Assassins Creed Shadows Review 80+ Hours Played

Metatube

Assassins Creed Shadows Review In this review of Assassin's Creed Shadows, I'll share my thoughts after playing over 80 hours of gameplay. Dive into the world of AC Shadows with me!  #games #assassinscreed #reviews #gameplay  ┃🔴 https://www.patreon.com/AngryCentaurGaming Substack https://substack.com/@acgreview  The ACG Best Gaming Podcast New Channel @Thebestgamingpodcast check it out Subscribe- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK9_x1DImhU-eolIay5rb2Q/?subconfirmation=1 Join the channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK9_x1DImhU-eolIay5rb2Q/join  ACG Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/ACGVids/  🕶 If you want to help out the channel you can buy a game on Epic use the ACG creator code KARAK-ACG ===========================================================  MORE REVIEWS Sniper Elite Resistance https://youtu.be/-wlwGNWqcSU Planet Coaster 2 https://youtu.be/0pJPcsqCuTs Still Wakes the Review https://youtu.be/qPs6aThTvPk Dragons Dogma 2 Review https://youtu.be/eKu3cwSuBYw   ============================================================  We also do the Best Gaming and Videogame Podcast each Friday 🎧Itunes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acg-the-best-gaming-podcast/id966781846 🎧ACG Reviews and Podcast on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7ksaVxOmtaWDOYHvg4a4xK?si=8df0eae9bf6b4af7 🎩ACG Merch Store https://acg.creator-spring.com/ 🎩ACG Amazon Affiliate https://amzn.to/3cW7GQ0  Coverage includes ps4, PS5, XBox series X/s, Xbox one, pc, Switch, and digital storefronts like Steam, as well as companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Buy, wait for a sale, rent, or never touch it. The Patented Karak review system to see if a game is worth a buy upon release or if I recommend waiting

Transcript

00:00Japan's always been the break glass in case of emergency location for Assassin's Creed.

00:04But as the immortal rap ninja DMX once said, it's not what you heard.

00:08It's what you'll hear it.

00:09And none of this will matter if the change isn't profound.

00:12Also, yes, there will be spoilers about 16th century Japan in here.

00:16So if you haven't read all the tweets from supposedly time traveling historians on Twitter,

00:19then watch out.

00:20How can shadows hold up not only as a single game, perhaps to a first time player, but

00:24also against current titles and against all past AC games, but in particular to Valhalla's

00:29insane success going on to make almost $2 billion.

00:33Speaking of two shadows introduced the first time where two protagonists, two vastly different

00:37ways to ruin someone's day are leading the way.

00:39Well, there was syndicate, but this is far beyond Jacob and Evie arguing over which group

00:43of children they could save from London's slavery hat shops.

00:46Assassin's Creed shadows drops players into the chaotic backstab happy world of 16th century

00:51Japan during a time when warlords played musical chairs with power and trust lasted about as

00:55long as informing the region of the latest leadership changes.

00:58On one side, you've got Yasuke serving under the current daimyo wielding brute strength

01:02weapons that hit like freight trains and a skeleton key to open most doors in the form

01:06of a 250 pound man.

01:08On the other, there's Nahoe, a shinobi, which is shadow's way of finally trying to reintroduce

01:13stealth and true assassination back into a game that's been stealing that name for years.

01:17Elusive, smooth, agile, sneaky, and equipped with a cuirassagama that swings through the

01:21air like a medieval weed whacker, a death, both sides offering two different things.

01:25Now, you could say, at least at the start, that one is on the good side and one's on

01:28the bad side.

01:30That's like not realizing the rebellion would be cancer if your body was Star Wars.

01:33It's missing a lot of the context, and this context is delivered to you across intertwining

01:37storylines that tackle themes of honor, survival, family loyalty, and political backstabbing.

01:42So basically just another Tuesday in feudal Japan.

01:44And it's not just the dual protagonist delivery that's getting a bit of an overhaul.

01:48The open world is on a seasonal cycle, meaning you'll be sneaking through cherry blossom

01:51groves one moment and slogging through snow-covered villages the next.

01:55If you've played Assassin's Creed Origins or any of the games prior, expect a world

01:59of similar scale but far more verticality, shadows to skulk in and rice paper doors to

02:03slice through like lethal home invasion ads.

02:06Oh yeah, subscriber, I'll die.

