Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review: Become a Shadow or the Limelight 

Presenting Gameffine’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows review

After numerous amount of delays and being the most anticipated game in a while especially for the die-hard Assassin’s Creed fans, the wait is almost over. The journey through the feudal Japan of the Hidden Ones can now be explored through two iconic characters with polar opposite perks and approaches.

Published and developed by almost every Ubisoft Studio, Assassin’s Creed Shadows releases on March 20, 2025, for PC (Steam and Epic), PS5, and Xbox Series X | S. And maybe Nintendo Switch 2 in a few months? We’ll hold onto that one for now. But until that, it’s time to take that leap of faith through the cherry blossom petals of Japan onto the official Gameffine’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows review.

When They Bring the War Home

The title opens with a bright and optimistic setting inside the castle of Oda Nobunaga where the Portuguese were also escorting a captured Yasuke. But Oda Nobunaga took an interest in him, and judging by his massive build, figure, and humbleness towards being offered a new life, Oda was able to find loyalty as well.

After committing his sword to Nobunaga, Yasuke found a new life as a Samurai and learned the fighting style through Nobunaga’s sensei himself. And it wasn’t before long Yasuke joined Nobunaga’s cold, and ruthless conquest in the unification of Japan, leaving behind a river of blood wherever they went.

And this trail ended up reaching Iga, the home of Naoe. Naoe, who recently completed her training to become a true Shinboi, who still lacked the true knowledge of her creed and existence, was soon robbed of everything she ever knew or loved. Lust green farms she grew in turned into a red rain of fire taking away her last remaining family – her father.

Things hit even harsher when her father tasked her with protecting a box that was supposed to be protected by her father bound by oath. But everything went south when she was soon intercepted by an anonymous group called the Shinbakufu. The Shinbakufu knew what the box held and to our assumption, it was obviously a piece of Eden. But Naoe doesn’t know either. But fate had decided to take away everything from her. In a desperate attempt to guard the box, Naoe almost lost her life, just to be saved by her father again. But her father was eventually cut down by the group and they both were left to die painfully.

Naoe was eventually rescued by a Monk and an orphan who healed her back to health. But after losing everything she ever had, she decided to walk a path of redemption, revenge, and the path of the hidden blade. Makes me remember AC 2 all over again.

The Creed Bearers

Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts the entire narrative into sheer brutality and does not shy away from exploring the cold and ruthless topics of feudal Japan. Most of its events and characters follow the true history and therefore smartly place its protagonists right in the middle of the happening all the while keeping alive the path of the creed that eventually pops off in the later part of the game.

So if you’re worried about not getting enough Assassins’s Creed lore in the first 15 hours, just a little more wait, it gets better. The past and setup of the characters are also done elaborately, but the start is done right at the action phase so the beginning of the game isn’t slow and has you hooked with rapid turns of events. Yes, that also means, it’ll be an hour before the game logo finally pops up on your screen. Classic.

But now it’s time to talk about what the game offers and fails at.

The narrative plays it well while having its ups and downs. Naoe is portrayed as an innocent youngster part of the Shinboi order who is forced into a turmoil of events making her seem like the bad guy, as she now only focuses on revenge and redemption, all the while being scared if she follows the hidden order well enough to honor her father.

The events of the game in the first 15 hours are just too generic that your focus will easily shift to exploring the world around you and the side quests offered. The spam markers are gone, encouraging you to explore the world at your pace and rewarding you for going beyond a path. But after the first episode of the game, Yasuke joins you and the better story arcs are unveiled which are fun to enjoy and are guaranteed to keep you hooked with the amount of versatility, content, castles, and backstories.

This brings us to our next true question, Yasuke or Naoe?

Simple answer, if you like AC Valhalla for the brutality, pure war, raids, and chaos, you’ll love Yasuke and his brutal weapon of choices. But if you like Assassin’s Creed and want the true experience of lurking in the shadows, parkouring across the map, and making quick work of your targets, then you’ll be spending most of your time with Naoe.

For me, Yauske was a no-go in the beginning, as you’re forced to play with Naoe for the time being. Even after unlocking him, it’s not very fun to be cruising around the map because of his bulky build and no ability to climb beyond a block. Fighting or clearing a castle means head-on fights with over 40 to 50 enemies that are just time-consuming because there is a new castle for you to raid every 5 minutes of walk. But his lore and character building immediately elevate and put him on a pedestal with the whole idea of him being a foreigner trying to find his way to do right by Nobunaga who gave him a brand new life. His relation to the creed is a also very interesting affair to explore.

In short, as the narrative progresses, Yasuke becomes an excellent character and fits well in the game itself. But except for boss fights, exploring the world with him becomes a tedious affair, especially if you’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed games back to back.

For Naoe, everything fits perfectly like a puzzle piece for an excellent Assassin’s Creed game. She’s a perfect shinobi who can instantly maneuver and use the shadows to her advantage while using her tools in the craft she creates but can also tank out a dangerous amount of damage whenever needed. She can now also go prone for much more depth in stealth. But of course, she can be taken down in one or two hits at max.

