassin's Creed Shadows is really going to be something revolutionary from what most of the people was expecting.
There are quite a few 'new things' brought to Assassin's Creed Shadows compared to what the AC games were coming with in general, and one of them is having two protagonists, each with its own story.
So the game begins pretty unexpectedly, presenting first the story of Yasuke, which is then connected in way or another with that of Naoe.
For quite a few hours of the overall main story, you will get to play in parallel, getting to know each of the two better, as well as their story and what led to some of the aspects in game, but as everyone would expect, sooner or later the two will meet which is where I felt like the game was properly starting, also concluding to the moment when I began enjoying playing this game more and more.
As you might know, I try to stay away from revealing spoilers as much as possible, so this review is going to be quite general, with images that shouldn't make one expected what actually happened in that cutscene. Also, I played this in 2K on Ultra Settings, so I'm really curious what your thoughts are of this quality of cinematics that I heard many people complain about, some less opinions that I could relate with being that those graphics were used on the games from 2004.
I can agree with the thing that the game doesn't look the best and we will see some games released later this year with better graphics, but I don't think it's really that bad overall.
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And speaking of the graphics, above you can see two more screenshots taken, the first one being part of a set of a few cutscenes when the season was changing in game, while the 2nd one is taken with the Photo Mode while having Naoe ride on her next mission.
Speaking of the seasons, this is a thing quite new for games, and I remember seeing it first in Forza Horizon, so I was really happy to see it be part of the list with new things Assassin's Creed implemented in its games.
It's true that we had more season in Assassin's Creed Valhalla* for examples, but that happened when travelling to specific regions which for example were closer to the mountains so it was pretty obvious to see snow around you instead of the green scenery, but what I'm trying to say about Assassin's Creed Shadows* is that, depending on the amount of time you spend within the game, after a while you will see this cutscene showing how time passed and the Winter is being replaced by Spring for example. Hence why, you can get images from the exact same spot on the map, but on all four seasons, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
Secondly, the weather conditions were also dynamic, yet another new thing for this series of games. Powerful wind, incredible fog, and torrential rain, are just some of the things you can experience, making you character act different in each situation. However, my favorite one was to see the waters frozen during the winter where if you were walking on, your character would slip over and lose its balance if not moving slowly, just like in real life!
Another new thing to the game, is how different Yasuke performs the Leap of Faith on fast travel points compared to Naoe.
While Naoe is a genuine assassin and it's pretty normal to act as most of the protagonists were doing in all the previous AC games, Yasuke is more like a warrior than an assassin, making him behave as close as possible to one. So while his combat skills are quite flawless, when it comes to climbing buildings or performing the Leap of Faith, things get pretty funny. But I won't say or share more on here so you can discover it on your end too.
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Next, just as I have mentioned at the beginning of this post, both Yasuke and Naoe have separate stories that sooner or later will be connected.
However, while the game begins with a little glimpse of each character's life, later on you will be able to complete missions from the past of each character, making you understand better what their story is and what a black man from Portugal has in common with a young lady from the Iga clan.
Compared to my first thoughts on wanting to focus mostly on playing with Naoe and considering that I would enjoy her story more especially for dominating that overall story mode of the game, I have to say that I really loved Yasuke's contribution and I wish there was even more shared from his side.
Another new thing to the game, is how the inventory side looks, which now comes as a double thing being able to adjust the equipment and gear on each of the two protagonists, which is also from where you can select which one to play with.
However, the thing that excited me the most was the customization thing where, for example, if you had to wear a different sword than what you were using previously because it was more powerful, but you weren't enjoying it as much visually, you could always change its aspect by selecting one of the skins you had before.
This thing was applying on every single piece of your equipment, from clothing part to the gear selection and even accessories.
So while Naoe fits nice in pretty much any equipment, after seeing how a kosode or traditional Japanese costume was fitting Yasuke, I really tried to keep him with a closer look to Naoe instead of the warrior mode.
