Summary
- The parkour system in Assassin's Creed Shadows has been revamped, limiting climbing to specific "parkour highways" and introducing seamless ledge dismounts.
- Assassin's Creed Shadows introduces dual protagonists with distinct playstyles: Naoe as a stealthy shinobi, and Yasuke as a powerful samurai.
- Ubisoft aims to cater to both classic stealth gameplay and RPG combat fans with Assassin's Creed Shadows, set to release on February 14.
Ubisoft has gone in depth about several key changes that have been implemented in Assassin's Creed Shadows' parkour system. Assassin's Creed Shadows is the next big RPG-like entry in Ubisoft's beloved historical action-adventure franchise. After a disappointing delay out of November 2024, Assassin's Creed Shadows is now due out in February.
Taking the franchise to feudal Japan for the first time ever, Assassin's Creed Shadows features dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke. The former, Naoe, is a shinobi capable of scaling walls and sneaking around in the shadows, while Yasuke is a samurai of large stature who excels in open combat, but isn't able to climb. With two wildly different playstyles on the table, Assassin's Creed Shadows is looking to cater to both fans of the classic Assassin's Creed stealth experience and to fans of the more recent open-combat RPG entries like Odyssey and Valhalla.
2In a new blog post by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed Shadows' Associate Game Director Simon Lemay-Comtois laid out all the changes players can come to expect from the game's revamped parkour system. Perhaps the biggest change to Assassin's Creed's parkour system coming in Shadows is that players will no longer be able to climb nearly any wall in the game, as was possible in previous entries. Rather, Ubisoft has designed specific "parkour highways" players need to find in order to climb.
Players Won't Be Able To Climb Everything In Assassin's Creed Shadows
Such a change to parkour may feel limiting, but it seems that Ubisoft is more carefully designing these pathways that players can find, possibly optimizing the layouts of these paths to make them flow well. Lemay-Comtois assures players that the majority of surfaces will remain climbable, but will just need the right approach. Ubisoft's post also went on to highlight some interesting changes to the way players will be able to dismount higher ledges in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Instead of needing to grab a ledge to climb down, players will be able to seamlessly dodge off ledges to perform a range of stylish flips as they move down toward the ground, which will surely make for a smoother parkour experience. Furthermore, Assassin's Creed Shadows' new prone position means that players will be able to dive while sprinting in addition to sliding.
...we had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and afforded us more control about where Naoe can go, and where Yasuke can't...Rest assured that most of what you'll see in Assassin's Creed Shadows is still very much climbable - especially with the grappling hook - but players will have to look for valid entry points from time to time.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on February 14. With just over a month left until launch, Ubisoft will surely have more to share about the much-anticipated title as its release date approaches. It'll be interesting to see whether Assassin's Creed Shadows will be able to dominate the zeitgeist in a month that's also set to see the releases of games like Monster Hunter Wilds, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Avowed, and more.
