Assassin's Creed Shadows

''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' is an action role-playing game with an emphasis on each of its two playable characters' set of unique skills. It is developed on an upgraded version of Anvil, using dynamic lighting and environmental interactions. Improvements include the addition of breakable objects and the ability to manipulate shadows and use a grappling hook for parkour. progresses through seasons which can affect gameplay (for example, ponds and shallow bodies of water in which Naoe can submerge herself and hide in, are frozen over in winter). Missions are non-linear, encouraging players to track and eliminate targets freely; in a change from previous games, vantage points exist to help the player look for points of interest, not to mark objectives. By default, ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' does not reveal the exact locations of targets or key NPCs, and the player must recruit and deploy scouts to narrow down their exact location based on clues given. New gameplay features include the ability to go prone and crawl along the ground, helping the player avoid detection and pass through small openings. The character can venture into shallow water, breathing through a bamboo stick. Traditional 'Eagle Vision' also makes a comeback for Naoe, allowing her to determine the locations of enemies and useful gameplay elements. Both Naoe and Yasuke can enter a new mode called "Observe", a fast and easy way of gathering information about targets. This mode is also available while crouching on high vantage points, enabling players to closely examine newly discovered places. Hiding in shadows makes Naoe invisible to her enemies, both indoors and outdoors, so players may choose to destroy lit lanterns with shurikens. Moving while crouching enables the player to move silently across creaking nightingale floors. Players can switch between characters as they progress through missions. A diverse selection of historically accurate weapons is available, from katanas and the kanabō war club, to polearms such as the naginata, thrown weapons such as shurikens and kunai, ranged weapons such as the yumi bow and teppo matchlock rifle, and the kusarigama. Each weapon comes with its own skill tree, enabling players to improve their proficiency. Both characters have distinctly different playstyles. Players can choose to take a stealthy, agile approach as Naoe, or charge headlong into combat as Yasuke. Naoe has access to four main weapons: the katana (held in a reverse grip), the kusarigama, the tantō dagger, which she dual-wields alongside her Hidden Blade, and the bo staff. Naoe's Hidden Blade can pivot, allowing her to hold it in an icepick grip. She can also use throwables that can deal damage, put out light sources, sabotage alarm systems, or distract and hinder enemies. Naoe is also skilled in parkour, able to climb most in-game structures on her own, or with aid from a grappling hook. She also has an agile style of combat, which includes dodging enemy strikes, deflecting enemy attacks into counters, and vaulting over enemies to strike them at their most vulnerable. Yasuke has access to five main weapons. He starts out with a long katana, and eventually gains access to the naginata and kanabo as secondary melee weapons. Yasuke is also deadly from a distance with the yumi bow and the teppo. Though not as skilled as Naoe in parkour, Yasuke makes up for it by having a larger health pool. He can also parry attacks, standing his ground and deflecting the enemy's blows to open up for a counter-offensive, and makes the most of his superior size and strength against his opponents by kicking and charging into them. == Synopsis ==

Setting ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' is set in feudal Japan, specifically starting in 1579 during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. This era marks the final stage of the Sengoku period, a time of intense civil war in Japan. The game features the historical figure Oda Nobunaga at the height of his power, following his victory over the Takeda clan using arquebus firearms. Key historical events include Nobunaga's assault on the Iga province in 1581, a significant battle involving the Iga ikki, known for their ninjutsu arts. Like previous ''Assassin's Creed titles, characters based on historical figures are present in the game, including the samurai Yasuke, one of the two playable characters, missionaries Luís Fróis and Alessandro Valignano, samurai Hattori Hanzo, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Ise Sadaoki, the sōhei'' , merchants Imai Sōkun and Imai Sōkyū, and tea master Sen no Rikyū, among others. The game world covers the Kansai region of central Japan, including locations like Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, and the Iga province, with historically-accurate castles such as Takeda and Fukuchiyama, along with detailed historical landmarks and strongholds designed as intricate dungeons. This setting reflects the urbanization of Japan at the time, featuring bustling ports, samurai districts, and ornate architecture, all significant for parkour and exploration in the game. The influence of Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries, who introduced Christianity and new technologies like cannons and long guns to Japan, also plays a role in shaping the game's environment and narrative. Plot In 1581, the African slave Diogo arrives in Kyoto alongside a delegation of Jesuit priests, who seek to negotiate with daimyo Oda Nobunaga for the safe passage of their missionaries throughout Japan. Nobunaga grants the request on the condition that Diogo be transferred into his service. Diogo, renamed Yasuke, begins