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The introduction toAssassin’s Creed Shadowsis the bloodiest the series has ever been.
It’s a conflict that Diogo who most will know as Yasuke is thrown into without choice.
Yasuke, he says, “may become a legend, or he may die.”
Attacks marked white are parried; leaving foes vulnerable to being dismembered.
Blue attacks are parried in sequence; and eventually leave foes open to having their arteries sliced.
Yasuke is massive too, you feel the heft as he moves.
But it’s not a problem.
He’s powerful enough that he simply feels like a tank in his massive samurai armor.
With his ferocious fighting style and outsider roots, Yasuke is a massive departure for Assassin’s Creed.
But, importantly, he’s not alone.
Sneak attack
Everything from our huge deep dive in one place!
From hands-on details to exclusive dev access, visit theAssassin’s Creed Shadows Big Preview hubfor it all!
As Iga Province burns, Fujibayashi Naoe and her father, Nagato, watch from afar.
Nobunaga’s attack has brought chaos to their doorstep, endangering an artifact her father swore to protect.
She contrasts the ideal samurai powerhouse that is Yasuke with her own promise.
“We really wanted to have the ninja fantasy,” creative director Jonathan Dumont tells me.
Some of that means drawing from the director’s history with the Splinter Cell series.
Heavy rain can hide footsteps, and the cover of night makes it tougher for enemies to see you.
There’s even a part of the HUD that shows how visible you are at any time.
Yet, rather than slowing things down, this fidelity gives you more to react to at speed.
Naoe is nimbler than any other Assassin’s Creed protagonist to date.
Attach to a grapple point, and Naoe can swing all around or pull herself up.
Getting spotted isn’t a game over even as Naoe.
But more importantly, just as enemy detection has more nuance, so too does losing track of them.
Sort of, yes.
“You have that moment where you go: I just died.
Okay, let me switch,” says Lemay-Comtois.
Yasuke to face down a group of guards, or Naoe to pick them off from the shadows?
It’s effective enough that I quickly forget that drone birds were a thing.
That’s definitely not the case for everyone.
“A lot of people have not forgotten!”
says Lemay-Comtois as we talk birds.
“It’s a deliberate choice where we take something away from players,” he says.
Check out ourbest Assassin’s Creed gameslist for our favorites!
Otherwise, you could simply ensure Naoe always had perfect nighttime conditions to ace every challenge.
Less is more here, and it’s a bold choice that really works.
And what a world Assassin’s Creed Shadows is to be immersed in.
Many locations feel suitably dense, with plenty of nooks and crannies hiding either collectibles or points of ingress.
“I’m left more excited for the future of Assassin’s Creed than in years.”
I’m left more excited for the future of Assassin’s Creed than I have been in years.
Yasuke and Naoe are instant favorites, easy to love within moments of meeting them for the first time.
This is where you’ve made your home.
Where you’ll find people to call family.
Time to pick up that blade, and do what needs doing.
Our hands-on with Assassin’s Creed Shadows was performed on a work-in-progress preview build of the game on PC.
Need something sneaky to tide you over until you get blades on with Naoe and Yasuke?
Our list of thebest stealth gamesis here to help!
