Assassin’s Creed Shadows will let you play both as a Ninja and a Samurai 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Ubisoft recently took the wraps off its next mainline entry into the Assassin’s Creed franchise, called Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It is an third-person action open-world game.

With Shadows, the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise has touched down in feudal Japan, at a time of uncertainties and unrest.

The more recent entries into the Assassin’s Creed franchise, like Odyssey and Valhalla, have pushed the franchise away from its stealth-based gameplay into more open and full-fledged hack-n-slash combat ones, which has led many old timers to wonder if the developers are having an identity crisis with Assassin’s Creed. Just equipping your protagonist with a hidden blade in the forearm is not the only thing Assassin’s Creed is about.

With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, however, Ubisoft is trying to maintain the flavour of both types of combat styles, thus giving both old fans and new players a chance to appreciate the game their own way.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Use stealth or open combat skills

In the gameplay walkthrough of Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft revealed that in particular missions, you have the choice to play either as the stealth-favouring Naoe or the open-combat lover Yasuke, the two protagonists in the game.

That means you are not only going to play as a shinobi (ninja) but also as a samurai. The fighting styles of both, however, are markedly different.

Naoe: Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Ninja character

Naoe is a skilled shinobi Assassin who hails from the Iga Province. She favours stealth and is adept at blending in with the shadows to lie undetected. As Naoe, you can use light and noise to attract/distract enemies. Besides the hidden blade, you’ll have the classic weapons of the ninja at your disposal like the shuriken (throwing stars), the kunai (corded arrowhead) and smoke bombs. You can also employ the grappling hook to move quietly inside enemy bases.

Yasuke: Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Samurai character

Yasuke is a “powerful African samurai of historical legend”. Unlike Naoe, he prefers honorable, open combat. As Yasuke, you can wield weapons like the katana, kanabo, bows and even tough-to-master weapons like the naginata.

The story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ is set in the late Sengoku period and will bring both Naoe and Yasuke together “to discover their common destiny as they usher in a new era for Japan.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Launch date and platforms

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a confirmed launch date of November 15. 2024. The third-person action game will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store), Macs with Apple Silicon (via Mac App Store), iPad, Amazon Luna and Ubisoft+. Pre-orders for the game are open.