Assassin's Creed Shadows (Ubisoft)

[Punkd]

 

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https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-inside-ubisofts-ambitious-open-world-japan

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-40-details-you-need-to-know

Edited January 9 by Punkd

[Jason]

Seems to be releasing November 15th based on a description, with the full Ubisoft pre-order / season pass sh*te as you'd expect, which is from another leak.

 

As I've said for years, Ubi games are the video game version of McDonalds and I'm down for more, and this is the Odyssey team who made not only my personal favourite of the "RPG trilogy" but what I think is the best out of the three too.

[UT1-Dot]

I cannot wait for this, I have high expectations for the world after Valhalla (I loved it)

[Index]

I'm down for AC: Shadows. Recently, I've been watching the Shogun series, and with GoT coming later this week, more Feudal Japan stuff will be right up my alley. We'll just see how it's going to be compared to Valhalla, which I liked. Just the bloated story of that game put me off massively, and I never got around to finishing it because of that.

[Jason]

I said it in the other thread, but the team making this made Odyssey and not Valhalla, so I'm optimistic for that reason. Valhalla had some decent ideas but some... not so good ones too. The bloat aside, the games weapon/armour set system was dreadful and sucked compared to Odyssey's ARPG loot system.

 

I've heard as well that Valhalla was made by multiple different groups/teams at once, and each team was given it's own section of the game, and this is why the games counties are so unconnected from each other. Odyssey was much better laid out, it was still a big game but the game had a set path through the world that the story took you through and then a whole load of optional islands which you never had to visit w/ the main story. Valhalla meanwhile had you visit and do hours and hours of generic main story in every country all for no tangible pay off in the story, lol.

[String]

Mirage, Shadows... who's looking forward to Assassins Creed Eclipse in 2026? 

 

It is very likely the protagonists are the rumoured Naoi and Yasuke. A historical figure as a protagonist for the first time is already causing consternation for some. I hope as some have speculated, Yasuke starts off as a Templar to Naoi's Assassin. Both because Oda Nobunaga, who Yasuke served under, apparently was an enemy of the Assassins because of an artifact he owned, and that Yasuke would not really blend in as an Assassin too much  though to hide in plain sight is also a tenet of the Creed so who's to say!

 

A ninja and a samurai, hell yes to the shinobi fantasy. This might be set soon after Ezios legend too. Which I don't feel they will interrelate too much with Shadows, but let's see

[Mister Pink]

Odyssey has been my favourite AC so far - granted I haven't played Origins yet. But Odyssey pulled me back in when I was very critical of AC series as a whole. So, I'm happy it's the Odyssey team. 

 

I will try get on Shogun as well as I've heard great things.

[44Orca]

It will be a cinmeatic, we gotta wait till june for gameplay reveal right? They always do the cinematics well.

 

But for gameplay reveal, I look forward the most to see the animations for the story cutscenes. They should animate them properly now, it just ruins immersion, that's my one biggest complaint about these 3 recent AC games as I mentioned before many times xd It's not even how empty/copy paste the open world is.

Odyssey was also for me the best of the RPG ones, a bit the story I didn't like here and there (story flaws), and the other issue above but I was so interested to keep playing and I found it a lot of fun.

 

Also just like Odyssey since it's the same team I expect them to make each area look so unique. Another thing I look forward to seeing is how the combat will be.. I remember seeing that they invested a lot in that somewhere.

Have to wait for the steam release though.. oh well.

[UT1-Dot]

11 hours ago, Jason said:

I said it in the other thread, but the team making this made Odyssey and not Valhalla, so I'm optimistic for that reason. Valhalla had some decent ideas but some... not so good ones too. The bloat aside, the games weapon/armour set system was dreadful and sucked compared to Odyssey's ARPG loot system.

 

I've heard as well that Valhalla was made by multiple different groups/teams at once, and each team was given it's own section of the game, and this is why the games counties are so unconnected from each other. Odyssey was much better laid out, it was still a big game but the game had a set path through the world that the story took you through and then a whole load of optional islands which you never had to visit w/ the main story. Valhalla meanwhile had you visit and do hours and hours of generic main story in every country all for no tangible pay off in the story, lol.

It’s amazing how positives for one can be negative for others.