02:07The gameplay starts off with a short animus section, and then you're thrown to the world,

02:1116th century Japan, bouncing between both characters shortly for their entrances and

02:15introductions with Yasuke being tasked to confab with Japanese royalty and then transforming

02:20into a samurai.

02:21Games likes to brace those two against one another, at least for a short time, offering

02:25a glimmer of reason why you can see that they might be on the same side in the upcoming

02:29troubles, or at least leaning towards it.

02:31Open up the world with tutorials explaining movement, combat, switching weapons as you

02:34get more, riding horses, meditation, painting, and how the game moves you through the story,

02:39which is a massive objective board.

02:42As you move forward and meet new characters, you take on new jobs.

02:45Each board opens up with a display of a thematic ring of people that are involved in whatever

02:49particular aspect of the story you're investigating.

02:51A group of challenges, a series of lords, a smattering of evil SOB's bent on taking

02:56everything for themselves.

02:57And to find them, you have to investigate leads that are related to them.

03:01Play the game in discovery mode.

03:02You need to travel the world looking for those clues yourself, or once you build your hideout,

03:06you can send agents out to scout out information about whatever objective you currently have.

03:11This not only involves different storylines, worldviews, playable moments, but it also

03:15extends out their playstyles to dramatically different angles, focusing on stealth for

03:20one, outright force for the other.

03:22You can also switch between them pretty much at will.

03:25There are particular quests that are specific for each one, and there's certainly places

03:29that will be easier or more difficult depending on who you're playing as.

03:33Also, while Shadows still has fast travel and synchronization points, it doesn't end

03:37up unlocking a ton of noticeable locations by doing that.

03:41Instead, after you find a high location, you manually use focus on particular spots

03:46around the game world that you can see to get a little bit more information about him.

03:50That focus system is also used in combat, which I'll get to in a second.

03:53While both have typical light and heavy attacks, holding the attack button down on either powers

03:58up an attack into what's called a posture attack.

04:01These do extra damage, break most enemies blocks, and in some ways can be comboed to

04:05others depending on what you're using.

04:07Also, both have defensive moves.

04:09For example, both can dodge out of the way.

04:11Yasuke can parry directly backwards, which forces enemies away.

04:15Nahoe deflects them.

04:17Regardless, both of these can also result in the enemies going into what's called a

04:20vulnerable state.

04:21This is a mini state of stunned, basically with giving you additional powers and openings

04:25that can be taken advantage of.

04:27What makes this shift so impactful is that the game doesn't just let you flip between

04:31play styles, or it doesn't force you to.

04:33If you're Nahoe, combat is punishment for failing at stealth, or it's your choice

04:37if you decide to do that.

04:39And while he doesn't have the ability to focus in and see enemies, Nahoe can.

04:42She can use that focus to see the chances of her assassin's blade and its kills being

04:47successful.

04:48Because depending on the upgrades that you work through, some of the enemy's defenses

04:51with the first stealth attack may be too much for you to break through, and assassinations

04:56can go horribly wrong for both characters.

04:58The result?

04:59Every battle does feel pretty deliberate, and with some of the changes they've made,

05:02you do have more tools, or at least it feels like you do, to engage in those battles.

05:06You don't have the spiritual ones that we see in, say, Valhalla, but they feel a bit

05:10more grounded here, even if, let's be honest, kicking somebody across the mountain does

05:15seem a little overpowered, it still feels good.

05:18This also depends on the weapon, as I said before.

05:20So for example, Yasuke has the Naginata.

05:22This is a long-range weapon, but not in the same way a spear is.

05:25It's wide and sweeping.

05:26It's eight-foot defensive zones made out of offensive threat.

05:30Combos you learn both naturally as well as from a skill list can help you combine attacks,

05:34moving between katana and that in a natural way to keep attacks flowing and hold pretty

05:39much everybody at bay.

05:40While his club is shorter range, its impact strength is insane.

05:44There are others that you get as well when it comes to powers and sometimes combos, though

05:47depending on where you put your points, they'll unlock earlier or later.

05:51He also has a bow and arrow, which is almost silent and works really well to give you a

05:54small amount of stealth strategy up front, while his rifle is just a huge hard-hitting

05:59explosion that tells everybody in the area, hey, you know what?

06:02Enemy right here.

06:03With no way, it's different.

06:04Her strikes are faster.

06:05Her inability to truly block means deflecting blows to the side combined with her ability

06:10to dash more quickly is useful.

