I've already told you what attracts me to the Assassin's Creed games, and it's time to talk about the new part of the saga - Assassin's Creed Shadows. Especially since this is a very important game for Ubisoft and, perhaps, for the entire Assassin's Creed universe. The future of the franchise is at stake.
| Game | Assassin's Creed Shadows |
| Genre | action/RPG |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, iPadOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Languages | English |
| Developer | Ubisoft Quebec |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
| Link | assassinscreed.com |
All or nothing
Ubisoft has been on a roll lately, and it's partly to blame. The potentially great Star Wars Outlaws was marred by a few gameplay flaws and bugs, selling barely over 1 million copies and sending the studio's stock to 2014 lows.
Skull and Bones and XDefiant failed predictably, and the developers of the latter even managed to offend Ukrainians. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Beyond Good and Evil 2 got stuck in production hell. Plus scandals, accusations, investigations, subpoenas, strikes, and so on.
All this led to layoffs and closures of individual studios, falling profits and stock prices, investor dissatisfaction, and rumors of a reorganization or even the sale of at least part of the company, either to the Chinese or the Saudis.
It's no wonder Ubisoft has delayed the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows several times. This game is perhaps Ubi's last chance for salvation, the most important game in the company's history, so everything has to be perfect. Especially since the situation around Assassin's Creed Shadows worsened even before the release, when the game came under fire from critics. But is this criticism justified? Let's figure it out.
DEI or not DEI?
As it turned out, even in the comments on Mezha some people were upset and even offended by the choice of the main characters of Assassin's Creed Shadows. It seems that the black samurai is insidious DEI propaganda, it was necessary to take an authentic Japanese samurai. And the female ninjas, the same semi-mythical kunoichi - this is generally a fiction of the writer Futaro Yamada of the mid-20th century. This is not entirely true, but more on that later, first we will remember the assassins themselves and the essence of the entire Assassin's Creed series in general.
The Assassin's Creed series of games is science fiction in the genre of alternative history. This is a venerable and very old subgenre of sci-fi, which considers possible scenarios for the development of certain historical events in the event that something went wrong as it actually did. A kind of What If...? but without Marvel. Sometimes the plots concern the fate of entire civilizations, for example, what would have happened if Hannibal Barca had not used elephants in the Battle of Zama, Carthage had defeated the Roman Republic and itself had become the largest empire in the world? Sometimes, individual individuals, for example, what would have happened if Hitler had been accepted into the art academy, and Putin had been slaughtered back in the 1960s somewhere in the Leningrad gate.
The Assassin's Creed series does not change real historical events, but allows you to look at them from a different angle, adding additional forces behind the scenes of history - the aliens Isu (in fact, we share the same planet with them, so this term is not correct), who lived on Earth before humanity, and the Assassins and Templars, who have different views on the development of humanity and hunt for artifacts of the Forerunners. That is, it is a fantastic story from the very beginning, based on the facts of real history, but interpreting them differently. This is the essence of Assassin's Creed from the very first game in the series.
And here it is worth mentioning that the Assassins themselves in the game are very different from the real Hashashini, trained killers of the Nizari branch of the Muslim Ismaili sect. The real Hashashini were, to put it simply, some of the very first Islamic suicide bombers. Yes, they were bold, ingenious and very patient (one of the Hashashini converted to Christianity and lived in France for ten years to have the opportunity to assassinate the king during mass), but they were religious fanatics. There was no talk of any struggle for the freedom of humanity.
So is it worth criticizing a fantasy game built on distorted facts for some inaccuracies? Especially if these facts have a historical source?
Yes, the black giant Yasuke is a real historical figure. He was in Japan, was acquainted with the legendary Oda Nobunaga, and most likely knew some Japanese. When Yasuke was introduced to Oda Nobunaga, the daimyo decided that the African's skin was dyed with ink, so he forced him to strip to the waist and clean his skin. These events are documented in several sources. "The black squire arrived from Christian countries. The man was healthy and of good character, and Nobunaga praised Yasuke's strength." is a note for March 23, 1581 from the "Records of Prince Nobunaga", compiled by Oto Gyuichi after the daimyo's death in 1582.
Most likely, Yasuke was the only servant of Nobunaga of non-Japanese origin, and this may explain Oda's interest in him. According to the "Records of Prince Nobunaga", Yasuke had his own residence and a short ceremonial katana. Nobunaga assigned him the duty of a squire. Was Yasuke a samurai? Most likely not, but... Oda's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who completed his work, was "raised" by Oda from ordinary peasants. In general, Oda was a fairly liberal ruler, and often took into account real merit, and not a person's origin. So within the framework of an alternative history, Yasuke could be a samurai, especially since in real history he fought alongside the samurai, supporting the heir to Oda Nobutada.