training to become a samurai and, six months later, accompanies Nobunaga on his invasion of Iga Province to exterminate the shinobi of the Iga ikki. During the battle, the young shinobi Fujibayashi Naoe is tasked by her father Nagato to take his Hidden Blade and recover a box hidden in a nearby kofun, which she must protect at all costs. However, Naoe is ambushed by a masked samurai, who injures her and takes the box. Nagato rescues her and, after recovering, Naoe tracks down the masked samurai, assassinates him, and recovers the box. As she escapes, Naoe is shot and cornered by the masked samurai's comrades, who again seize the box. Nagato comes to her aid, but is mortally wounded by one of the masked men, who leave with the box; with his dying breath, Nagato instructs Naoe to "follow the blade." After recovering from her wounds, Naoe, seeking revenge on her father's killers and aiming to recover the stolen box, visits Tomiko, an old family friend. Tomiko grants Naoe usage of her homestead as a base to gather supplies and allies, and directs her to Sakai. There, Naoe finds leads to the whereabouts of two of the masked killers, and assassinates them both. She is then approached by Akechi Mitsuhide, who identifies Oda Nobunaga as the leader of the group, called the Shinbakufu, and enlists Naoe's help to eliminate him. Naoe infiltrates the Honnō-ji Temple and confronts Nobunaga, who reveals that Mitsuhide lied to her and that he is not part of the Shinbakufu. With Mitsuhide's army closing in, Nobunaga elects to commit seppuku with Yasuke's help while Naoe escapes. Now a rōnin, Yasuke, seeking a new purpose, approaches Naoe and asks to join her. He reveals that, during the invasion of Iga, he fought and killed the Iga ikkis leader, Momochi Sandayu, who also wielded a Hidden Blade and urged him to help Naoe if he found her. Naoe initially refuses to forgive Yasuke for partaking in Nobunaga's assault on Iga, but is told by her young ally Junjiro that the masked samurai she had killed was his father. With Junjiro having learned to forgive Naoe for her actions, Naoe agrees to give Yasuke a chance to make amends. Working together, the pair track down and eliminate more of the Shinbakufu, and in the process meet Nobunaga's former retainer, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Hattori Hanzō, an erstwhile member of the Iga ikki. Hanzō warns Naoe to forget about the box, claiming that both her father and her mother, Tsuyu, died protecting it. However, seeing that Naoe will not back down, Hanzō instructs her to head to a kofun in Settsu to learn the truth about her parents. There, Naoe finds an Assassin hideout and journal, revealing that Emperor Go-Nara had tasked the Assassins to build a new Brotherhood in Japan, with Tsuyu being one of the Assassins given the task. Deciding to continue the Assassins' mission, Naoe, Yasuke, Tomiko, and Junjiro form the Kakushiba ikki (the "League of the Hidden Blade"). As Naoe and Yasuke build up their league with new recruits, they deal with the remaining Shinbakufu until only Mitsuhide and the group's mysterious leader remain. At the Battle of Yamazaki, Naoe and Yasuke join Hashiba Hideyoshi's army in besieging Shōryūji Castle, where Mitsuhide has taken refuge. After mortally wounding him, Mitsuhide identifies the leader of the Shinbakufu as former shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who sought to regain his power after being dethroned by Oda Nobunaga. With Mitsuhide dead, Hideyoshi claims victory and promises to reform Japan as Nobunaga's successor, to which Naoe warns him to keep his promise. Afterwards, she and Yasuke confront Yoshiaki, who offers to trade both the stolen box and information for his life. He reveals that the box is one of three, each containing one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, and that an Assassin matching Tsuyu's description was spotted in Yamato. He also reveals that the Templar Order—which Yasuke has history with—supported the Shinbakufu, and that the Templar Kimura Kei is recruiting new members to the Order's cause in Kii. Sparing Yoshiaki's life, Naoe and Yasuke split up to investigate their new leads. Naoe travels to Yamato, where she recalls the story Nagato had told her about Tsuyu. Many years prior, the Assassins, under Tsuyu's leadership, safeguarded the Imperial Regalia until they were massacred by the Shinbakufu. Tsuyu managed to protect one of the regalia and gave it to Nagato while she left to search for the rest, but never returned. Naoe finds the Assassins' intended hiding place for the regalia and returns her box, fulfilling her promise to her father. Hanzō then arrives and returns the second box, which Ieyasu recovered from the Templars. He admits that he had betrayed the Assassins out of jealousy at Tsuyu choosing Nagato over him, and sold the regalia's location to the Shinbakufu. Naoe ultimately forgives Hanzō and offers him a chance to correct his mistake by helping her find Tsuyu, who they both believe is still alive. Meanwhile, Yasuke tracks down and eliminates both Kimura Kei and Duarte de Melo, the Portuguese Templar and slaver he had previously served. He then confronts Nuno Caro, the leader of the Templar Order in Japan, who had killed Yasuke's mother years prior after suspecting her of being a spy; Yasuke was nearly killed as well, but escaped thanks to a distraction from an Assassin. As Yasuke kills Caro, he proclaims his new identity as a member of the Kakushiba ikki, and declares war on the Templars. Claws of Awaji Hanzō contacts Naoe after finding a lead about Tsuyu's possible location on Awaji Island, which is firmly ruled by the Sanzoku Ippa, a group of outlaws affiliated with the Templars. Naoe locates and reunites with her