06:12She can get in and out of fights fast, but she also has the curse of gamma, meaning that

06:16both of the characters have really a crowd control item.

06:20Each of them has their own mastery lists as well that unlock when you find weapons or

06:23equip them.

06:24One way AC tries to show the development of the physical and mental is that you have knowledge

06:28rank, which goes up via none of your physical activities.

06:32It's all mental activities.

06:34As with normal levels, knowledge levels raised for both characters at the same time.

06:38So you don't have to go back and do anything else with anybody.

06:41If you decide to play with one character for a while and then switch them out, I like most

06:45of these skills.

06:46There is a number of passive ones adding percentages here and there, which let's be honest, are

06:50just boring.

06:51Now, one of the best improvements though is prone.

06:53Now you can slip into the grass, crawl under buildings, use water to mask your movements.

06:57It's a small addition when you think about it, but it makes a massive difference to the

07:03way the game feels and even way sight lines are used.

07:06And yes, both characters can do it.

07:08Now, Ubisoft has also adjusted the AI and this is important on the harder difficulties.

07:13Guards don't just exist to fill a particular spot.

07:16Does that mean shadows AI is incredible?

07:19Actually no, but it has made some changes that I think work.

07:22For example, on easy enemies wander around like they're just killing time before lunch,

07:25barely aware their coworkers are getting mysteriously transferred to the afterlife.

07:30Medium cranks that awareness up a bit, making them less like clueless extras, more like

07:33people actually want to keep their heads attached to their bodies.

07:36Hard though, that's where the game stops holding your hand and starts really just squeezing

07:39your throat.

07:40Guards noticeably track movements more realistically.

07:42They react dynamically to sound and light more quickly and turn a rooftop into a deathtrap

07:47the second they suspect that you are up there.

07:49This is where shadows feels the most alive.

07:52It's not a playground, but a bit of a battlefield that changes depending on what steps you take.

07:56They track footprints in the snow, they respond to the noises and they don't actually just

08:00give up right away.

08:01If you hide in a bush, if you blow out a lantern, they'll investigate.

08:04If you disrupt their patrol, they won't just instantly reset.

08:08To give you an example on easy, I was able to get away with a grapple hook to a ledge

08:11pretty easily as somebody was following me by just going around a corner, leaving an

08:15evaporating ghost of myself to indicate where they last saw me like a ninja fart in the

08:19wind and hard.

08:20However, climbing to the top lost the first enemy, but then two others saw me climbing

08:24and a third saw me on the roof, ultimately making the entire situation way worse than

08:29it could have been.

08:30And their reactions to it were almost instantaneously, which was to yell out and fire.

08:35That being said, when I returned to the area as Yasuke, this played out pretty much completely

08:38differently.

08:39Yasuke can't climb everything, so running around a corner needed to be almost instant

08:44and going prone was required because the dude's bigger than most bushes, namely your sextate.

08:48For example, this exact situation changed when I took Yasuke to it and I tried a heavy

08:53assassination.

08:54He does the assassinations like this, like most people celebrate a fucking soccer goal.

08:58It's even called brutal assassination.

09:00During nights and with no environmental sounds, this alerts everybody.

09:03However, I did notice that if I was able to get a guard just a bit farther away, the rain

09:07and wind actually muted a bit of that attack sound.

09:10Realize that it is a soft detection system, so risk is rewarded with either an amazing

09:15moment of killing somebody and then heavily trundling back to the shadows or with everybody

09:19in 50 feet figuring out that you just double fisted a dude above your head.

09:23Another change is that shadows does seem to do away with the sweepstakes winning gold

09:27a thons that the prior games had.

09:29There is a lot less random loot and money in shadows than any other game in the past

09:35decade.

09:36Weapons and armor start out at a particular level when you grab them and a quality you've

09:39got common, uncommon, rare and epic with each adding either stat improvements or extra engraving

09:45slots with weapons having attributes like DPS or notifications that they can cause particular

09:49afflictions like poison or stunning somebody.

09:52There is also legendary items that you get from specific moments.

09:56The same goes for the armor.

09:58You get it from merchants or from exploration around the world, sometimes in hidden locations,

10:02other times in places more dangerous like castles, which are many dungeons in a way

10:05where not only do you have to get to a chest in the center of the location, but you also

10:10have to kill the locations main protectors, which can be insanely difficult.

10:15Just a point of note, these guys are rough.

10:17Each has their own skills.