Just so you know, Yasuke can also be killed with one shuriken to the back, thanks to Ubisoft’s prodigious leveling system. To whoever is responsible for bringing the leveling system back, do you not like watching your players happy?

Heads Will Roll

Assassin’s Creed Shadows had me on my toes ever since it was announced and I was jumping around the entire opening sequence when I got the game. But I instantly turned the game off and played Split Fiction for the rest of the day as soon I saw the return of the infamous leveling system. This meant, that if I accidentally steered to a location too early on, I would be done with one single hit from any enemy in the area who himself would now have 8 health bars.

Levelling-based explorations could have been replaced with anything else and it would have worked out for the better (for example, take the simple but efficient encounter system from Ghost of Tsushima). But in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows released shortly after the AAAA Skull and Bones, they decided to differentiate an enemy with a simple health bar. All that talk about immersion becomes a joke.

But speaking of better things, the Horoscope/Astronomy looking ability progressions from Valhalla, are much better and refined. Each weapon has its class, therefore allowing you to heavily invest in that particular weapon skill to make it far stronger. The hidden blade can now once against be used in combat when paired up with the Tanto, allowing for more brutal finishes than before. This is an addition to both the protagonists having the ability to utilize up to three different weapon choices that are unique to them.

Overall the combat now feels much better, but it’s still not quite there. The combat is fast, the feedback is instant and the enemy attack patterns are unforgiving. If you engage more than three enemies with Naoe, you probably won’t make it out alive. With Yasuke, you’re shelling out higher damage, making you more apt for open fights. Which overall sets an even balance. The combat however is not as deep (or fun) as Ghost of Tsushima or Rise of the Ronin.

Apart from this, you are once again in the same Assassin’s Creed adventure, which has more revamped and features classic Assassin elements this time compared to any of the three games from RPG trilogy. But everything apart from that is the same. The RPG-esque leveling and enemies being strong based on their levels is an immersion-breaking experience. Even if we follow the lore of the Animus, why am I being sent to fight enemies with numbers above their heads? Assassin’s Creed was at its best when the games were simple, open-world adventures. Who asked for this? Or is it simply a strategy to force people into spending more hours so that the game can justify its unfair ₹5,000 price point?

Oh and finally speaking of the Animus. It’s even worse than you can imagine. Maybe in the endgame, but judging by what I’ve played so far (around 40 hours) they’re limited to 4 to 5 seconds of glimpses of a random person warning you about someone else. This is not even part of a larger clip like the previous AC games. The animus memory system is now a Battle Pass System. It seems to be free, and will reward you as you do your dailies. Welcome to Genshadows Impacreed. The real-life currency store is also back, which offers you resources for a few dollars which are part of the entire raiding system’s true reward.

For exploration, you now have scouts, which can either be assigned to fetch resources you come across during raids, or can be pinpointed at a location to reveal the exact location of the objective, which ironically breaks the whole idea of immersive storytelling where you are supposed to be searching for locations using vague hints. Scouts could’ve instead been used to clear the fog, identify chests, and hidden activities, but instead, are severely underutilized.

And yes, the hideout is just there because it’s supposed to be. It’s not fun to build your hideout, the resource cost is high, the building UI is tedious, and most of it is just window-dressing

Summarising everything mechanically, Ubisoft has played it too safe. Falling back on what worked, and maybe reworking what backfired. Most of the issues here might get resolved at a patch or something, but as of now, Shadows is an average Assassin’s Creed Game, that simply lacks any meaningful innovation.

Fall in Love with Japan

Credit where it’s due. Ubisoft is a visual creator of worlds, and that still holds true. Every frame of the game is like a master’s canvas. This was already true for Valhalla, but Shadows does it even better with the dense and vibrant landscape of Japan. The art style is extremely authentic, the animations of NPCs are unique, and the world is oozing with immersion. Oh, and the numerous amount of pets, especially the cats and their kittens are a major plus here.

The activities which allow you to explore the world which eventually gives you knowledge points are really poor though. It’s there just for the sake of it and is nothing more than a mechanical barrier to artificially lengthen the game’s duration. You’re telling me that, if I simply sit in a scenic place, throw some ninja signs, and boom my knowledge increases? Similarly, you can choose to draw pictures of the various animals in the game, but it’s also poorly implemented and feels out of place in an Assassin’s Creed game. The knowledge point system to explore the world feels off and simply uninspired.

The OSTs are absolutely RAD. You will have a tremendously fun time fighting head-on with DNB music playing in the background along with some of the cutscenes as well as pure cinema. Facial animations in cutscenes are also done well and have great cuts to eliminate every single silent second. There is no unnecessary talk which is irrelevant and sticks to the plot.

Real Talk

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was supposed to work in the dark to serve the light, but it never managed to step beyond the Shadows. Visually, the game is remarkable and stands strong by its standards, but everything else is pretty much the same. The level-based progression is a huge letdown, but is made up by excellent execution of stealth mechanics and a gripping dual protagonist storyline.