Ubisoft is currently navigating a challenging period. Once a dominant force in the industry, consistently releasing high-quality titles, a series of unfortunate events has led to a situation where their future may hinge on the very IP that has long been their cornerstone.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows stands out as one of the company’s most important releases in recent memory for several reasons. Having faced two delays, the game now has little room for error. Despite the pressure, Ubisoft is placing its faith, and fate, in the hands of Yasuke and Naoe.

After a recent hands-on preview of a work-in-progress build of the game, which opened up more than four hours of gameplay, it’s clear that the delay worked wonders on it compared to what we saw in the first few trailers. From small details and flourishes to gameplay updates and improvements, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is looking solid in the weeks leading up to its launch and might just live up to its moniker of being the ultimate Assassin’s Creed game.

Related – Read our Assassin’s Creed Shadows Interview

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Hands-on Preview

Assassin’s Creed Shadows faces the significant challenge of bearing a heavy burden, and Yasuke shoulders this responsibility admirably. The game incorporates elements from previous Assassin’s Creed titles, making it feel like a culmination of past learnings, player feedback, and the best aspects of earlier games.

On one hand, it retains the familiar features of the Assassin’s Creed series—hidden blades, assassinations, parkour, and the Animus. These core elements are back, enhanced with substantial upgrades that bring a fresh feel to the game despite the familiar feeling.

Combat in Assassin’s Creed Shadows does not fully revert to its roots but builds upon the more action-centric system first introduced in Assassin’s Creed Origins. The game is more action-packed, with parry and dodge mechanics receiving engaging updates that make combat feel more dynamic, and bloodier, than before.

Enemy attacks in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are telegraphed with visual cues: a blue light indicates a parryable attack, while a red light signifies an unblockable one. Successfully parrying attacks rewards players with opportunities to deal more damage, staggering the enemy for a brief window. Dodging unblockable attacks at the right moment leaves the enemy off-balance, providing another chance to inflict damage. Combat is a dance between enemies, and simply mashing the R1 button won’t suffice.

The combat experience is further distinguished by the dual protagonists, Yasuke and Naoe. While they share some similarities, their control and combat approaches are vastly different, resulting in two distinct playstyles that feel unique. Yasuke is a brute in every sense—slow, burly, and capable of taking and dealing massive damage with a few hits. He can often take on groups of enemies alone, overpowering them with a straightforward “I press R1, I kill enemies” approach.

However, Yasuke is far from a one-trick pony. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, he can wield five different weapon types (Katana, Naginata, Blunt Club, Bow, Tanto) with deadly effectiveness, each offering a distinct playstyle. Interestingly, while playing as Yasuke, I didn’t feel the need to switch loadouts or weapons frequently due to his reliance on simply pressing R1 and R2, but I did prefer the Katana out of all his weapons, so take that as you will. Both attacks can be held down to unleash charged attacks that can break the enemy’s guard.

In contrast, Naoe is the complete opposite of Yasuke. Where Yasuke excels in brute force, Naoe relies on her cat-like agility and quickness. She can’t take as much damage as Yasuke, but she has a full complement of tools (kunai, smoke bombs, shuriken, etc.) at her disposal that she must master. Encounters are more cerebral when using Naoe, and players must play smarter due to her lower HP pool. Mastery of movement and parrying is key, and Naoe must utilize her environment to be effective in combat.

In fact, combat should be a last resort for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as she emphasizes stealth and assassinations. She is extremely agile, able to scale structures with ease thanks to improved parkour mechanics that allow for more seamless animations while climbing, traversing, and descending. This results in faster movement across points and just smoother traversal overall.

Both Yasuke and Naoe possess a variety of skills divided into six distinct skill trees each. Yasuke’s skill trees are combat-focused, with each tree corresponding to a specific weapon. In contrast, Naoe’s skills enhance aspects of her survival and stealth abilities, further distinguishing their playstyles. As someone who prefers stealth over brute force, there were indeed times when I thoroughly enjoyed controlling Yasuke over Naoe.

Enemies in Assassin’s Creed Shadows have levels, but players’ levels are determined by the gear they equip rather than traditional leveling up. Tougher elite enemies feature shield bars that must be broken first. Gear comes in various rarity levels, and while the upgrading process was not showcased, each piece of equipment has traits and abilities, such as increased damage or added HP, allowing players to create optimized builds.

The enemy AI is surprisingly competent, and careless players will often face death when confronting groups of enemies. The AI utilizes the game’s new lighting and weather upgrades even in stealth situations. Enemies can detect players using shadows cast by light sources, so players can extinguish candles, lamps, and more to remain hidden. A new prone move also aids in staying concealed.

Weather significantly impacts movement for both players and enemies. Although we didn’t see many of its effects due to limited time, Ubisoft confirms that winter will freeze ponds, making them walkable and adding dynamic elements to exploration and traversal.

Exploration in Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been improved with changes to synchronization points. Instead of revealing all points of interest, they now highlight key locations, encouraging discovery and reducing handholding, which has been a complaint for a while now. Additionally, a Scout mechanic allows players to send allies for reconnaissance, revealing locations and details for them.

Due to the limited preview time, we didn’t see the base-building aspect or naval battles. However, based on the features we observed and some clips we saw, Ubisoft looks to have done commendable work, and we can’t wait to see more of it in the coming weeks.

It’s not all perfect, though. Assassin’s Creed Shadows has issues with a finicky camera and aiming during combat. Switching between targets felt challenging, and the auto-lock system needs improvement. While it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience, it was disappointing considering all of the work and polish that other parts of the game received.

Observing the conversations surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows in the weeks leading up to its launch will be intriguing. With the company having been the victim of many bad-faith arguments, will this surge of positivity, at least from the previews, be enough to restore faith in the series and Ubisoft? We’ll soon find out.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is scheduled to launch on March 20, 2025.