Summary
- Assassin's Creed Shadows intentionally limits parkour mechanics to encourage a grounded approach.
- Assassin's Creed Hexe's rumored setting in Central Europe may result in weak parkour mechanics.
- Ubisoft must ensure parkour mechanics in upcoming AC games fit within the context of the setting like Shadows.
Despite the fact that Assassin's Creed Shadows has been making waves since its release and continues to prove itself as a successful and notable entry in the series, it isn't entirely strong on all fronts, and that includes its parkour mechanics. While much of this was done intentionally by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed Shadows' parkour is still a bit rough around the edges at times — not necessarily from a technical standpoint but from a mechanical standpoint in general. Now, given the nature of its presumed setting, the upcoming Assassin's Creed entry currently titled "Codename Hexe" may share a similar shortcoming.
Very few details about Assassin's Creed Hexe have been revealed so far, with most of what is currently "known" about it ultimately chalked up to speculation and rumors. Still, that speculation and those rumors seem more likely to be true than not, and if they are, Assassin's Creed Hexe could be setting itself up to fall short in its parkour mechanics, with Assassin's Creed Shadows potentially being a sign of what's to come there. If that's the case, Ubisoft's only option may be to ensure those parkour mechanics fit within the context of the game, much like Assassin's Creed Shadows did with its own parkour.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows' Dual Protagonists Offer an Unconventional Concept for a Future Ghost Game
After Assassin's Creed Shadows proved how well its dual-protagonist approach can work, a future Sucker Punch Ghost game should follow suit.
Assassin's Creed Hexe's Parkour May Be as Weak as AC Shadows'
Assassin's Creed Shadows' Parkour Is Grounded and Limited
While the Assassin's Creed series has long been known for its iconic stealth gameplay, its parkour mechanics have almost always come in at a close second. Whether players are leaping across rooftops or performing massive Leaps of Faith from skyscraping geographical and manmade structures, Assassin's Creed's parkour has given them a chance to experience the highest heights and deepest depths of the series' universe in a fast-paced, action-packed way that appeals to player power fantasy. Unfortunately, things have been rather limited in Assassin's Creed Shadows, albeit intentionally.
The Assassin's Creed series has showcased various parkour systems throughout its history, but among these, Assassin's Creed Unity is widely regarded as having the most refined and immersive parkour mechanics.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' world is designed to encourage a more grounded approach than the series ever has before, despite feudal Japan presenting what appears to be a more vertical world. This is largely due to the increased difficulty of Assassin's Creed Shadows and its new stealth system, however, so a more grounded parkour approach makes sense. Rather than allowing players to avoid or escape danger via rooftops and treetops, Assassin's Creed Shadows does its best to encourage players to remain on the ground, which is even further emphasized by Yasuke's inability to use parkour in the way that Naoe can.
Assassin's Creed Shadows makes it fairly difficult for players to discern what is climbable and what isn't, as it has opted for a more realistic approach that not only features fewer climbable structures than almost any other entry but also requires those structures to have visible handholds. Not every structure with what appears to have visible handholds is climbable though, making things even more difficult. On top of all of that, it's sometimes challenging to discern where Assassin's Creed Shadows' Naoe might land after she leaps off a building or tree, making death by falling all the easier to achieve.
Assassin's Creed Hexe's Presumed Setting May Not Leave Much Room for Parkour
Again, next to nothing has been officially confirmed about Assassin's Creed Hexe's setting, but it will reportedly be set in 16th or 17th-century Central Europe, during the height of the witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire. If it truly does take place during that time period and in that geographical location, its parkour can be expected to be just as weak as Assassin's Creed Shadows' has proven to be. The architecture of the period, characterized by narrow alleys and modestly scaled buildings, doesn't naturally lend itself to expansive parkour sequences. This may produce a more grounded approach to parkour, just like Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' world is designed to encourage a more grounded approach than the series ever has before, despite feudal Japan presenting what appears to be a more vertical world.
If Assassin's Creed Hexe really does end up following in AC Shadows' footsteps, then it will need to be intentional about how its parkour functions within that world. A more grounded approach isn't inherently a weakness, but it becomes one if it either limits player freedom or subtracts from what is one of Assassin's Creed's most iconic elements. Assassin's Creed has always balanced stealth and freedom of movement, and if AC Hexe moves too far in one direction, it risks one of the franchise's core pillars falling short.
Assassin's Creed Shadows
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- March 20, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Quebec
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