Comparing to Assassin's Creed Valhalla *(and all the other AC games actually) the mission board is now very well determined, coming as a secondary map where you can follow very easily what part of the game you completed and how to continue it. Hence why, if for example you want to only focus on the "Nobutsuna Studens" (right side of the image) without being bothered by the main story, you can do so, and even get to see what level you need to have to make sure you will be able to finish that mission, because there are many missions unlocked in advance that maybe are twice your current level.
I did track some missions that were a lot higher in my level which I managed to complete fully, but my gaming mode was on Easy because I prefer to focus more on the story than getting frustrated of dying countless times, and even so things were quite mad at times. So my suggestion would be to be maximum 2 levels under the one the mission has.
Also, don't worry about starting a mission with Naoe which is obviously a lot weaker than Yasuke, you can still switch the characters later on. There are actually very few missions where you have to stick with only one of the two and that's mostly in the situations where you are playing their individual story, which is pretty obvious you won't be able to bring in the other character since that one was not even existing in the scenery back then.
I finished playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla quite recently before jumping in Assassin's Creed Shadows so the comparison is pretty normal in my case. However, while AC Valhalla is still the most played game from the series at the time I'm writing this article, Assassin's Creed Shadows occupying the 2nd position. I can easily say that AC Shadows is worth being on the 1st place.
AC Valhalla comes with a way longer main story and overall gaming experience if you complete all the side quests too. But honestly speaking I had at least 5 long breaks (1-2 months) between my gameplays because I constlatly felt like the story is focusing too much on small details and the amount of time spent completing these kill the overall excitement of playing the game.
This thing, however, is not happening in AC Shadows, which, as soon as you make the connection between Yasuke and Naoe makes you want keep playing the game and see what happens next. It actually took me two weeks and around 60 hours of gameplay to complete this, and I am sure I could finish the game in even one week if being an adult wouldn't keep me away from playing the game more than I wanted.
Plus, the twists are close to impossible to be anticipated, which make the story even more interesting to follow up.
Now, as this review turned out a lot longer than planned, I think it's the moment to say that I believe the game is really worth its current price, and if you managed to grab it on pre-purchase which will grant you free access on a later to be released DLC that will add another 10 hours of gameplay, it's an even better deal.
It's not the best game I played in the last year, but it surely gets in the Top 3. And this opinion comes after judging each of the elements mentioned before, trying to stay away from the cliche of being one of my favorite series of games.
Conclusions š¤
It's true that the game still has some (minor) bugs, and constant adjustments are brought to it, but I think it has great potential and Ubisoft really needed to release something like this to lower down some of the haters who constantly believe their games are pretty bad.
If you're into open-world games, love Japanese aesthetics, and enjoy action-stealth hybrids, the game is likely worth it. But if youāre still looking for how the first games of the franchise looked, maybe wait until you purchase this even though I honestly doubt the developers will ever get back to that formula and I still believe the game is really amazingly done.
Did you play it? š
I know we have a fairly big community of gamers on here, so if you have already given this game a shot, let me know what you think about it so far!
NOTE:
- all the pictures attached are in-game screenshots taken by me (unless if other stated). šø
- this article is trying to stay away from revealing spoilers. ā ļø
- this is a personal review and should not be taken as a real advice of either playing the game or not because the opinion might be subjective. šÆ
- this article was written exclusively for the Hive community and its members. ā¤ļø
Here is a list of some other games I wrote reviews about and you might like:
....
20.Forza Horizon 5 š - 5/5
21.Watch Dogs: Legion š» - 4/5
22.Far Cry 6 š£ - 5/5
23.inZOI š§ - 4/5
24.Assassin's Creed Shadows
| Game | Assassin's Creed Shadows |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 20 Mar, 2025 |
| Played On | Steam |
| Price | 69,99ā¬ |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Open World |
| Completed | Main + Side Quests |
| My Rating | ā ā ā ā ā |
| Hours Played | 66.2 hrs |
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences.
At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe.
Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts.
Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.