10:19Sometimes you get other characters like almost a shinobi or massive warriors with heavier

10:22armor than you even have, and they love to team up.

10:25So facing three or four normal enemies and two of these characters is just hanging out

10:30trying to see who can turn anybody else into a fucking puddle of tomato paste quicker.

10:35That doesn't include the enemies that raise alarms and flood locations with even more.

10:39Now once done upgrading weapons and armor, you can also upgrade and build that hideout.

10:43This is fully customizable as a base on a hidden parcel of land that you have.

10:47I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but going there and winter and just running

10:51around and watching the different characters interact and just seeing some of the locations

10:56that I was able to build over time was pretty cool.

10:59As a complete package, it's a game that has some paced out feelings, a slower starting

11:02than I would have ever liked, especially as it has a lot of story and a great deal of

11:06changes to deliver to the gamer.

11:08And it's really in no rush to get going.

11:10Once it does, once you get to switch between characters, once you can move through the

11:13world and just explore, then it was actually a profoundly different experience, perhaps

11:18too Spartan for some.

11:20I could see that.

11:21But what surprised me is that both characters, while fitting an archetype, while responding

11:25to the weather as well as the day night cycle and what that means, played into each other's

11:29pocket if you decided you want to accept those negatives, meaning if you take the stealth

11:35character and want to go loud or the loud character and crawl through some blood and

11:38shit to sneak up on somebody, you can't.

11:41And once you start engraving items onto the weapons and really changing these massive

11:45statistics on them, it can also make you feel like, you know what, I'm gonna experiment

11:49a little bit.

11:50Be aware, though, that if you go out and start killing a bunch of people or if you get caught

11:54killing innocents and then run away and you're painted around those locations as being an

11:59outlaw and you're wanted until the next season shows up or you switch characters.

12:03Now, that being said, I do wish the combat flow just a bit better, especially enemy attack

12:08patterns other than the bosses and the sub bosses inside of castles.

12:12The enemies all seem to be trained by the exact same leader, a true army, which means

12:15their patterns are usually three to four movesets depending on your location and distance.

12:20I don't want Dark Souls shit that's stupid, nor do I want the rock, paper, scissors of

12:23ghost, though both have their place.

12:25I just feel that there's something that's always been slightly missing from the AC games

12:29in particular, and I would have liked to have seen that stepped up a bit here.

12:32It didn't end up breaking the game, though.

12:34The game does handle leads, stealth, base upgrading weapons, enemies, new tactics.

12:39When it comes to sensing you absolutely in a better way than let's say the holiday.

12:45When it comes to better, let's see if the graphics are.

12:48First of all, there are moments of pure friggin brilliance in this game verticality.

12:52Number one, it's on display everywhere in a location where I think some people mistakenly

12:56think that there wouldn't be as much.

12:58It's on display almost right away and never stops.

13:00And the draw distance in this game is the best I've seen in an AC title by far.

13:05Seeing an ancient Japanese fortress off in the far distance and then working your way

13:08through bamboo fields, huge, massively deep forests, and then across the coast and an

13:13ocean leaping onto a boat, finding some small island that doesn't look like has anything

13:17on it.

13:18But then you find a group there meditating and discussing the current kingdom's changes.

13:21Then you trudge through deformable snow on your way up the mountain and cut through a

13:25drift and then cut through the walls of someone's ramshackle outpost, ignoring the walkway up

13:30that's covered with guards and just yelling surprise and then slicing everybody down.

13:35One of the best parts is that destruction, that ability to slice through somebody's

13:39wall or spot.

13:40While it's not perfect, not every single element can be cut, cut through cover to bear

13:44down on some dude beating a drum who expected a shitload of things in a day, but not a rampaging

13:49samurai hammering him in the head with a huge bike club is awesome.

13:53Cutting down bamboo in a forest might lose you half an hour as you just explore and try

13:57to find things that you can destroy.

13:59Also, the dynamic weather system does look good.

14:01It's noticeable not only in the difference between let's say rain and sunny, but at times

14:06like in real life when you notice that the sun is actually shining, but the rain's coming

14:10down sideways and it's preceding the clouds and you can watch it roll in or huge puddles

14:14building up all along the game world.

14:16It's fact that the weather also changes when moving between seasons that I don't like.

14:20I get it.

14:21Each of the four seasons is triggered by those story elements, but we haven't got a truly

14:25dynamic one yet that adds snow, deletes snow, that kind of stuff in a game.