As for kunoichi, or female ninjas, although the term was of course popularized by Futaro Yamada in his 1964 novel Ninpō Hakkenden, it had been used before. For example, in the 8th volume of Bansenshukai ("10,000 Rivers Flowing into the Sea"), a ninjutsu manual created by Yasutake Fujibayashi in 1676. The manual incorporated the traditions and techniques of the Iga and Koka ninja schools (both of which are featured in Assassin's Creed Shadows). So, in the 8th volume of Bansenshukai, Kunoichi-no-jutsu, or "the technique of using women," is mentioned.
According to the records, the main function of kunoichi was espionage, gathering information, finding flaws and leverage in the households of enemies, gaining trust and eavesdropping on conversations. In general, women were supposed to penetrate places where access was difficult for men. Were kunoichi taught any basic ninjutsu fighting techniques? It is unknown. Could individual kunoichi adopt such techniques on their own? Probably. There are enough examples of individual female warriors in the history of different peoples, the Vikings, the Greeks, and the Japanese themselves, who even had onna-bugeisha, or onna-musha, that is, female samurai, who are mentioned throughout the history of Japan, including the 19th century.
So both the black samurai Yasuke and the kunoichi Naoe could exist. Choosing two such different characters, each with an interesting backstory, their own beliefs, each of whom is reacted to differently by the other characters, gives Ubisoft very interesting narrative opportunities, which they exploit to their full potential. This is not a political decision, but a purely narrative one.
Moreover, both female ninjas and Afro-samurai are so firmly embedded in modern pop culture that it's hard to pull them out of nowhere. As they say, it's happened many times before.
And not to get up twice. Yasuke and Naoe are not lovers, although there is, as they say, interesting chemistry between them. Both the samurai and the kunoichi have their own love interests, and yes, they can be of the same sex as the heroes. But... if we recall the traditions of syudo, that is, homosexual relations between an adult man and a young man in the samurai environment, it turns out that this is not modern propaganda, but on the contrary an authentic historical fact. This was very close in essence to homosexual traditions in Ancient Greece and declined only under the influence of... Christian morality in the Meiji era (1867 - 1912), which ultimately led to an extremely negative attitude towards homosexuality in 20th-century Japan.
As for Naoe and her possible interest in women (no one is forcing you!), female homosexuality is more common than male homosexuality, and has always been treated more leniently. Let's think of Sappho and the island of Lesbos, or the institution of companionship in Victorian England. So why not.
Sorry for devoting such a large section to dissecting the obvious things that every educated person interested in history should know, but all the attacks on Assassin's Creed Shadows that have been pouring down on the game over the past year seem to me to be extremely unfair and frankly false. It seems that this is partly the "merit" of Russian propaganda and the extremely toxic Russian and MAGA gaming environment, which seem to have "found" each other, like Putin and Trump found each other.
But let's get back to the game, especially since Assassin's Creed Shadows deserves it.
Travel to Japan
Assassin's Creed Shadows takes place in Japan in the period from 1579 (in flashbacks), but mostly in 1581-83. And although this is 300 years later than the events shown in Ghost of Tsushima (1274), the comparison of these two games cannot be avoided. Perhaps we should also take Rise of the Rōnin (1853), but right now it is not worth playing the PC version because of the glitches, and besides, it is completely hack and slash.
Well, you probably won't believe me, but I think Assassin's Creed Shadows is better than Ghost of Tsushima (by the way, as of now I've played about the same amount of time in both games). In my opinion, the two main flaws of Ghost of Tsushima, despite the fact that it is a really beautiful and cool game from a mechanical point of view, are the combination of ninja and samurai gameplay in one character and... graphics.
No, no, Ghost of Tsushima has very cool, bright graphics, but it's... very cinematic. With excessive, even somewhat ostentatious, color accents, almost like in the Chinese film Hero. Yes, it's beautiful, spectacular, very epic, but... very artificial and unrealistic. But it's beautiful, you can't argue with that.
Assassin's Creed Shadows also has color accents, but they are much fewer and, as they say, muted. Plus, there is a fantastically beautiful world here, made with love and attention to detail. Sometimes I want to remove the interface, throw the reins, put the horse on a walk and slowly drive along the roads, admiring everything around. It seems that the developers understood this effect of the game well, and added a separate button to remove the interface right in the first row, next to using skills and weapons.
The game uses a new version of the Scimitar/Anvil engine – Ubisoft Anvil (Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Assassin's Creed Mirage), which has been significantly improved and finally tested. No stutters, no fps drops, new animations, fantastic smoke, weather effects, lighting and ray tracing. Good job Ubisoft.
