Before getting into this review, it is probably best to preface my own relationship with the Assassin’s Creed series. I have played bits and pieces of the games throughout the years. I came into the series quite late on because I had no real interest but Odyssey was the one that grabbed my attention because I am interested in ancient Greek history. I have worked back on the series since then but have only ever actually finished Odyssey. I liked what I played of the early and their more streamlined experiences but I was not fond of Origins and I loathed Valhalla. This is all very important in the case of Shadows because it adopts that new RPG-ish formula that was brought with Origins. People have complained about this formula because it does not feel like the older games and that opinion is not misplaced. This is particularly the case when it comes to its open world story design because them streamlined and focused experiences seem to have disappeared. When pit against the recent entries adopting the same formula, Shadows is potentially the most polished of its kind. Its open world is beautiful and the gameplay sandbox is largely fun. However, it still features the same trappings narratively as its predecessors and the typical Ubisoft checklist-style structure has never felt more outdated and dull.

Shadows has two main playable protagonists: Naoe and Yasuke. Naoe is an original character based on the shinobi of the Iga province that were active in Sengoku period Japan. Yasuke, however, is based on a very interesting historical figure of the same name. Although unconfirmed, he was rumoured to be of Portugeuse-Mozambique descent and was enslaved by the Portugeuse. After arriving in Japan and being taken in by Oda Nobunaga, he is made a samurai. Events lead him and Naoe to fight a looming shadow organisation together and lift the veil they have cast over Japan. Having two protagonists calls for more heavy lifting storywise and when the story is dealing with their own personal stories, it does it very well. Particularly towards the end, their stories get very engaging and have some ties to the other games that fans will enjoy. What does not work with these characters is their interactions with each other. They seem to only be friends because the plot wants them to be and it does not feel genuine. At the start of this story, they are part of opposing groups that do horrible things to each other. Yet, there is hardly any conflict between them other than their first meeting. They do not develop very much and their friendship does not feel earned.

In fact, the writing in the opening and closing few hours is vastly different in quality in comparison to that huge chunk in the middle. There is at least 25-30 hours in the middle of this game following the same structure as the other games of trying to find each organisation member and assassinating them. There are sprinkles of Naoe and Yasuke’s personal endeavours here but nothing substantial. Instead it is full of smaller stories surrounding each organisation member and none of them are remotely interesting. It is the same exact structure of finding a person, that person probably wants you to find something or kill somebody and then that will reveal a little bit of information for the member you are tracking down. It does not deviate from this formula for the whole time and it is mind-numbingly boring. There are so many characters you meet, hardly any of which have anything interesting to say and you will have probably forgotten about them once you kill who you need to kill. The side quests are just more of the same except there is, of course, no requirement to do them. The best course of action is to do as little as possible because other than some experience points and maybe a gear piece, it is wasted effort.

The open world of Shadows is one of the better worlds they have designed. As mentioned, it is beautiful to look at and this is very much helped by its seasons system. Seasons change in-game over a certain period of time and so does the weather. From the luscious green and flowery fields of spring, to the snow-covered wonderlands in winter, every time you are on top of a synchronisation point looking over the land, it looks exceptional. Season changes also refresh your scouts which are used to scan for objectives. Scouts are apart of your hideout which acts as a base of operations. This has buildings that can be upgraded to get more scouts or have the ability to improve gear to name a couple examples. It also has lots of cosmetics you can find across the world for your hideout, which is always a nice touch.

The open world activities are your standard for Ubisoft. I mentioned a checklist-style approach and that is exactly what it is. It is the usual go to a marker on the map and quickly do it just to clear it off and say you are done with it. There is a lot of this and it can get extremely tiring when you have long periods of doing it. Activities include temples, shrines, strongholds and a few character specific ones like archery or parkour challenges, to name a few. Even though there is way too much of them, there is a stripped back and relaxing quality to running up to the shrines and praying at them, for example. The world is very tranquil when away from all the civilisation and so sticking a podcast on and having an explore around the world is quite pleasant. Even with its more louder strongholds, it can be fun to sneak around them and pick enemies off. The world design is very copy and paste and not the standard for 2025 games but there is point where this feels like a fast food experience. You know it isn’t great but it is easy to just drift around and gobble it up all the same.

Gameplay is a very strange thing to talk about here because it is all over the place in terms of quality. The point where this absolutely shines is pretty much anything to do with Naoe. She feels excellent to play as with her more stealth-focused playstyle. Infiltrating strongholds with her classic hidden blade up your sleeve is exhilarating. Her shinobi tools are also very fun, the star of which is the new grappling hook. This makes traversal much more fun and there is something so cool about doing a death-from-above assassination and quickly zipping upwards to safety. After being seen, her combat is fun too with multiple flashy abilities to use across all her weapon types. The gear itself is well designed with lots of stats and modifications to be mixed around and it does mean you can create a specific build. I personally went down a route of getting gear that was good for air assassinations and focused on upgrading that.

Yasuke is much different. Similarly he has lots of weapon types and abilities to accompany them but the main issue is he has no alternative. He has an assassination but it is very loud and alerts enemies straight away, obviously not ideal for stealth. Other assassin abilities like the leap of faith and just basic parkour are impossible for him to do with any finesse and it just feels like a joke at points. He is not an assassin, to be fair to him, but that begs the question, why make him a playable character if this is the case? Eivor in Valhalla ,for example, was a bit brutish but they were versatile in stealth too. Yasuke is not fun to play because he does not play like an Assassin’s Creed character should play. Charging into combat is not very satisfying, especially seeing as the basic combat is not anything stellar. It works for Naoe because with her, you are up against it and just trying to graze through combat because you made the mistake of being spotted. That is very different to Yasuke effortlessly hacking through enemies because he is so strong and there is no real tension as a result.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the definition of a mixed bag. There were points I found myself loving this game, like sneaking around with Naoe, and then points where I hated it, like when you are having to listen to another boring conversation of little value. Each element of the game operates in this manner where there are really great parts but some equally annoying and unpolished ideas to match them. The world is beautiful and is a lovely exploration of Japanese culture and yet it is filled with so much bloat. The gameplay of Naoe is so expansive and fun but Yasuke’s is so one-note and unsatisfying. The story has some brilliant high points that are really exciting and then the next minute you are searching for yet another uninteresting person, that will probably just ask you to find someone or something once again. If you do not care about a good solid story and just want a fun stealth experience, you can get that with playing as Naoe most of the time and you may enjoy yourself. Although, if you are looking for a full package of quality across the board, this does not even come close.