14:29So it's probably too much to ask here.

14:30I'd kill for that someday in a game where you can see those in real time.

14:34Also, when you slip on a frozen pond in this game or watch an enemy do it when the water

14:39freezes over and what you passed through originally by swimming is now frozen and you end up slipping

14:45and sliding.

14:46That's some excellent physical storytelling.

14:47It just looks hilarious.

14:49The same can be said for the animations.

14:51They're good and bad.

14:52Many are AC typical, meaning they don't really feel exactly real.

14:56Others work incredibly well here.

14:57For example, Yasuke hits and just has a general King Kong smashing through shit kind of feel

15:03and the finishers with him are awesome.

15:05The first time you chop someone's arms off separately from their head for no reason other

15:09than to shut their scream hole is very cool.

15:12However, there are others that don't measure up in particular climbing itself as a mixture

15:16of old and new parkour.

15:18It still has times where it feels like the game's edges are stickier than they should

15:21be and that can look goofy as hell and climbing with a grapple can go between looking fantastic

15:25to feeling like something ancient in the very same second.

15:29Speaking of ancient and well, current textures, I would say for the most part they look pretty

15:33current.

15:34It depends on the setting that you're using design wise, however, and just worldwide.

15:38I like this better, at least the world than I did Valhalla and perhaps even at least in

15:43some places Odyssey, which is probably the only game I really absolutely liked in the

15:48AC new trilogy.

15:49That's because not only the new locations, but that huge, noticeable, profound verticality

15:54that's delivered in a different way here and that dynamic weather and vegetation when it

15:58comes to the seasons, but also because of the limited destruction, which just feels

16:02like it changes some of the gameplay graphically.

16:04I have no real issues with the game again.

16:07Some of the animations are reused.

16:08We get that kind of thing, especially because this is not a brand new engine.

16:12I would like to see those fixed in whatever series we get next, but let's discuss the

16:17requirements for getting this to your system.

16:19We're going to discuss the PC ones for now.

16:21The game has a mode called selective ray tracing, which sounds required, but it's actually

16:24not.

16:25This runs a software version of ray tracing in the hideouts only that Ubisoft created.

16:29So you don't need to have ray tracing enabled cards to play the game nor actually use the

16:33hideout.

16:34It's just that the hideout area runs a software version because they have so many changes

16:38going on that you make in the game world at any time that you want it.

16:42And then from there up, they have different levels of ray tracing from basic, which is

16:45global illumination.

16:46And that of course requires a card that supports it.

16:49And then extended, which uses ray tracing for global illumination in the world as well

16:53as reflections.

16:54Performance with a 4090 shows a couple things.

16:56The first is the game leans heavily on the GPU and while you can get 60 FPS with most

17:00settings on high with no upscaler, when the game throws a ton of environmental effects

17:04at you or changes the time or during a larger battle, this does drop.

17:09The big killer here is of course, ray tracing and the connections to it in the option settings.

17:14It does offer DLSS, XLSS and FSR for upscaling as well as in engine upscaling that can be

17:19set to low, medium or high, but you can also set a resolution target as well as an FPS

17:25target.

17:26Frame gen is also available in this and the game does have a ton of settings.

17:29The biggest impactors to FPS that I could find were of course ray tracing.

17:33Then you have level of detail, distance drawing and shadows.

17:37They may have to do some adjustments.

17:38Now an issue that I did notice for this is cutscenes for whatever reason, no matter what

17:41I did, were locked at 30 FPS.

17:43I've emailed them, ask them and I haven't heard anything, but it was over the weekend.

17:46This highlights another bit of a problem that I had with the game, which is lip syncing.

17:50I didn't feel like it was fantastic and it's noticeable in a lot of the cutscenes, probably

17:55because you add the 30 FPS to it and when you see that big drop, it's just something

17:59that's noticeable on the PC.

18:01Also there's a reason why let's talk about sound music and voice just for a second voice.

18:05This is pretty hit and missed.

18:07First I'm going to get this out of the way.

18:08You can listen to shadows in many ways.

18:09You have different voiceovers as well as fully cinematic style mode that moves everything

18:13and everyone out of English into their respective languages with subtitles that you can have

18:18show up if you want.

18:20First I suggest if you're going to do that, you make sure those subtitles are on because

18:23there are a couple that will end up having a discussion outside of the main characters

18:28where there's a lead or a little bit of information that can help you.

