In a few ways, Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels like a full-circle moment. For players as well as the developers who worked on the games. Shadows represents a middle ground between the sprawling scope of recent entries and the tighter stealth focus from the series’ earlier games. It could also be one of the most accommodating games in franchise history in terms of flexible play styles.
In addition to multiple other Ubisoft games, Luc Plante, Level Design Director on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, also worked on the London-set Syndicate, notably the first game in the series to star dual protagonists. What’s changed between now and then is the greater focus on RPG systems as introduced in the series soft-reboot, Origins.
“What the RPG element allows us to bring is a more open world environment, it’s a big sandbox,” Plante said. “What I really like about this is giving us the opportunity to go gameplay-wise, but also narratively, here’s the world, it’s up to the player to discover, but also to give them more tools each time so that they can create their own agency.”
One of the common criticisms of recent Assassin’s Creed games, like Valhalla, was that they became too big. Chasing countless icons on an in-game map became a capital-C commitment, making it tough to stick around and finish the story.
With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the development team wanted to ensure all players, regardless of time commitments, could get something out of every play session. Many quests can be tackled in different orders, while still providing a meaningful sense of progression, even if it’s not a major story beat.
“By having shorter quests, we can give rewards, we have a sense of completion more often,” Plante said. “It’s to play with the guilty factor that the player doesn’t want to stop doing something and do something else.”
“So, by giving those rewards, those completions, it’s kind of us telling you, ‘It’s okay if you want to put that on pause and do something else. We’re there once you’re ready to move on'”.
Why the delays?
After two separate launch delays, the main question is why? What needed more work before Shadows hit shelves?
One can speculate about Ubisoft’s financial position and wanting to avoid a heavily packed February release window as a potential reason. There are too many variables to point to one thing as the sole factor.
What the delays did provide, however, was an added window of opportunity to refine the game. According to Plante, the extra development time helped the team further polish two distinct gameplay elements: the parkour system, and character AI.
Even for a series defined by its verticality, Shadows‘ Japanese setting presented a challenge for the developers. Not only did they have to contend with the different-shaped rooftops used in Japanese architecture, but they also needed to make using a grappling hook between structures feel smooth.
“[Parkour has] been one of the pillars since day one, since the first game,” Plante said. “What was difficult this time around is the architecture, it’s the first time we’re going outside what’s more European type of architecture.”
“We put a lot of emphasis to make it as smooth as possible as an experience because you don’t want to battle yourself against the controller.”
As for the AI, Assassin’s Creed Shadows introduces a dynamic weather system that’s not just for show. Most of my preview session was spent marvelling at the game’s meteorological prowess. For the countless non-playable characters populating each area, it wasn’t enough for them to act as mere set dressing. When heavy showers roll through, the characters cover their heads and scurry for the nearest shelter.
As normal and mundane as that potentially sounds, programming these behaviours at such a granular level is no small undertaking. As Plante described it, “everything was there, but it’s always the tiny little details that need to be perfected as much as possible.”
Designing an Assassin’s Creed level
As someone whose game development career has predominantly focused on level design, Plante has a very clear vision of what makes for a good level. Particularly within the context of a stealth-based series like Assassin’s Creed, he believes it’s important you don’t “feel cheated by the game” when running into trouble.
“From my perspective, [a good level is where] I have all my tools at my disposal, and I can play with the level, and I can feel smart by using it,” Plante said. “If I can run smoothly inside the layout, and you can play the same layout with a different approach and still make your way without being detected or cheated by the systems, I think that’s what makes for a good level.”
From my preview session, it’s evident that Assassin’s Creed Shadows does indeed provide you with plenty of tools to work with. We’ll find out how well it sustains its runtime when the game launches on 20 March 2025.
Chris Button attended a preview event in Sydney as a guest of Ubisoft Australia.
The post How delays gave one of 2025’s biggest games some breathing room appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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