16th-century Japan is ripe with fascinating historical context for an Assassin’s Creed game to thrive, which is one aspect that makes the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows so enticing. The way the series bends history for its fiction has me hyped to see its version of feudal Japan, but it’s also a setting that lends itself well to the kind of combat options that have been encompassed by the entire franchise.
In a hands-off preview demo of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I was able to see roughly 30 minutes of gameplay that showcased both Naoe and Yasuke – the two protagonists – and their combat styles in action. They represent both worlds of the series’ combat: Naoe, a stealthy shinobi wielding the iconic Hidden Blade, and Yasuke, a force of nature with pure power and masterful swordsmanship.
At the start of the demo, I saw Yasuke pulling up to a town where everyday people are squeezing out an existence under the boot of a corrupt shogunate that enforces a caste system. It’s a common dynamic in stories set in this era of Japan, but it’s also ripe for Yasuke to do right by the people who revere him. He has a commanding, respected presence, and the first combat encounter was against a group of samurai who were harassing a villager that shows off Yasuke’s swordsmanship. The challenge is to dodge or counter enemy attacks (indicated by blue and red glints on their blade) in traditional melee combat.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t hold back when it comes to the brutality of its combat. Yasuke has finishing moves where he either slices enemies’ heads off clean or stabs them in the gut before lifting them up just to slam them back down. These finishers are also highlighted with black-and-white frame cuts with blood splattering, giving it a bit of the samurai cinematic flair. What’s just as brutal is Yasuke’s spiked club, which is a heavy blunt-force weapon that pounds armored foes. Seeing them take a swing straight to the dome brought a little, “Oooooh!” out of me. The point being that Yasuke is purely focused on melee, so while he won’t be doing a lot of climbing rooftops and jumping between buildings, he’ll hold it down by taking all his enemies head on.
After this introductory combat encounter, a cutscene shows Naoe burst onto the scene to help Yasuke by leaping onto an enemy and executing them with her Hidden Blade. Naoe and Yasuke have this sort of chummy dynamic as they decide how to take on their next mission: assassinate the daimyo at Fukuchiyama Castle. From here, you have to choose to either control Naoe or Yasuke, and this will determine your playstyle and how you navigate the mission to kill your target.
Playing as Naoe, you then have access to scaling walls, hiding in foliage, and stealthy kills. She’s not solely working with a Hidden Blade either; she has throwable kunai for ranged kills and a set of short swords to get her hands dirty up close and personal, should things go loud. But my favorite weapon of hers is the chained blade she can swing around in a circle to chop down crowds of enemies, which even slices through environmental objects. So while she is more focused on being nimble and staying out of sight, she still has some viable options as backup.
But of course, slipping past guards to nab those satisfying stealth kills seems to be worth the effort. Being able to move through the environment with tools like a grappling hook to get up on higher ground in a jiffy and assassinate unsuspecting guards almost reminded me of Tenchu, since it’s more about smartly using tools than just hiding in grass and waiting for patrol patterns to play out. Naoe channels traditional Assassin’s Creed energy, and her options definitely lean into the Splinter Cell fantasy that hasn’t really been fulfilled in the years since we last saw Sam Fisher in action.
If you play this same mission as Yasuke, you literally bust down the front door and provoke all enemies into combat. Watching him tear through guards almost reminded me of For Honor, another Ubisoft game, for how methodical it all seemed to play, even though it isn’t quite that in depth of swordfighting. Since this is the era of Japanese history that first introduced firearms via Western import, Yasuke also wields a single-shot rifle, and it’s pretty wild to see a hulking samurai pull off headshots just before whipping out his katana to slice down the rest of the foes in front of him.
Whether you play as Naoe or Yasuke, the end result seems to be the same: you kill the daimyo and keep it moving. I’m not sure what the story implications will be depending on your choice, if any. But it’s nice to see two characters with fully realized playstyles with a number of weapons and tools so as to not get stuck into monotonous combat encounters. Granted, that will be determined by how quests are designed. Infiltrating Fukuchiyama Castle showed promise in this regard, but I would love to see if, or how, Shadows can mix and match the two protagonists in more natural ways.
I’m more curious now to get my own hands on Assassin’s Creed Shadows because I always appreciate how different weapons and gear create a distinct flow, especially for a series that’s recently been bouncing between different identities. For me, the most interesting aspects of this game will come from the creative freedom Ubisoft flexes when playing with its historical fiction. Yasuke is a fascinating figure in Japanese history and having a covert shinobi in Naoe contrast the ideals of highly regarded samurai sets my expectations quite high. At least now, I know I’ll be getting a more interesting gameplay dynamic than what I’ve seen from Assassin’s Creed’s recent past.
We’ll be able to see it all come together when Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on November 12 this year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