18:32Next up, some of the later characters, some of the more profoundly important ones are

18:34awesome.

18:35They're delivered very well from menace to mysteriousness all the way to a flirtation

18:39and fun loving.

18:40Some of my favorites were also later quest lines that revolved around finding, for example,

18:45past students of a teacher of yours and each one of them was distinct.

18:48However, the two main leads are two vastly different performances and I say this with

18:53all due respect to whatever was going on.

18:55This is something that I think a lot of people noticed in some of the trailers, not always

18:59delivery.

19:00It's not lost in translation.

19:01It's not lacking attempt.

19:03It's just everything about the way she sounds is oddly off kilter and short and stilted.

19:08And a lot of this is because the writing in shadows is fairly basic.

19:12A lot of these characters live in a world where they don't do a ton of talking, so

19:16it actually makes sense, but it just doesn't come off incredibly well.

19:20Yes.

19:21Okay.

19:22On the other hand, no real issues.

19:23A voice is strong.

19:24It's measured, carry some weight.

19:25There's a tiny bit more nuance there.

19:26NPCs and quest dialogue do take a hit in English though.

19:29Dialogue for many is really bare bones delivered in one liners and then boom about and you're

19:34done and a screen updates with a quest also.

19:37And I just don't know how this showed up again.

19:39Ubisoft's voice recordings have that weird processing that we heard in Bahala.

19:43It's not compressed in the same way.

19:45It's almost like the top and bottom though, have a bit more of a harmonic edge to them

19:50that have been changed during the actual recording.

19:52And there are times when Yasuke in particular is talking and it sounds slightly robotic.

19:58A normal gamer might play this and not ever notice it.

20:00I spent a couple hours testing it, different systems, different headsets, even going back

20:04to older Ubisoft games, much less noticeable than Bahala, but I did pick up on it.

20:09I usually play games in English first because of the aforementioned subtitles, quests, leads

20:13and barks not getting lost in subtitle drops or chaos.

20:17However, I would say this is one of the few games where switching might behoove you, even

20:22if you're like me.

20:23Next up is sound.

20:24Now, for the most part, the sound is excellent.

20:27In Assassin's Creed Shadows, the world is reacting to sounds in a way that makes stealth

20:31more dynamic, but also just because you're hearing it, you can react to it.

20:34I reacted to things like footsteps on wet stone, the rustling of branches, the creaks

20:38of doors, and that can be the difference between slipping by unnoticed or being forced into

20:41a fight.

20:42For both of you, heavy rain does seem to drown out smaller noises, which did seem to make

20:46it more difficult for the enemy to listen and understand exactly where you were.

20:51But it also does the same to you.

20:53And that balance between function and environment made every space feel a tiny bit more deliberate

20:58in its soundscape.

20:59Weather and seasons also play a big role in how sound actually is delivered.

21:03Winter dampens that sound, muffles footsteps under thick snow just a bit more.

21:08And then if you go to something like autumn, shifting leaves and wildlife can make it pretty

21:12unpredictable.

21:13And at times you're trying to figure out, is that an enemy or is that an animal?

21:17And there's a lot of information that ends up being parsed through the audio.

21:20Combat also follows that same attention to detail.

21:23Blade scrape across armor, wooden shaft splinter on impact.

21:26You can hear the chain sweeping through the air with this distinctive metallic wine, or

21:31even as you're running the small jingle of the chains.

21:34Some really good audio effects here.

21:36You can even tell the difference between two people with two different types of clubs hitting

21:39one another.

21:40There was also a good deal of environmental sampling when you were moving around the forest,

21:44whether it comes to forced animals or just the wind in the trees.

21:48When it comes to the music for a game that's based in one of the more naturally culturally

21:51solid time spans and locations steeped in tradition, AC Shadows offers a surprising

21:57amount of musical genres and diversity.

22:00It ends up having three different voices or three different composers for the game.

22:04Ubisoft didn't just stick to that usual orchestral swelling, atmospheric sounds that you might

22:09actually think, or more traditional Japanese instrumentation.

22:13They have some modern electronic music as well, and some straight up psychedelic, almost

22:17rock fusion and trap music.

22:20For the most part, the traditional pieces, pieces you would expect to hear and say shogun

22:24last samurai, others are here, but you also hear music that is, like I said, psychedelic

22:30pulse driven.

22:31It just depends on what's going on in the game.

