Multiplat Assassin’s Creed Shadows

[SSgt Dickweed]

There really seems to be something to the theory that the Guillemot family that owns Ubisoft intentionally releases bad games to lower Ubisoft's stock price so they can gain more shares.

 

[jefferz]

Great word-of-mouth about Shadows from Japan's PM.

Great job Ubisoft.

You're using this as fodder to hate the game?

Come on now.

 

[DoctorNick]

I like it so far, I enjoy the series too which seems to be rare these days. I'm not sure why people who don't like the series, or these types of games just want to shit all over it, but I can only guess they lead empty lives online and it gives them something to do.

It's not groundbreaking in any way, but definitely fun and solid from what I've seen so far. 7.5/10 would be my initial rating.

 

[Dizzy]

I like it so far, I enjoy the series too which seems to be rare these days. I'm not sure why people who don't like the series, or these types of games just want to shit all over it, but I can only guess they lead empty lives online and it gives them something to do.

It's not groundbreaking in any way, but definitely fun and solid from what I've seen so far. 7.5/10 would be my initial rating.

The only dude who has actually played the game in a 17 page thread.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I like it so far, I enjoy the series too which seems to be rare these days. I'm not sure why people who don't like the series, or these types of games just want to shit all over it, but I can only guess they lead empty lives online and it gives them something to do.

It's not groundbreaking in any way, but definitely fun and solid from what I've seen so far. 7.5/10 would be my initial rating.

Yeah it's an Assassin's Creed game. If you like Assassin's Creed games this is a good one to the point I've got to. If you haven't liked an AC game before this is unlikely to change your mind.

Seems like the best one since Odyssey to me (Odyssey was my favourite AC game full stop).

 

[SSgt Dickweed]

There really seems to be something to the theory that the Guillemot family that owns Ubisoft intentionally releases bad games to lower Ubisoft's stock price so they can gain more shares.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Damn, thread turned into the War Room

This is why we kneel (before seppuku)

 

[Uncommon Valor]

I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but so far I’m still enjoying it. One thing I miss is the bird companion. I do enjoy small features they added, such as automatically following npcs and automatically mounting a horse when you summon it. The intro is long as fuck though and apparently you don’t unlock Yasuke until about 10 hours into the game.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I'm 11 hours in and nothing woke has happened yet. I must have a bugged copy

 

[Madmick]

I'm 11 hours in and nothing woke has happened yet. I must have a bugged copy

That's good. Perhaps that explains why Ubisoft unexpectedly delayed the release twice right before the finish line. They wisely realized some last minute edits were in their interest.

There really seems to be something to the theory that the Guillemot family that owns Ubisoft intentionally releases bad games to lower Ubisoft's stock price so they can gain more shares.

The reviews don't indicate it's necessarily a bad game. It just isn't outstanding. The early consensus suggests it's like Odyssey; more polished than the average release from the last decade, but nothing oustanding. More of the same (when the same has been slowly sinking the ship). The reviewer I reference for Souls-like and third person stealth/slasher games above all others is Fextralife. He gave it an 8.5/10.0. That's solid.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Review

In this Assassin's Creed Shadows review, we'll be taking an in-depth look at the latest installment of the AC franchise, which is set in Japan during the

fextralife.com

SUMMARY
Expansive, detailed and polished, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a fantastic exploration and stealth game with beautiful Japanese aesthetics, somewhat diminished by a thin story, clumsy narrative, and immersion-breaking design choices. Despite this, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable entry into the series for fans seeking to explore medieval Japan.

FINAL THOUGHTS
My Assassin’s Creed Shadows experience has both been fantastic and disappointing. The pacing and narrative issues of the dual characters and the immersion breaking blips you may encounter can mostly be ignored thanks to the fun and engaging combat and the excellently designed stealth and exploration of the world.

Hours went by without me noticing as I uncovered more of the map, I met more historic figures, and got lost in the everlasting allure of medieval Japan. I had long stretches where I was fully immersed, only to be suddenly pulled out of this immersion by clumsy storytelling or events, but then I would go back to being immersed once again. This cycle repeated for much of the game.

I had hoped that this would be my favorite Assassin’s Creed, but when I sit back and reflect on my experience, I find that the narrative and story brings down the score average, but the core of the experience is somewhat similar to what has been offered in previous titles and will give players a similar amount of enjoyment. This will mean different things to different people, as the density and abundance of sometimes thin content is not appealing to all.

For me that meant that despite its story stumbles, the gameplay kept bringing me back and I am still playing long after the credits rolled, as I’m working on getting yet another Assassin’s Creed platinum and plan to 100% every possible temple and shrine so I can make a list of the ones I have yet to visit in real life.

 

[NoSmilez]

I'm 11 hours in and nothing woke has happened yet. I must have a bugged copy

Did you unlock Yasuke yet?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

That's good. Perhaps that explains why Ubisoft unexpectedly delayed the release twice right before the finish line. They wisely realized some last minute edits were in their interest.

The reviews don't indicate it's necessarily a bad game. It just isn't outstanding. The early consensus suggests it's like Odyssey; more polished than the average release from the last decade, but nothing oustanding. More of the same (when the same has been slowly sinking the ship). The reviewer I reference for Souls-like and third person stealth/slasher games above all others is Fextralife. He gave it an 8.5/10.0. That's solid.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Review

In this Assassin's Creed Shadows review, we'll be taking an in-depth look at the latest installment of the AC franchise, which is set in Japan during the

fextralife.com

Odyssey was my favourite game in the series. I thought it had the best game world and was the best combination of the new rpgish stats building style combined with the stealth if you want it style of the Ezio games. Had the Black Flag seafaring side too. Loved it.

Did you unlock Yasuke yet?

Yeah. He's distinctly different to Naoe. Much more of a battering ram Sherdog type A level athlete. Cool that they're significantly different to play with unlike Syndicate where I never felt the characters played that much different really

 

[GtehMVP]

Yeah it's an Assassin's Creed game. If you like Assassin's Creed games this is a good one to the point I've got to. If you haven't liked an AC game before this is unlikely to change your mind.

Seems like the best one since Odyssey to me (Odyssey was my favourite AC game full stop).

I really liked Odyssey too. My fav is still Black Flag and all things Ezio, but Odyssey is right up there for me.

It didn't level lock missions like Origins did (just a little). I loved the world too, was beautiful.

It also had that partial nemesis system from those LOTR games that warner bros patented, bastards!

I'd be far more interested if we can play the whole game as either Yasuke or the female ninja. I dont like that they play so differently, unlike Odyssey's dual protags.

How are you finding how they handled the different protags? Does it break the flow like Last of Us 2?

I've seen/heard that the english voice acting can be really poor, but the Japanese voices are better. How are you playing it?

 

[Zazen]

I think 39.99 is a price I'd be comfortable with paying. There's a lot of stuff coming out. Khazan tomorrow, Expedition 33 in April, and Doom in May. Possibly even Death Stranding 2 in June if I can get myself to finish and enjoy the first part. I've also heard that there's another update coming for PS5 Pro so supposedly it will look even better in a few weeks or months. I'll probably get the best experience then.

 

[MWB1982]

Assassin's Creed is getting shit on by my algorithms. I haven't followed the game but I watched a vid the other day where the Prime Minister of Japan held a fucking congress meeting over the game being terrible LOL

It's that bad?

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

Whatever anyone thinks about the game, I'm sure 31,649 players on Steam right now at 20:00 PST isn't what Ubi was hoping for on launch day.
Seems like a bust IMO.

These discussion are pointless this early on.

There us a whole system in place to manage PR for the first couple of weeks and by then no one's talking about the game anyway.

How much money this truly lost ofr Ubisoft will be hidden in the books and off to the next one.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I really liked Odyssey too. My fav is still Black Flag and all things Ezio, but Odyssey is right up there for me.

It didn't level lock missions like Origins did (just a little). I loved the world too, was beautiful.

It also had that partial nemesis system from those LOTR games that warner bros patented, bastards!

I'd be far more interested if we can play the whole game as either Yasuke or the female ninja. I dont like that they play so differently, unlike Odyssey's dual protags.

How are you finding how they handled the different protags? Does it break the flow like Last of Us 2?

I've seen/heard that the english voice acting can be really poor, but the Japanese voices are better. How are you playing it?

I never got around to last of us 2 so I can't comment on that, I played the new gen version of the first one when it was on ps plus and it was great so I should play the second one.


So far there's a few missions you have to play as Yasuke but you can play most of it as either one of them so far, I wouldn't say it forces you to play half and half or anything like that.

In terms of how it works flow wise I would say not really, you can choose what order you do things in and it's not really forced on you. You're working together but you can choose when you do things. Kinda like GTA V in that regard I'd say.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Just gonna try and give a quick overview of my thoughts about 15 hours in without spoilers, bear in mind that this is from the perspective of someone who generally really enjoys AC games and open world games in general.


Combat - Pretty good imo. There's more emphasis on parrying and dodging than usual in an AC game, particularly when playing as Naoe. Timing counters etc is pretty fun and there's undodgeable attacks you have to evade, certain classes you have to break stance or parry or dodge to attack head on, so it's less just walk into an area and swing like a maniac and smash everything than usual.

I wouldn't say the swordplay is as advanced as GOT as I haven't found it's got the stance changes mid fight etc and building skills out of different stances at least yet (it'd be late to introduce it at this point) but it's fun. So better than average AC but not as good as GOT in that regard for me.


Parkour is okay, kind of what you expect from the newer games. You've got a grappling hook which gives you some options, but none of the newer games are as smooth as something like Unity when it comes to traversing rooftops so it's not a return to that level but if you enjoyed the way it worked in origins or odyssey it's fine here, probably a little better in the sense that you can't just climb up anything by pressing up and do have to think about your route sometimes.

Stealth is good imo, plenty of options for ways to sneak into places. Usual issues with enemy AI where once you're prone on a rooftop for a minute they forget you just murdered half their mates but that's Assassin's Creed.

Game world I think is incredible from what I've seen so far. Areas are distinct from each other and I haven't really come across any big expanses of nothing yet. Lots of settlements, temples and castles dotted throughout the landscape.

Story wise it's fine so far. Both characters make sense and their backstories check out so far. Nothing I would call woke at all. I don't think any AC game is going to wow anyone with the storyline and writing but while it's hardly the Witcher 3 it's fine as an entry into the AC series.

Graphics are beautiful, but you can probably see that from any promotional material.

Scaling is good, lots of different options for upgrades and skills to unlock.

Base building is very good if you're into that, lots of different things in the game world you can collect for your base and lots of buildings you can throw up which gives you more scouts and helps your allies giving you motivation to collect resources in the game world.

Weather effects are some of the best I've seen.

Getting about is fine, usual markers, pathfinding and fast travel options. A lot of the viewpoints are in castles which I found a bit of a pain really as I don't really want to have the option to fast travel to the centre of a castle to attack it in a mission but it is what it is.

You don't have any bird this time but tbh I think that's better and you don't have the temptation to just send the bird to ruin the game world for you before you get there.


Mission wise it's the usual AC stuff. Meet someone, go to this area to look for them, track them down, kill them, maybe do a few other things before you're able to. Rinse and repeat. Same as any AC game.

A bit jumbled but those are my initial impressions without spoiling anything, but if you like AC games in general there's no reason you wouldn't like this one.

 

[NoSmilez]

Yeah. He's distinctly different to Naoe. Much more of a battering ram Sherdog type A level athlete. Cool that they're significantly different to play with unlike Syndicate where I never felt the characters played that much different really

Naoe is more of the traditional AC character. You sort of have to use her to climb and explore. Yasuke can climb a little bit but he sucks at it. He is fun during combat but moving around is terrible with his character. I think they had to make his character different or else nobody will play with Naoe. Naoe doesn't seem to be great at combat. Maybe unlocking different weapons would make her more powerful.

The game isn't bad but it's not game of the year. A lot of the good stuff they do gets overlooked in the game. Graphics wise it is really good. I think expectations are just too high for this game.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Naoe is more of the traditional AC character. You sort of have to use her to climb and explore. Yasuke can climb a little bit but he sucks at it. He is fun during combat but moving around is terrible with his character. I think they had to make his character different or else nobody will play with Naoe. Naoe doesn't seem to be great at combat. Maybe unlocking different weapons would make her more powerful.

The game isn't bad but it's not game of the year. A lot of the good stuff they do gets overlooked in the game. Graphics wise it is really good.

I find her fine at combat but you have to be much more evasive and speed based in the way you approach it.

Probably not game of the year but I don't think AC ever is really.