mother, who has been held captive for years by Kimura Yukari, daughter of Kimura Kei, in an attempt to learn the whereabouts of the final Imperial Regalia, which Tsuyu had stolen and hidden from the Templars. However, Naoe is captured by Yukari, who reveals that she lured her to Awaji in the hopes that threatening her life would finally make Tsuyu reveal the regalia's location. Learning of Naoe's predicament, Yasuke mounts a rescue mission and frees both Naoe and Tsuyu, though the latter is wounded during their escape. In no condition to fight, Tsuyu reluctantly tells Naoe and Yasuke of the regalia's hiding place so they can retrieve it. However, the Sanzoku Ippa ambush the pair and steal the regalia while Naoe and Yasuke are saved by a timely distraction from Hanzō. In order to reach Yukari and recover the regalia, Naoe and Yasuke then decide to weaken the Sanzoku Ippa's grip over Awaji by eliminating Yukari's three lieutenants: Imagawa Tomeji, Nowaki, and Yasuhira. This inspires the people of Awaji to revolt against the Sanzoku Ippa's oppression, allowing Naoe, Yasuke, and Hanzō to lead an assault on Yukari's stronghold at Iwaya Castle while Tsuyu recovers the regalia. Yasuke confronts and duels Yukari, who reprimands Yasuke's former service to Oda Nobunaga and his newfound allegiance to the Kakushiba ikki, claiming that he is following the path imposed by others instead of forging his own destiny. Yasuke ultimately kills Yukari, while Naoe rescues Tsuyu after she is attacked by Yukari's soldiers during her escape with the regalia. As the two reconcile, Tsuyu accepts that her days as a warrior have passed and decides to instead become the mother Naoe never had. After being re-joined by Yasuke, the trio decide to return the Imperial Reglia to the Emperor, before Tsuyu leaves for Iga and encourages Naoe to spend time with Yasuke and Junjiro, her new family. == Development ==

''Assassin's Creed Shadows was announced at Ubisoft Forward in September 2022 under the working title Assassin's Creed: Codename Red along with its planned successor Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe. There, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed would be entering a third period related to shifts in design philosophy and approaches to future games, all connected by a working concept called Assassin's Creed Infinity (later renamed to the Animus Hub). The first major gameplay details were announced on May 15, 2024, along with the final name and release date. It was also later revealed that Ubisoft Quebec who previously developed Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Assassin's Creed Syndicate would be developing the game. Development began in 2020, following the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla''. Shadows is the first game in the series to be aimed at the ninth generation of video game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S), dropping support for the eighth generation consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One). Lead producer Karl Onnée said the hardware available in the newer consoles was necessary to support the new version of their engine that supplies effects like light, shadows, and dynamic weather. During a Ubisoft financial meeting, CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that while the company does not disclose production costs or any final costs, Shadows exceeded €100 million ($116 million) in expenses. During a financial results web call Ubisoft has confirmed it plans to release additional versions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows for "other machines". == Marketing and release ==

''Assassin's Creed Shadows was initially scheduled to release for iPadOS, macOS, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on November 15, 2024. In September 2024, Ubisoft announced that, despite the game being feature complete, they opted to delay the release to February 14, 2025, for further polishing, citing insights gained from the Star Wars Outlaws'' launch in August. The company also cancelled the game's season pass and refunded existing pre-orders, with future pre-orders set to include the first expansion for free. In a shift from Ubisoft's previous release practices, the PC version would launch simultaneously on Steam, Epic Games Store, and Ubisoft Connect. In January 2025, Ubisoft postponed the release once again to March 20, as the company explored its sale options and to provide developers with more time to implement additional changes. Shadows was rated as "CERO Z" in January 2025 by Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO), which legally limits sale of the game to adults; CERO issued its rating based on the amount of gore that was present in the game such as body dismemberment. While the game will be released internationally with an in-game toggle to show or disable the gore, Ubisoft said that they are working to make a Japan-specific version of the game which will not include the toggle and eliminate the gore from the game to achieve a less strict CERO rating. A collectible figure was scheduled to be released in promotion for the game. The figure used a design similar to the damaged one-legged Torii gate Sannō Shrine in Nagasaki, located less than a mile from the epicenter of the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. It was removed from sale following claims of cultural insensitivity. In February 2025, leaked gameplay footage showed Yasuke being able to enter the Itatehyōzu Shrine and destroy the altar, causing controversy. Shrine officials said they were not consulted about the shrine's usage in the game and that they would take "appropriate action" against the game. In February 2025, Ubisoft stated that pre-orders for the