22:34And trust me, it is noticeable when a cut scene goes on and boom, you have psych rock

22:38stylings playing out.

22:40It takes just a minute for you to go like, what am I hearing?

22:43Ultimately, once I grew accustomed to it, I actually liked it.

22:47I do expect there to be a lot of discussion around it, though.

22:50It's not the first time we've seen many groups working on games, but it's one of

22:53the first I can remember having this kind of distinctly different feel amongst the three

22:57that resolve around a particular style.

22:59And then to accentuate a pace change or a stylistic moment, something feels distinctly

23:03different and that plays out without spoiling anything.

23:07Let me say by the end of shadows, I did understand the approach and appreciated it.

23:11And if more, as I say, a fan of the slightly more traditional leaning music, I didn't

23:17necessarily feel like those styles meshed as well as maybe Ubisoft intended.

23:21Lastly, let's talk about bugs.

23:22It's actually pretty polished in the wild open world.

23:25I'm still going to notice a couple janky bits in most Assassin's Creed games than

23:29I did here.

23:30Had one or two animation bugs.

23:31I had one crash, but it is far more polished, at least in my experience than Valhalla.

23:36Now, this is an open world game, which means people are going to run into all kinds of

23:39crazy stuff.

23:40But it definitely felt a good deal more polished than that.

23:43That's also reflected in things like their accessibility options, which include color

23:47adjustment, screen narration, customizable HUD and so on.

23:51One last thing before we get to fun factors, micros, the typical Ubisoft items for supplies

23:55and map packs are here that will end up unlocking things like showing you locations.

24:00There was no EXP or anything like that that I could see when it comes to the purchases

24:05at this time.

24:06All of those follow, I would say, the somewhat traditional trend that origins Odyssey and

24:09Valhalla have followed with the more mythological mounts and cosmetics than the game proper

24:15has.

24:16How does all this come together?

24:17Well, that's fun factor.

24:18I didn't expect to like both characters this much.

24:20My time in the preview was 50 50.

24:21Hey, they had two characters in the game.

24:23I think it's my job to test them in the preview.

24:25And I did the same in the review.

24:26And after spending 40 plus hours with it, I wasn't expecting neither to really resonate

24:30more or less than the other.

24:32And it might be some of the reasons why, like I said before, you can switch if you want

24:36to take the risk.

24:37It fascinates me that it went against, I guess, my own thought processes as I played

24:41it.

24:42I found myself enjoying both more than I anticipated.

24:44I found pushing up against the game on the hardest difficulty setting in both combat

24:48and stealth to be more enjoyable than expected, sometimes playing against type sitting on

24:52a building overlooking a fortress entrance and legitimately watching guards move around,

24:57watching for the possible semi bosses inside and looking for where the alarm bells were

25:02and then deciding to go in and who to go in with, checking for locations of entrance,

25:07understanding that Norway has limited climbing ability in many locations because this is

25:11a land where fortresses are meant to stop just her type of character and then deciding

25:15to take my chance.

25:16What was better still that as long as you keep your weapons and armor upgraded or within

25:20a couple levels of the enemies, they didn't really feel spammy.

25:23That's also because your power attacks are damn powerful.

25:27Going against a warlord that's a full couple regions above you is going to take forever.

25:30And with those special moves, but it felt better than Valhalla did customizing each

25:34part of the sword to make it reflect the new etchings I'd put on it going back and forth,

25:39just offered more customization than I had actually expected.

25:43And building up that atmosphere when it comes to the hideout was very cool.

25:47Something we have seen before with hideouts in a couple of their games, but the ability

25:50to actually go in and adjust it and do so many changes was cool.

25:54Now, sure, random events exist, but riding around in this game, there is one thing you

25:58will see a massive amount of forest animals.

26:00I just have to mention this in the fun factor because it's hilarious.

26:04You're writing and without bandits consistently raging around, it's a little bit quieter than

26:09you might expect, but all of a sudden you'll realize you have an entire Disney film worth

26:14of characters moving around with you.

26:16It'll be deer, it'll be rabbits, it'll be elk, it'll be all kinds of creatures moving around.

26:22And it almost feels like every time Ubisoft makes a game, there's one part they go ham

26:26on.

26:27And when it comes to wildlife, that's where they went ham.

26:30Still as an AC game, yeah, without any doubt, it feels a lot like others.

