Hands-on Preview: Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Like many Assassin’s Creed fans, I’ve always felt that feudal Japan was simply a natural period for the series. I remember an early discussion by developer and publisher Ubisoft almost two decades ago talking about future entries into the franchise exploring unique periods including Egypt—which ended up being a big change for the series with Assassin’s Creed Origins—and Japan.

I recently got some hands-on time with the early parts of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, including the prologue that introduces both playable characters Naoe and Yasuke, and one of the early sequences of missions in the open world.

My biggest takeaway from the preview was just how immersive Shadows felt in its setting, from the world in which it takes place to the story it’s telling. After roughly three and a half hours with Shadows, I can happily say it exceeded my expectations in almost every way, and I’m excited to play more.

Starting off with the prologue, Shadows starts by introducing our two playable characters: Naoe and Yasuke. For Yasuke, the prologue explores how Yasuke came to Japan as well as the start of his journey to become a samurai. Naoe, on the other hand, has her own adventure that leads to her discovering the way of the assassin. From the prologue into the actual open-world sequence of missions I was able to play after, one thing became immediately clear: Ubisoft is telling a story with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It was a much more cinematic experience than previous entries in the series, featuring a plethora of cutscenes which I was told will play a big part throughout the whole game. It felt like the recently released Shogun TV series in playable form, and I’m eager to see where the story goes.

Between the prologue and the open-world segment I got to play, Naoe and Yasuke team up. It’s evident that the two uniting is a bigger plot point, and I’m curious to see how it plays out in the time our preview skipped over. Once the two are together, however, you have the option of playing as either one. In the open world, you can switch between the two at any time. During actual quests, you’ll have several points in which you can choose which character to play that sequence as.

Before playing, I had assumed the difference between the two would be mostly story-related. But the actual gameplay between the two is drastically different, which makes sense. Yasuke is a massive brute with the ability to take on many foes at once with sheer strength and combat prowess. Naoe, on the other hand, plays more like a traditional assassin in the series. The strengths and weaknesses between the two are very noticeable, and in the questline, I got to play through, the choice of who to use for certain segments felt like an impactful one.

Image via Ubisoft

Know you’re going to be fighting through a group of enemies? Probably best to use Yasuke. Trying to keep quiet and sneak into somewhere you shouldn’t be? Advised to use Naoe. You’re not prevented from using either character, it’s just that their skillsets make each situation very different based on who you are playing.

Yasuke for example doesn’t have access to a lot of the staple assassin capabilities like performing the Leap of Faith or utilizing Eagle Vision. You can attempt to be stealthy as Yasuke, but more often than not you’re going to have to fight your way through.

Naoe on the other hand has no limits to her verticality, able to easily climb up the side of buildings and even make use of a grappling hook to quickly scale onto high-up rooftops. Of course, she has her weaknesses as well. Even though she can hold her own in combat, it’s important to make use of her ability to dodge and parry attacks. While Yasuke can take quite a beating, a single heavy attack landing on Naoe can be devastating.

Something I noticed throughout my preview that I wholeheartedly didn’t expect, is that your choices seem to actually matter, even if Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t immediately highlight that. Early on in the questline I played through, I had chased down someone who I believed may have had the information I was looking for. I had essentially two dialogue options: demanding he spill the beans, or bring up the fact that his wife who I had spoken to earlier was worried about and looking for him.

I chose the first choice, which led to him getting angry and inevitably attacking me. This was one of my earlier combat segments as Naoe and, well, didn’t go too well. I then reloaded to the beginning of the dialogue with this character and figured there was no better time to rewrite history, and chose to instead tell him for his wife. This ended up being a purely peaceful route leading to him giving me the information I was looking for, followed by hurrying off to go see his wife.

The early parts of Assassin’s Creed Shadows are a ton of fun, and after a few hours of hands-on time, I’m anxious for more. If Ubisoft can keep the story engaging throughout, I could easily see Assassin’s Creed Shadows standing out as another landmark addition to the series. We’ll know soon enough as Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set to release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on March 20, 2025.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy