Can’t wait for Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Play these games instead

Ubisoft unveiled Assassin’s Creed Shadows last week, giving us our first real glimpse at the first Assassin’s Creed game to be set in Japan. Its Feudal Japan setting is something that fans of Assassin’s Creed have craved for a long time, and while it’s awesome that Ubisoft is finally delivering that concept, some other games did beat it to the punch. Many other developers have noticed how fruitful a historical Japan setting can be, from its feudal era all the way until the West started to intervene in the Edo period. As a result, there are quite a few games that I can recommend you check out while you’re waiting for Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ November 15 launch.

The five games I’m recommending all range in size. Three of them are AAA action games, all set in different eras of Japanese history that immerse players in different ways. Meanwhile, the other two games I’m spotlighting are more experimental titles that, while not directly comparable to Assassin’s Creed Shadows from a gameplay perspective, are still well worth your time if Japanese history and culture intrigue you.

Ghost of Tsushima

Getting the most obvious recommendation out of the way first, Ghost of Tsushima essentially beat Assassin’s Creed Shadows to the punch by being an open-world stealth-action game set in Japan. Sucker Punch Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s game takes place hundreds of years before Assassin’s Creed Shadows will and follows a Samurai defending the titular island from a Mongol invasion. Like many of Sony’s single-player offerings, it’s a cinematic and story-driven action game with cutting-edge visuals and AAA polish.

The environments in Ghost of Tsushima are particularly beautiful. While they are quite colorful, an included Kurosawa mode also makes the game black-and-white, giving it the same feel as the samurai films it’s based on. From a gameplay standpoint, it follows the Assassin’s Creed formula fairly closely, so those who enjoy a good mixture of open-world