SGF 2024: Assassin's Creed Shadows Puts The Power Of Choice In The Player's Hands

It's about time Assassin's Creed made its way to Japan. 

Granted, to some it might be coming too little too late. Ghost Of Tsushima took on feudal Japan in 2020 to massive critical and commercial success, thanks in part to a terrific story and even better swordplay. However, this is Assassin's Creed, a franchise that has cut its teeth on turning history into a virtual playground for nearly two decades now, and after sitting through an extended hands-off preview at Summer Game Fest, it's clear that selling it short would be a mistake.

Our presentation started with the same gameplay demo shown at the Ubisoft Forward presentation. We saw the same seasons change, we pet the same shiba inu (of course, because he is the best boy), and we spoke to the same elderly woman in Fukuchiyama. Yasuke took down the corrupt samurai Jiro, and then we saw Naoe scale the walls of Fukuchiyama Castle in classic Assassin's Creed style to take out Lord Hayashi. Even with a second viewing, we were still impressed. 

However, our demo then went back to where the player chooses who gets to take out Hayashi between Naoe and Yasuke, and this time it was the hulking samurai who was selected to carry out the mission. This offers a completely different way to approach the same goal, and it highlights the amount of agency having dual protagonists like this gives the player. Some people aren't as good at stealth as others, and Yasuke is made with them in mind. 

The samurai walks through the front door, basically, and takes out every enemy he sees with brutal precision. At one point, he faces three different enemies at once, and with only three swings of his sword, the entire trio is left face down in the mud. However, this guns-blazing approach does have its extra obstacles; at one point, as Yasuke attempted to cross a bridge, a massive enemy wielding a giant hammer emerged from the doorway. This was a tougher battle, one that required a little more thought, but eventually Yasuke took the giant