Assassin’s Creed Shadows' feudal Japan setting offers fresh ways to explore and fight

Assassin's Creed Shadows steps out of obscurity and into the light, as we go hands-on with four hours of playtime.

Feudal Japan has the potential to be one of the most memorable and varied Assassin's Creed locations yet, at least judging by our four hours of recent playtime.

Well, here we are. Less than two weeks since Assassin’s Creed Shadows received its most recent delay from February 14 to March 20, 2025 , and it’d be fair to say players are curious about the state this latest entry into Ubisoft’s historical-set series is in. It’s with this in mind that, having now played close to four hours at a recent hands-on preview event myself, I can honestly say signs of a troubled or precarious development could seldom be found. This is very much the open-world RPG lineage of Assassin’s Creed that began with 2018’s Origins, only prettied up and supplanted onto the setting longtime fans have asked for since forever. The result? A simply beautiful, current-gen take on feudal Japan that is rewarding to explore and stealth through, now more flexibly than ever thanks to the different gameplay styles protagonists Yasuke and Naoe provide.

My demo was made up of two main portions: the opening prologue and a later mid-game section set in an area of the map called Harima Province. Speaking to the former, I was curious heading in how early into both Yasuke and Naoe’s lives Ubisoft would throw us. Emotional stakes are set instantly when we’re introduced to Yasuke first, not as the feared samurai warrior history remembers him as, but as an assistant and sword-bearer to a pair of Portuguese priests. All three are on an emissary mission to improve relations between Europe and Japan, but it’s not the gift of a wood-carved chair Kyoto’s Lord Nobunaga is most interested in. Swiftly picking up on Yasuke’s survival instincts and warrior potential, no time is wasted welcoming him into the Japanese leader’s ranks.

From here I was thrown into the quelling of a local Japanese rebellion, with Yasuke and Naoe taking positions on either side of the conflict. For Yasuke, this meant doing his master’s bidding, storming into the burning village’s buildings in the supposed name of peace. Naoe, meanwhile, is already up to her sneaky tricks when I’m given control, charged with retrieving a mysterious box important to her father from a nearby cave as the surrounding chaos continues to unfold. I won’t go into explicit spoilers here, but as a way of introducing us to both characters efficiently, I couldn’t fault Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ opening. True, Yasuke and Naoe might start out the game on opposite sides, yet it’s evident that both have a good moral compass despite their very different backgrounds – one that will seemingly bring them together not too long after this heartbreaking opening chapter.

Into the open-world escapades proper, and Yasuke and Naoe’s gameplay differences make themselves known immediately. Roaming the low-set rooftops and wheatfields of Harima as Naoe feels much like the Assassin’s Creed protagonists of old, with the exception that traversing vertically is made even more of a breeze thanks to her grapple hook. A simple tap of the L1 button was enough to have her ascend up walls and to a perch in a flash, making quick getaways easier than ever on the handful of occasions I was spotted during a stealth mission. While Naoe’s manner of movement will mostly be familiar, I found that her ability to go prone – in a franchise first! – adds a new dimension to sneaking I didn’t know I needed.

Shadow tactics

You can switch between both protagonists at any time from the Inventory screen, with distinct gear styles and specific loadouts for each. Like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the other open-world entries before it, Assassin’s Creed Shadows places a strong emphasis on loot, letting you lean into Yasuke and Naoe’s natural strengths using pieces that all boast different buffs (in addition to aesthetic). Taking over as Yasuke felt like a different Assassin’s Creed experience entirely. He’s very much the Goliath to Naoe’s David, playing much more like a walking tank with his ability to ram down wooden walls with a sprint, take a lot more hits in an open fight, and just generally deal out more damage. I’d go so far as to say that playing as Yasuke doesn’t make Shadows feel much like playing Assassin’s Creed at all since brutality is his preferred way to solve problems (despite his gentle heart).

So far Assassin’s Creed Shadows has done an awesome job at making its two heroes distinct from one another – much more than Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, anyway – even if it does sometimes feel like Ubisoft has split the benefits of one protagonist in two. Playing as Naoe during combat scenarios, for instance, often led to me feeling underpowered, while playing as Yasuke meant taking the quiet approach was always out of the question. While annoying at first, what it did do was make my choices in Assassin’s Creed Shadows feel like they had a much bigger impact than in any previous entry, where I was forced to deal with the consequences of who I chose to play as and find an alternate solution out of particularly tough sections.

In terms of the world, I was worried that Ubisoft’s take on feudal Japan might not hit for me given how much the likes of Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin have tackled similar territory in recent years. There’s no denying how much the extra horsepower of releasing exclusively on the current generation of consoles is helping its allure. Only in the full game will it become apparent just how big Assassin's Creed Shadows’ world will be in comparison to others, and whether it will suffer the same bloat as Valhalla and Odyssey. For now, at least, the absence of boat travel and combat indicates that the emphasis is purely on making 16th century Japan as beautiful and varied to navigate as possible.

Following four hours of hands-on time playing its prologue and an open-world province, it’s clear that Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t a grand reinvention of the formula. Instead, it’s more intent on delivering the same core experience you either love or hate; but with slight tweaks that should make it easier to play a specific way. Yasuke and Naoe’s unique gameplay styles should give Shadows a more distinct flavour compared to when dual protagonists have been toyed with in the past, while the potential is definitely here for this rendition of feudal Japan to live up to players’ lofty expectations. Providing Ubisoft Quebec pitches it right and doesn’t once again succumb to bloat, Assassin’s Creed Shadows could shape up to be my second most favourite open-world instalment following Assassin’s Creed Origins.