Assassin's Creed Shadows review: The most beautiful tech demo

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one of the most visually impressive games I’ve ever played on console. Thanks to the enhanced capabilities of the PS5 Pro, every detail of Ubisoft’s most ambitious open world yet is rendered perfectly. Looking at the horizon, there’s hardly a hint of pixel flicker. Nitpicks and criticisms fade away when stepping onto one of Shadow’s viewpoints and seeing the camera pan around scenic Japanese countryside that sprawls into the horizon. It feels like a playable tech demo, only with a real game attached. Unfortunately, that game isn’t as impressive as the vistas.

I’m one of those people who has been saying for well over a decade, “If they set the next Assassin’s Creed game in Japan, I’ll definitely play that,” and I did. When I’m not marvelling at the castles, mountains, and beaches of AC Shadows, I’m flat on my belly, crawling through the tall grass while whistling for enemies to walk into the shadows. The stealth mechanics have been greatly expanded, and you use the titular shadows as cover — at night, ninja Naoe is practically invincible when played cautiously.

Only, you can’t force nightfall. Shadows has a dynamic time of day, and if you want to use the cover of moonlight to hide your approach on an armed castle, you’ll have to just wait. On the other hand, as long as you’re walking atop a seven-foot wall, most soldiers won’t see you, even in a restricted area with the sun shining. The stealth mechanics really are better than ever, but the enemies are dumber than ever. 

Combat has improved since the last Assassin’s Creed RPG, and that shines through with Yasuke, the burly samurai who is good for nothing but fighting. I would’ve loved to play as Yasuke more, but his stealth options are limited, as are his climbing options, and these feel key to an Assassin’s Creed experience. Even the toughest enemies that are roughly around your level can be taken out with Naoe, and she has so many more options in how to approach and whittle down enemy encampments. Unfortunately, playing as Naoe is just a better overall experience — though mowing through a troop with Yasuke’s slashes is immensely cathartic for a brief period.

In the early hours, Shadows is incredibly story-heavy, but that soon gives way to the open world expanse. You’re presented with a massive world and an increasingly long list of assassination targets. It’s nice that an Assassin’s Creed game is primarily about assassinating people, but I soon disassociated from the story. A target or a random high-level soldier — there was no practical difference, but people kept dying, and more targets would appear on my list as older ones were ticked away.

Naoe’s revenge story is genuinely interesting as the game kicks off, but even as you defeat the various samurai responsible for her father’s death, the moments fall flat. It’s just another name on a checklist, just another soldier in the castle. Aside from a handful of missions that involve less combat, most of the game is a blur of climbing castles and killing dudes. There’s context, but it flies right over my head. 

The world has the distinct feel that it was created first, and then enemies and objectives were placed in it after the fact. It’s so lavishly detailed, but it doesn’t feel designed for gameplay. It’s hard to tell if that’s the downside of attempting to stick to a historical setting or if more could have been done. The tree climbing tech from Assassin’s Creed 3 would’ve been welcome here, but I understand that would likely allow you to climb directly over any mountain in any direction, making the intended paths useless. Having only very specific trees be climbable doesn’t feel like a decent trade-off, though. 

You’ll see a lot of the same tree model while ticking off viewpoints on mountains, and the exact same castle model when ticking off viewpoints in cities. It’s just so easy for so much of the game to blur together, and the rate at which new targets and objectives appear makes you feel like you’re not actually making progress. There’s too much, too soon, and I can’t help but think that a more traditional and linear game where you assassinate each of the samurai in a custom-built level would be more satisfying. But this is Assassin’s Creed, and the story has been split into small chunks that are scattered across a massive map, hours apart from one another.

There’s a good game in here – scratch that, there’s an incredibly good game in here – but it feels obfuscated and hidden behind boring optional objectives and narrative that can feel directionless for hours at a time. Even riding the horse to navigate the world can feel frustrating thanks to some awkward controls. For every grand vista, incredible scenic spot, or cinematic cutscene, there’s an hour of awkwardly riding from objective to objective to tick things off a list. 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t feel like a step forward or a step back, it feels like a sidestep for the series. For every improved feature – like stealth or combat – there’s something that feels worse, like exploring the world and climbing to a high place for a vantage point. At the start, you’re embarking on a bold adventure, and in the midst of it all, it feels like trying to complete a shopping list in a new supermarket with no signs. It’s directionless, overwhelming, and tedious. You can’t even ignore the dozens of optional objectives, otherwise you won’t be high enough level to take on the main challenges. If you want a game that you can play for the next year, AC Shadows is it, but if you want a tight, narrative-driven stealthy ninja adventure, look elsewhere.