Assassin's Creed series [2024-Present -- Ubisoft]

[Doc_Brown]

The 9th console generation games.  A quick reminder:

-> One of my favorites
-> Not the best, but I've got a soft spot for it
-> Solid if not spectacular
-> I'm not really a fan
-> Worst in the franchise

Assassin's Creed Shadows
I didn't go into Assassin's Creed Shadows expecting to like it.  I've never particularly been into Feudal Japan as a setting, though there are exceptions (Sword of the Stranger springs to mind).  And you'd think a stealth lover like me would be down with ninjas/shinobi--I don't seem to have a problem with modern incarnations, however (think characters like Snake Eyes, Scorpion, etc.).  Yet despite all that, Shadows ranks up there with Odyssey and Valhalla as one of the better of the RPG entries.

You may recall that I said Odyssey was fun in a mindless way, while Valhalla did some things I respected more even if I didn't enjoy it as much.  Shadows feels like a blend of those, making some welcome changes while still playing well.  It continues the trend started with Mirage of returning to a truer stealth experience, what with Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla being more openly combat-focused as befits a Medjay, misthios, and shieldmaiden (canonically), respectively.

I should mention that the first few minutes of the game are spent playing as Yasuke (yaws-kay), and while he does become a playable character later on it's really Naoe (now-way) who comes across as the main protagonist.  While you're free to run around the open world playing as him, he can barely climb and lacks Eagle Vision, making it difficult to navigate the world like you're expecting.  He can take and dish out damage in direct combat better than her, but that's about it.

With Naoe, though, you'll be freerunning all over the place (her default parkour down move is a front flip), getting the drop on enemies, and taking them out with a well-placed Hidden Blade.  Note that by default assassinations aren't one-shot kills against higher level enemies, but there's an option in the advanced gameplay settings to turn that on.  While I miss Valhalla's active reload style approach to the problem, opting for the classic instant kill is better than the alternative.

Speaking of Valhalla, Shadows also has a new feature that's cooler in practice than execution.  In the former case it was Distrust Zones, while here it is servants.  You see, in castles there are not just guards but also civilians.  I had thought you couldn't kill them lest you risk a desync, and that they would raise a castle-wide alert if they spotted you.  Instead, you can kill them without penalty and they mostly just run to get the nearest guard.  Some even outright attack, just making them regular enemies.

In the realm of positive changes from previous entries, you won't encounter any hostile animals.  This is a huge relief after every single game since Origins has seemingly delighted in mauling you with lions, tigers, and bears.  The game is also gorgeous, befitting the first 9th generation game in the franchise, and showcases all four seasons.  Regrettably, the affect the seasons (and time of day) have on gameplay seems negligible, though that could prove different on higher difficulties.

Still, though, on the stealth side of things there's a lot to love: being able to crouch or go prone to lower your profile, being able to take out light sources to create more darkness to sneak through at night, being able to conceal yourself just under the surface of the water while breathing through a reed, being able to climb otherwise unclimbable buildings with your grappling hook, being able to assassinate targets through Shoji doors with your katana...

Despite all this praise, however, the game still doesn't make the cut into my personal collection.  There's plenty of nits to pick, plenty of moments where I was cussing the game out for things that seemed unfair or made no sense, and as I said it was fighting an uphill battle with me to begin with.  That's why I consider it so impressive that I liked the game as much as I did.  43 hours I put in before calling it quits, on par with Odyssey, and if the next game can build on this then it's got a legitimate chance.