I adore exploration and this is why I play RPGs.

It is pretty optional how you play Valhalla and it doesn’t hold your hand at all in terms of when you do things imo.

 

I think my interest in history holds my interest in Valhalla.

[Jason]

Playing Valhalla's gigantic bloated story isn't optional, it's mandatory if you wanna complete the game. It's simply too big, each county is unconnected to each other in story, characters show up once and then maybe at the end and by that time you've forgotten them.  Everyone has their own tastes, but IMO it just simply wasn't well done.

 

Odyssey different in that it was one big story that took you through the world one regeion at a time, with many completely optional regions and islands on top of that.

[Mister Pink]

5 minutes ago, UT1-Dot said:

I think my interest in history holds my interest in Valhalla.

I'm definitely going to go back to Valhalla because there's some really good TV shows that compliment the game such as The Last Kingdom. I watched the first season as I played Valhalla. I didn't get far into either the game or show but want to go back. Also, because it's the only game that has my country as a playable game in the DLC. 

[UT1-Dot]

6 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

I'm definitely going to go back to Valhalla because there's some really good TV shows that compliment the game such as The Last Kingdom. I watched the first season as I played Valhalla. I didn't get far into either the game or show but want to go back. Also, because it's the only game that has my country as a playable game in the DLC. 

Vikings and Vikings of Valhalla too!

I do agree that the game is long but I never thought any of it was watered down.

I tend to see doing everything as how one completes a game anyway so being “forced” to traverse 8th century Britain, as well as Paris, Ireland & America/Vinland was my absolute pleasure. 
 

Edited May 14, 2024 by UT1-Dot

[Jason]

 

Ready for the Ubi BS? According to leaks, the game will obviously have a Ubi season pass, but also as part of "AC Infinity" it'll have mini battle passes for cosmetics.

 

lel

 

I hope it's not like Valhalla where we had like 6 different armour sets than the same or more than that on launch day behind a premium store... one of the many reasons I hate the progression in that game. Hopefully there's plenty of cosmetics to find in game and a transmog system day 1.

[44Orca]

It sure sounds very interesting but... well have to wait and see what the gameplay is..

 

As for battle passes, even Tekken 8 had... it's the reason all the steam reviews recently are mostly negative, and it just items re-used from tekken 7 just for the new engine.. only behind a paywall, I guess all new games have these now?

Edited May 15, 2024 by 44Orca

[Jason]

I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit hmmm on the idea of two playable characters with different skill sets over Odyssey and Valhalla's pick one and build them how you like, but just from the CG trailer alone I'm actually quite into the premise of them as a team from a story perspective.

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-inside-ubisofts-ambitious-open-world-japan

 

Some interesting bits, the grappling hook is physics based, the game will progress through seasons as the story progresses which change the entire map and impact how you can use stealth, guard patrols and more. More environmental destruction in combat as well, and an overhauled lighting system which is utilised in the stealth - maybe RTGI like Avatar? More stuff as well in that, talks about the map size, castles and other stuff.

 

They do also touch on missions and how they play it, it sounds like it might be a bit of a hybrid approach if I'm reading between the lines? Sounds like they're gonna give you more options for how to do the assassination missions at the very least.

 

Ubisoft bullsh*t aside, which I'm well prepared for, I'm liking what I'm hearing. I remember a leak from a while back from Henderson talking about an upgradable and slightly customisable home base as well which is up my alley a bit.

 

Edit: lot more tidbits here: https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-shadows-40-details-you-need-to-know

 

"The drone-like bird, used in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla to scout out areas and mark targets, is not available in Shadows. You’ll need to do your own reconnaissance work."

 

I like that a lot actually.

 

"Each weapon has its own skill tree. Investing time into using a particular weapon will improve your proficiency with it.

You can craft your own katana from gathered components and personalise it. A transmog system will also allow you to tailor your gear to look exactly how you want it."

 

I like those two a lot too, and finally a transmog system day 1 in an AC game lol.

 

Some mission related stuff:

 

"Shadows features a non-linear campaign largely focused on targets. Ubisoft says that you will be free to track these targets in any order.

Some targets simply exist in the world and you may stumble upon them organically, without having researched and hunted them first. Others have more structured infiltration-style gameplay attached to them.