As I said, an interesting world is what attracts me to Assassin's Creed, and Assassin's Creed Shadows perfectly creates this interesting, incredibly atmospheric world in which you want to get lost. Really dense forests, impassable mountains (no, this is not a figure of speech, you can't climb anywhere, you have to look for a way around), majestic temples and daimyo castles, villages and rice fields, picturesque nature, small animals - this is an incredibly beautiful world. The wow factor is somewhere on the level of Assassin's Creed Origins (2017).
But keep in mind – it's a big world, really big. In 45 hours, I think I've only seen a third of everything in the game, and I haven't traveled to some areas at all. After the compact, even chamber Assassin's Creed Mirage, it's even a little scary. At one time, I played Assassin's Creed Odyssey with all the DLC for 241 hours and Assassin's Creed Valhalla for 261 hours. I don't think Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the same, but on the level of Assassin's Creed Origins (130 hours), it's easy. Passing Assassin's Creed Mirage took me only 25 hours.
While preparing the review, I took over 300 screenshots. It’s really hard to stop, because the game is constantly introducing new fantastic views and interesting locations. And then there’s the change of seasons, which affect the gameplay and change some areas beyond recognition. So I advise you to visit different regions of Japan at different times of the year, they are beautiful in different ways.
And of course, there are detailed guides to all the sights you'll encounter during your trip, plus individual quests that will help you better understand the historical context and Japanese culture itself. For example, here you have to attend a tea ceremony, collect paintings, paint yourself, study calligraphy, decorate your settlement with works of art, study kata (a systematized sequence of a group of techniques in Japanese martial arts), meditate, etc.
By the way, learning the kata is my second complaint about Assassin's Creed Shadows, besides the size of the game. This sequence of several QTEs is very confusing and very difficult due to awkward controls. It would be better if this mechanic did not exist.
Although I'm not much of a fan of Japanese culture, more of a technology fan, I've always wanted to visit Japan in real life. After Assassin's Creed Shadows, this desire has increased a hundredfold. Now I'm going to watch the series Shōgun, which I wasn't really interested in before, and I've already installed Total War: Shogun 2 (2011), which I missed at the time. By the way, Shogun 2 is set in the same historical period as Assassin's Creed Shadows.
As of now, Assassin's Creed Shadows is the most beautiful and best game about Japan for me. The wait was worth it. Now let's wait and see what Ghost of Yōtei has to offer, which should be released this year, at least on PlayStation 5.
He and she
As I said, one of my complaints about Ghost of Tsushima, which I think is a really cool game, is the combination of ninja and samurai gameplay in one character. This is wrong, it can't be, simply because it can't be. The main character of the game is told this repeatedly in direct text in the game itself. Let's be honest, a samurai who kills enemies secretly like a ninja is nonsense that is much stranger than a black samurai. But a samurai would rather commit seppuku ten times than stoop to this, it's a shame.
So Ubisoft's decision to split the gameplay as a samurai and as a ninja into two different characters is actually very right. In general, this confrontation and friendship between Naoe Fujibayashi of the Iga Ikki (a confederation of ninja clans in Iga Province) and Oda Nobunaga's squire, the somewhat bookish black samurai Yasuke, is a very important, very coolly done and very powerful element of the game.
They are completely different. Naoe hates Oda Nobunaga for what he did to her native land, she wants to destroy him and take revenge for her father and other residents of Iga. Yasuke almost idolizes the former daimyo, he gave him freedom and a sword, made him a samurai. Yasuke understands that unifying Japan and ending decades of wars is impossible without a hard hand and numerous sacrifices. At first, Naoe even tries to kill Yasuke for what he did to Iga, but then accepts his repentance and friendship.
Naoe and Yasuke even quarrel during important missions. Naoe insists on destroying everyone responsible for his father's death, Yasuke tries to understand the reasons for certain actions, and sometimes even offers to forgive the enemy. Naoe is impulsive, Yasuke is calm. Naoe seeks the truth about his own mother and the assassins, Yasuke tries to adhere to the samurai code and hide his past.
In general, Yasuke is a literary samurai, which is what he is actually told several times. He adheres to codes that only literary heroes adhere to and which are usually neglected in reality. Real samurai are those scoundrels who did not shy away from oppressing and killing peasants just for fun. This is somewhat reminiscent of the situation with European knights, who were not at all like the characters from chivalric novels. Real knights were ill-mannered robbers and murderers and it would not be worth keeping a "beautiful lady" in their company.
