'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' trailer analysis
By Aidan Robertson
Promotional picture for the highly anticipated game (Credit: Ubisoft)
After a large amount of speculation and anticipation for an entry set in feudal Japan, the Assassin’s creed series is finally taking a step into the long-awaited setting with the reveal of ‘Assassin's Creed: Shadows’ which Ubisoft dropped a trailer for on the 15th May.
So what can we expect from the anticipated entry and what did the trailer show off?
Dual Protagonists
While we have had the choice for a different protagonist in the recent entries for Assassin's Creed, this will be the first time since ‘Assassin's Creed: Syndicate’ that we will have a game where the protagonists are both playable in the single playthrough.
We know we will be able to control ‘Naoe’, a female Japanese shinobi and ‘Yasuke’, a samurai originally hailing from Africa who actually existed in history as a retainer to Japanese daimyō ‘Oda Nobunaga’.
We are not sure yet how gameplay and story will be structured, but we can assume it will be similar to how the Frye twins operated in Syndicate where dedicated missions forced you to play as a certain character, however in the open world you could switch freely.
The Setting
The renowned series has finally made the move to Japan. Since ninjas and stealth go hand in hand, fans have been requesting this for more than ten years.
Considering the series' previous editions and Ubisoft's commitment to historical authenticity, this excites us even more because we know the studio will produce a fantastically rendered depiction of Japan for us to explore. Given the amount of work that went into making Baghdad for ‘Assassin's Creed: Mirage’, we can rely on Ubisoft to accurately depict Japan in the sixteenth century.
Baghdad was the setting for the 2023 release of the game (Credit: BBC)
Seasonal Open World
During the trailer we saw what looked like to be scenes taking place over multiple seasons. Since then Ubisoft has stated that the game will have seasons that change over your time playing throughout the open world, hinting that it will not necessarily be tied to your placement in the game's story and that you could finish the game in any season.
Advanced AI
According to Ubisoft, enemies and NPCs will respond in a more realistic manner. Regarding the seasonal variations in the game, one example was provided: opponents will move more freely through the areas they patrol in the summer, but they will congregate around fireplaces in the winter, making them more difficult to eliminate.
It has also been suggested that the weather may impact how they patrol. Dynamic AI has always been at the forefront of Assassin's Creed games; so it will be interesting to see how this has evolved.
There are still many aspects of ‘Assassin's Creed Shadows’ to be revealed, however until they are, we will just have to wait until it releases later this year on 15th November.
WATCH: Trailer for the new game set for release the 12th of November 2024