Assassin's Creed Shadows Reveals Beautiful New Concept Art…

Creating a visually arresting game is a high priority for many studios. For a game like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which takes place in the long-requested Feudal Japan, the visuals are a critical component of the game’s first impression. And there's no denying how stunning Assassin's Creed Shadows is. Like many games, its visuals have their origins in concept art to orient the overall vibe of the setting.

For The Best War Games Advance, we can reveal some exclusive concept art that helped guide the game to its current state. Creative director Jonathan Dumont also commented on the importance of Assassin's Creed Shadows' sheer beauty, while pushing Ubisoft's technology to its very limits.

The Stunning Japan of Assassin’s Creed Shadows

From concept art of samurai carrying banners across hills and mountains to a beautiful purple waterscape vista, the concept art from Assassin’s Creed Shadows shows the entry's lively beauty and respect for history and culture. Some of the concept art portrays villages and cities indicative of the time and place as well, leaning into Assassin’s Creed's dedication to providing a strong sense of historicity.

One art in particular brings everything together, depicting samurai overlooking a river valley that appears replete with settlements, a mountainside fortress, and a large fire on the opposite side of the samurai. It creates a strong sense of time and place for Assassin’s Creed Shadows in Japan’s Sengoku period. Speaking to nailing the visuals of Japan, Dumont explained that,

"The team was very enthusiastic about the setting, but it came with additional pressure to make it feel more alive, beautiful, and respectful, and maximize our technological improvements. It’s a humbling experience to take on those challenges, and we hope our players can see our love for that world and its characters…We really wanted to make a new-generation world that flows and moves. A world that was more dynamic and beautiful and had a lot of details."

Long before Ubisoft ever actually planned an Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the studio was aware of the storytelling potential and the players’ desire to see it. Assassin's Creed Shadows was teased as far back as Assassin's Creed 3, or at the very least, the idea of a Japan-set game was teased back in 2012. At the time, there was no concrete plan to develop this game yet; instead, the teaser was driven only by the awareness that such a game was inevitable. But that’s a lot of expectations to grow over a decade between then and now.

As Dumont explained, it was these kinds of grand scenes, teeming with life and beauty, that required the power of the current generation of consoles and PC graphics for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

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