Ubisoft aims to create a more rewarding journey by being a little more hands-off. While the campaign is still objective-focused, the studio hopes to enable more player autonomy by using hints to push players in the right direction rather than outright telling them where to go next."

 

Yea this sounds good to me so far.

[Index]

I can't judge very much from a CGI, but reading that IGN article, I do like the sound of having seasons and how you utilise the terrain being seasonal dependent.

 

12 minutes ago, Jason said:

While the campaign is still objective-focused, the studio hopes to enable more player autonomy by using hints to push players in the right direction rather than outright telling them where to go next."

That's a massive yes. I absolutely love when games do that.

[Jason]

There is a mention that they want less icons this time around too, even the synch points have been reworked, they're still fast travel points but they won't do the whole pull back from the player and throw a bunch of icons on the map anymore.

[Punkd]

curious to see how many hours of story-time and play-time this game will offer, especially if they aim for a more "non-linear" approach in story-telling

valhalla sucked almost 200hours out of my life

 

*Edited the OP and included several videos and links

Edited May 15, 2024 by Punkd

[Tez2]

All of this sounds interesting so far. But gonna wait and see the gameplay. I sure hope they took a different approach, applying some feedback from Valhalla.

 

But I ain't going to lie. They pick the ideal times for marketing. Valhalla's release coincided with the debut of new-gen consoles. And now they drop this trailer, a few weeks after Shōgun's finale. If it wasn't for Shōgun, I would have been less invested in this game. And I doubt I would have bought Valhalla if it wasn't seen as the ideal game to test out the new-gen consoles with. For Xbox Series owners, at least. And it's gonna happen again with the PS5 Pro this year.

Edited May 15, 2024 by Tez2

[IzzyBlues]

Assassin's Creed is a good franchise.

[Jason]

From the PSN page:

 

 

I would hope that's a misunderstanding, cause that'd be some peak Ubisoft bullsh*t lol.

[Index]

Yikes, there's your "people need to get comfortable with not owning their games."

 

Proper Ubi sh*te...

[Jason]

It could mean that the game might need a mandatory download cause it might not all be on the disc or something.

 

I cannot imagine it'll literally need a constant connection to play once you have it downloaded. They're going to get an absolute f*cking kicking if it does.

[TheSantader25]

Online play seems worrying. I like that ubisoft are finally visiting Japan for AC but they will f*ck it up because I see no hope in Ubisoft putting up a decent game these days and their statements and actions further prove that. On top of that, this game seems to be the definition of forced diversity. 

[Adam Jensen]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

I'm liking what I'm hearing.

Which doesn't mean that any of it is well implemented.

 

Do not pre-order this game. Wait for reviews.

[Jason]

38 minutes ago, Adam Jensen said:

Which doesn't mean that any of it is well implemented.

 

Do not pre-order this game. Wait for reviews.

 

Well sure, I aint gonna pre-order a game based on text and a CG trailer lol.

 

I'll need to see gameplay and look at previews, but I have enough experience w/ games to know what I like and don't like, and as a result I've not pre-ordered a game I've ended up not enjoying... well, ever.

[Dick Justice]

I've always enjoyed Assassin's Creed and other modern Ubisoft titles in the 'turn-your-brain-off' kind of sense. They're far from perfect, but this will be the kind of game that I can easily sink 150 hours into over the course of 3 months while I wait for GTAVI, and that's all I need it to be. 

[DODI3OG]

@Jason How's the RTGI in Avatar? Is it available at 60fps?

[JON22]

You know that meme about Kilmonger's hair being overused? Behold, my masterpiece...

[Jason]

5 hours ago, DODI3OG said:

@Jason How's the RTGI in Avatar? Is it available at 60fps?

 

It's mandatory, it's the games only lighting solution. On console it has 60fps modes on X and PS5 and I think it just got a 40fps mode in a recent patch too. The resolution takes a bit of a hit in the 60fps modes, and also at 30fps on the S, but with the FSR upscaling and the slight blur it still looks pretty damn good despite that.

 

Different teams and all, but Ubi seem to be sticking with 60fps mode options on consoles so I'd say there is a decent chance of a 60fps mode on console for Shadows.