26:34Underlying that admission is the idea that you either like one of the series or you hope

26:37to like them because if you hate them, then there's no reason to be here.

26:40And I can say, despite still having the same DNA, it's changed more than prior games between

26:45the series, even with the later stuff that I got to say would be a little spoiler heavy

26:49that I won't cover here.

26:50I'll cover in podcast.

26:51However, just as the saying goes, to sharpen a sword, you are cutting off parts of its

26:54own body.

26:55So if you ever were sitting back wishing assassins created, slow down, take a breath and let

26:58the world settle in before throwing you into instant action.

27:01Well, congratulations, because Ubisoft heard you loud and clear, stripped the engine out

27:04of the car and left you pushing it up a hill for the first one or two hours.

27:08It's slow to me and it just wasn't super enjoyable that the game dials back to action so aggressively

27:13at the start.

27:14It feels like it is almost punishing you.

27:17There's a point where hesitation I think becomes hibernation, where pause turns to paralysis

27:20and where refinement turns to removal, where shadows doesn't just strip things away.

27:25It carves them out at that starting.

27:27And that starting for me is very slow.

27:30But once I got into it, hey, the combat slices through some stuff and, you know, just moving

27:34along here in the story.

27:36That was fun.

27:37I think overall the writing is pretty basic.

27:39The story was what I could follow and what I assumed would happen.

27:43But there were some later surprises.

27:44You just got to get to it.

27:45And speaking of get to it, Christ, this is like 36 minutes.

27:48Let's let's get to the rating.

27:50This is different than what I expected, especially because of the preview time.

27:53I haven't loved an AC game as a whole.

27:55And the new ones really, I think only Odyssey worked for me initially, despite liking parts

27:59of it.

28:00And shadows is that same way.

28:01If you're new to this, this is not a bad place to start, though its initial slowness may

28:05actually confuse you, especially if you hear a lot of people complain about the AC games

28:10just being almost two action porn.

28:13The addition of prone has helped the game immensely, even though it's still got some

28:17Ubisoft jank in there.

28:19But the polish has also helped that it is an odd series where you start to look at it

28:24and you start playing it.

28:25You're like, this is great.

28:26This is great.

28:27But there's still some oddities here and there.

28:28If you're a fan of Assassin's Creed as world exploration and just all around exploration,

28:33kill fantasies.

28:34This is more than enough.

28:35And I honestly can't stress enough to turn the difficulty in combat difficulties to their

28:40highest, though stealth at its highest does require unique strategies.

28:44When up on the roofs prior to the past games, at least.

28:48Does it make the game worse that some of these issues are here?

28:50Yeah, we'd like for everything to be fixed, but they're not.

28:53I think this is a solid title, more solid than I expected, but doesn't really hit exactly

28:58where I personally would want.

29:00So if you're thinking about getting this game and you're OK with those caveats, I

29:03would say well worth it.

29:05If those caveats sound a little bit odd to you and maybe you need to see some more about

29:08the game, maybe hold off.

29:11And if all of this is not the changes that you wanted or if you thought it was going

29:15to be completely free of Ubisoft jank, well, this is definitely not the game you want.

29:20This will be available day one for GeForce now and Xbox stream games that you own on

29:24the Xbox cloud as well.

29:26See on the flip side.

29:27That's it for me.

29:28Check out the patron.

29:29Follow me on Jeremy Penner on Twitter.

29:31And of course, you can check out the podcast every single Friday, 1030 a.m.

29:34Pacific Standard Time, where we're going to dive into more of this piece out.

29:39I haven't had the honor of meeting him.

29:41I've only dealt with his agents.

29:44Yes, that is how he would have arranged it.

29:48What is the name of this agent?

29:50He told me his name was Chuta.

29:52I do not know him, but I will.

29:56Heiji, you did not fight back.

29:59I do not spill blood.

30:01I make tools.

30:02They could have killed you.

30:05Yes, perhaps.

30:09I hope I am as brave when death comes for me.

30:15Any lending you can walk away from is good enough.

30:24I've come to stay with you.

30:39What?

30:40What?

30:41There are no foes fiercer than these.

30:45Can you overcome them?

30:47I know you are undefeated.

30:49No other man has dared challenge you, but that is precisely why I have sought you out.

30:55Spoken like a samurai.

30:59I am Marume Tessai Nagayoshi, by birth Fujiwara Nagayoshi.

31:05And I gladly accept your challenge.

Category

Transcript

Recommended