Naoe and Yasuke have different weapons, different skills, and different approaches to solving problems. Yasuke uses a long katana (odachi), naginata, kanabo (a heavy two-handed fighting stick), firearms (teppo) (it was Oda Nobunaga who started introducing firearms to Japan), and a bow. He can knock down gates, knock enemies off their feet, and chop some opponents with one blow. Plus, he has the signature kick from Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Valhalla. Yasuke can break into a castle alone and just chop everyone around him.
Naoe Fujibayashi uses a katana, kusarigama (chain sickle), tanto (short sword/knife), hidden blade, shuriken, throwing daggers, smoke bombs, etc. She should not engage in direct confrontation with heavily armed enemies, especially if she is inferior to them in level and weapons, but Naoe, after appropriate leveling and with the appropriate equipment, can quietly kill two enemies at a time. The girl loves the night and stealth penetration.
Naoe can climb walls and walk on ropes, which is required for some missions and when visiting sync points. Yasuke even staggers across logs, and the ropes break under him, making most sync points inaccessible to him. But Assassin's Creed Shadows has plenty of other movement points that don't require the ability to climb trees.
The combat system of Assassin's Creed Shadows has become more complex and interesting. Of course, there are skills that deal a lot of damage and break through any block, but there are also parries, and blocks, and parry/attack combinations, and even combat stances, a successful blow from which causes colossal damage. Fighting has become more difficult and interesting, and penetrating castles too. Perhaps the combat system of Ghost of Tsushima is still better, but Assassin's Creed Shadows is also a step in the right direction.
As for the main characters' lovers. These are some of the other members of the league that Yasuke and Naoe gather, but there are also people from outside. For example, I was very moved by Yasuke's sad love for a widow with three young daughters, forbidden due to different social statuses and Japanese traditions. Very careful, very restrained and very touching. It reminded me of Ezio Auditore da Firenze's love for Sofia Sartor, which is shown in Assassin's Creed Revelations and the cartoon Assassin's Creed: Embers. By the way, this love story may not happen at all if you make a different decision in the middle of the game.
There are very interesting and unusual quests associated with the members of the league and their lovers, and in general, the quests in Assassin's Creed Shadows have become much better and more diverse than in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Of course, there are a lot of them, but the map is not littered with notes, everything is in the journal. By the way, I advise you to play the game without quest markers, looking for the right person or city for clues, and turn on the immersion mode - Japanese and Portuguese voice acting with subtitles (I chose English).
And a few more words about the plot. After the rather secondary and not very interesting plot of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, in Assassin's Creed Shadows we have a real drama about atonement and forgiveness, about family (in fact, almost all Assassin's Creeds are about family), about duty and free will. And there is also very cool camera work in the story cutscenes, right on the level of a movie.
Animus Hub, Steam launch, and more
Ubisoft seems to have understood the mistakes of previous releases. Assassin's Creed Shadows is released on Steam on day one and even without the need to be tied to Ubisoft Connect (although I never found this a problem), with achievements, cards and profile items immediately verified on Steam Deck. Missed or not, Ubisoft understands this well.
As for the Animus Hub, which was previously called Assassin's Creed: Infinity, now it is a kind of single interface for launching all the latest games in the series, starting with Assassin's Creed Origins. There is something similar in Call of Duty. You install one game, but you can install and launch other games in the series directly from it. In this case, the first game closes and another one starts. Thank God, unlike Call of Duty, after completing another game, the general interface, that is, the first game, does not start again, this is very annoying in Call of Duty.
Back in the Animus Hub, there were some projects like this – free season passes, where you can unlock additional weapons, armor, and resources by completing tasks to destroy anomalies in the game. Such passes look pretty good and aren't stressful at all.
Of course, the in-game store with its very strange armor sets and settlement decorations hasn't gone anywhere either. Many people don't like it, I just find some types of armor/weapons tasteless, but no one forces you to use the store. By the way, leveling up in the game is hard, but not so hard that you have to complain.
As for stability, speed, etc., Assassin's Creed Shadows just flies. The loading of both the interface and the game itself is the fastest in the last five games, the stability is perfect, there are almost no glitches. And this is a pre-release version that came out a few weeks before the release. The first day patch should eliminate those rare glitches that remain. Great job Ubisoft!
Repentance and forgiveness
Well, as they say, "there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped." It seems that Ubisoft's troubles in recent years have led to qualitative shifts in the company's consciousness. The studio took into account previous problems and seems to have managed to bring the Assassin's Creed series out of stagnation. This is a real penance and apology, and I think they should be accepted.
In my opinion, Assassin's Creed Shadows is the best game in the series after Assassin's Creed II/Brotherhood/Revelations, and it deserves your attention. Welcome back, Ubi!
