Summary
- Assassin's Creed Shadows offers Canon Mode for players who prefer preset choices to shape the game's narrative.
- The game caters to fans of older action-adventure titles while incorporating RPG elements.
- The world in Shadows will be comparable in size to previous games like Origins, covering around 80 square kilometers.
Assassin's Creed Shadows will give players a choice over whether they would prefer to make their own dialogue decisions or allow its dual protagonists to make all the choices for them. This newly announced Canon Mode in Assassin's Creed Shadows seems like it's meant to both appease fans of older games in the franchise and provide more fleshed-out main characters.
The stealth-based Assassin's Creed franchise has been around since 2007, launching its first four mainline games and two spin-offs during the era of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While the first several titles in the series fit neatly into the action-adventure genre, the games started veering more into action-RPG territory in 2017 with the release of Assassin's Creed Origins, which featured a more RPG-like gear system, and subsequent releases like Odyssey and Valhalla have leaned more into a choices-matter style of gameplay, leaving some fans wondering which route Shadows will take when it launches on February 14, 2025.
Assassin's Creed Shadows Details the Weapons Available to Yasuke and Naoe
Fans can finally get a look at the weapons available to the dual protagonists of Assassin's Creed Shadows with an update to the game's news page.
Four key members of the upcoming game's development team recently jumped on Reddit for an ask-me-anything session, where they fielded a broad range of questions, covering topics ranging from the setting's immersion to controller set-up. Responding to one fan who asked how much weight the dialogue decisions will carry in the game's overall plot, Assassin's Creed Shadows creative director Jonathan Dumont noted that players' choices in dialogue will deal less with the characters' ultimate goals in the game, instead playing a bigger factor in aspects like recruitment and romance. However, for those who would prefer to skip those choices altogether, he noted that the team is including an optional Canon Mode, which he explained "allows you to play the game with choices already made for you, to give you a choice free experience."
Assassin's Creed Shadows Dialogue Choices Will be Optional
Multiple fans of the series have reacted positively to Dumont's announcement during the AMA session. Fans have been wanting an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan for a long time, and the news that Shadows will cater to the more old-school action-adventure fans of the series by giving them the option to disable one of the heavier RPG-like features seems to be a way to keep fans of both styles of storytelling happy.
Some potential players also asked about the size of the Assassin's Creed Shadows world in comparison to past games in the series. Dumont reiterated that Assassin's Creed Shadows' size will be comparable to the past few games in the series, specifically pointing out the Egyptian setting of Origins as a point of reference. That means the area of feudal Japan accessible to Yasuke and Naoe should cover about 80 square kilometers.
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
WHERE TO PLAY
Experience an epic historical action-adventure story set in feudal Japan! Become a lethal shinobi Assassin and a powerful legendary samurai as you explore a beautiful open world in a time of chaos. Switch seamlessly between two unlikely allies as you discover their common destiny. Master complementary playstyles, create your shinobi league, customize your hideout, and usher in a new era for Japan.
• Explore the captivating open world of feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments.
• Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power. Unlock new skills, gear, and progression independently for each character.
• Make information your weapon as you explore the world, and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.
• Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base’s layout, decorations, and accessories.
- Engine
- AnvilNext
- Franchise
- Assassin's Creed
- Number of Players
- 1
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- March 20, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- March 20, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- March 20, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