game were in line with those of ''Assassin's Creed Odyssey'', the series' second best-selling game. In that same month, it was reported that physical copies of the game for PlayStation 5 leaked. Upon the release of the video game's premiere trailer on May 15, 2024, the decision to feature Yasuke as a central character prompted criticism online. Some fans on social media and conservative critics reacted negatively to the inclusion of a Black samurai protagonist instead of an indigenous Japanese one, accusing Ubisoft of "going woke", or stating that Yasuke was "not a 'real' samurai." Sachi Schmidt-Hori, an associate professor at Dartmouth College in Japanese culture who had aided Ubisoft in reviewing the game's dialog for accuracy, became a target for harassment, though she was able to fend off some of these attacks herself. Multiple commentators, including Laurence Russell of Wired, likened the backlash to the Gamergate harassment campaign and the alt-right. Elon Musk criticized ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' and Ubisoft for "woke" content, claiming that "DEI kills art", and specified the inclusion of Yasuke as offensive. Ubisoft responded by saying that Musk's comments were "just feeding hatred" and that they were focused on producing a game, not pushing politics. Ubisoft has defended their position on their choices for Yasuke in response to the criticism. Game director Charles Benoit said that Yasuke was chosen because players could discover Japan at the same time as Yasuke, "through his eyes, the eyes of a foreigner". Matt Kim of IGN praised the choice of Yasuke to differentiate itself from other samurai games featuring Asian protagonists. Scholar Thomas Lockley defended Yasuke's portrayal as a samurai, and stated that no reputable Japanese historian had questioned Yasuke's samurai status. In part due to the criticism Ubisoft received over Yasuke, the company reportedly cancelled development of another ''Assassin's Creed'' title in 2024 that took place during the American Civil War, where the main character would have been a Black slave that escaped, was recruited by the Assassins, and took on groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Following complaints from Hiroyuki Kada of the Japanese House of Councillors and Shigeru Ishiba, Prime Minister of Japan, Ubisoft removed the ability to destroy certain objects within temples, as well as reducing the "amount of blood shed by NPCs in the various shrines and temples across ''Assassin's Creed Shadows''". Just prior to release, Ubisoft offered guidance and resources to its developers in regards to their social media accounts and potential harassment. A few months before the initial release date, All Elite Wrestling collaborated with Ubisoft to promote their game at All In 2024, with wrestler Will Ospreay having a special entrance featuring ninja-inspired choreography. The following year, at All In 2025, Ospreay had another special entrance inspired by the game, once again featuring a crowd of ninja-inspired extras. Shadows was released for macOS, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 20, 2025. For the promotion of the game on March 26, 2025, Ubisoft partnered with Lofi Girl. On May 27, 2025, Shadows received additional content in the form of crossovers with Balatro and Dead by Daylight, including cosmetic items and a new quest. Claws of Awaji, the first paid downloadable content pack for the game, was released on September 16, 2025. Set on Awaji Island, the DLC pack includes new gears and abilities, as well as a 10-hour story campaign. This expansion pack was developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux. == Reception ==

Critical reception ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, Morgan Park of PC Gamer criticized the game's dull story, "bland cast, and barrage of quests", and Fraser Brown said that there was "a lot to like" but criticized the RPG elements. and three million players within a week. The feat established the game as the highest ''Assassin's Creed game by concurrent players on Steam to date. On its half-year 2026 report ending September 30, 2025, Ubisoft reported that Shadows'' was "overperforming". According to analysis by market research firm Circana, Shadows was the best-selling game of March 2025 in the U.S. They ranked the game as the second-best selling game of the year in the U.S. as of April, behind Monster Hunter Wilds and ahead of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. By July, it had fallen to third place, with Monster Hunter Wilds and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered surpassing it, while it remained ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. According to market research firm GfK, ''Assassin's Creed Shadows had the largest physical video game launch in the United Kingdom in 2025, surpassing Monster Hunter Wilds. In March 2025, market research firm Newzoo reported that it debuted as the second highest-grossing game across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, trailing only Fortnite. According to video game sales-tracking service GSD as of July 2025, Shadows'' was Europe's best-selling new PC and console game released in 2025 and the second best-selling 2025 game overall behind EA Sports FC 25. Rhys Elliott of the games market data firm Alinea Analytics said that while Ubisoft says Shadows had 2 million players by March 2025, PlayStation 5 and Steam data from the first two days showed that only half of those appeared to come from sales, the other half being from subscription services. According to Ubisoft's mid-2025 financial results, Shadows surpassed the 5 million player mark by July 2025 and performed in line with expectations. Awards == Notes ==