"Assassin's Creed Shadows" review: Great Japanese cinema!

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The Assassin's Creed series is now almost 20 years old. In that time, a whopping 13 main parts (and even more spin-offs) have been released – and "Shadows" is the first to be centered around Japan and ninja. In other words, the things you normally think of before ancient Romans, Greeks or Vikings when "sneaky assassins" are the topic. "Assassin's Creed" and Japan, that just fits.

At the end of the 16th century, Japan went through one of its politically wildest and bloodiest periods: At the height of the Sengoku period, the empire was deeply divided and the emperor no longer had any power. Dozens of provinces fought bitterly against each other for fleeting supremacy, while the first Christian missionaries continued to spread their faith. It was only with the determined appearance of Prince Oda Nobunaga that a semblance of order returned from around 1560.

And it is precisely this prince (or daimyou) who is the central figure in "Assassin's Creed Shadows". It takes place around 20 years later, when Nobunaga was at the height of his power and had opened up Japan to foreign guests and traders. However, you don't play Nobunaga here, but initially one of these guests: the African Yasuke, who came to Japan as a slave of Portuguese priests and was taken to his court by Nobunaga and made a samurai –, which is also historically documented, making Yasuke the first historical protagonist of the "Assassin's Creed" series.

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"Assassin's Creed Shadows" im Test (16 Bilder)

However, Yasuke only plays a role in the comparatively short prologue. After that, you slip into the skin of Naoe Fujibayashi, a young ninja from the province of Iga. For several hours, you relive her training as a master shinobi and her quest for revenge on her father's murderers in the form of flashbacks, before the two plots are interwoven.

A challenging balancing act

Unlike in previous parts of the series, in which you were also allowed to choose between male and female, the choice between Yasuke and Naoe is not simply a change of texture. Instead, the two represent two very different play styles, which in turn stand for two very different "Assassin's Creed" schools: In the past, the focus was on sneaking around and assassinating selected targets as inconspicuously as possible, while later parts developed in an increasingly action-heavy direction.

"Shadows" is now sliding into the unifying balancing act: Yasuke is the heavily armed samurai who solves problems primarily through brute fighting; his punches and kicks are wonderfully powerful, he swings his sword like a barbarian hammer. Naoe, on the other hand, is fast and mainly moves in the shadows, which she creates herself by extinguishing candles or lanterns when in doubt. She is of course also a competent fighter, but you soon realize that this is not her greatest strength. Unlike climbing, however, as she scales even the highest towers quickly and elegantly, not least thanks to her grappling hook.

Welcome to Japan!

The games in the series have always been characterized by a certain degree of fidelity to reality. No, we're not talking about jumping from a hundred-meter-high tower into a haystack accompanied by an eagle screech, although that still exists. Rather, it is the blending of fiction with historical figures (such as Yasuke, Nobunaga or the famous samurai Hattori Hanzou) and locations.

"Shadows" remains true to this line and relocates the action to the central Japanese Kansai region. This corresponds to the structure of the region in the 16th century and includes provinces such as Harima, Yamashiro, Settsu, Iga and Yamato. They are not only home to a number of historical buildings, but also important cities such as Osaka, Kobe and Japan's former capital Kyoto. All of these places are recreated in an impressive level of detail, which, following Ubisoft's laws, makes for a sprawling game world.

At first, it doesn't seem all that huge, as you only travel through a manageable part of it during the prologue and the start of the Naoe chapter. But gradually the world opens up and more and more possible destinations are added. And by the time Naoe and Yasuke set off together, "Shadows" has also returned to the gigantic open world for which the "Assassin's Creed" series is now famous.

Of course, medieval Japan is not built to scale; you should be able to explore the world on foot or on horseback without dying of old age. However, it's still better not to go for a walk because in terms of sheer size, "Shadows" is roughly the same as "Assassin's Creed Origins", offering around 80 square kilometers of space.