Ubisoft Deep-Dives Into Assassin’s Creed Shadows Stealth Gameplay, Calls AC: Shadows “A New Stealth Philosophy”

In another universe and timeline, Assassin’s Creed Shadows would be out by now, and we’d all be playing it instead of reading about how the stealth gameplay is apparently a big change compared to the rest of the Assassin’s Creed series.

That’s in another universe and timeline. In this one, we’re waiting for Shadows to release in February by reading about how the stealth gameplay is apparently a big change for the franchise.

On Thursday Ubisoft published a big deep-dive blog post on its website kicking off what it says will be a “series of posts over the next few weeks” with details about different aspects of Shadows.

To start, this first blog focuses on stealth, and unsurprisingly focuses on the character Naoe, one of the main protagonists in Shadows and the stealthier of the two characters.

Associate game director on Shadows Simon Lemay-Comtois says that the stealth gameplay in shadows “has been ambitiously overhauled in a few key areas,” and that the studios’ approach to stealth this time around is “a new stealth philosophy.”

These big changes seem to boil down to actually being able to use the darkness, and the fact that there won’t be an eagle flying around allowing you to scout out a whole area. Naoe can still use the classic see-through-walls ability, Eagle Vision, but it’s only available to her.

Both Yasuke and Naoe will have access to a new “Observe mechanic,” however, which seemingly lets them mark enemies they can see in their line of sight.

Regarding being able to use the darkness, that’s because Shadows is the first Assassin’s Creed game where being in total darkness will conceal the player – sticking to the ‘shadows,’ not just some tall grass, can make you invisible to enemies.

And speaking of tall grass, you won’t just be crouching in it, but going prone, which is another first for the series, since every assassin before them was incapable of lying down.

Though Shadows has a couple of ‘firsts’ for the series, there are also things making a comeback, like Double Assassinations. But they won’t work like they did back in Assassin’s Creed 2.

The RPG-ification of the series is still very much here, and you’ll need to make sure your stealth and hidden blade abilities are levelled up enough to take care of stronger enemies, otherwise they’ll shrug your stealthy assassination attempt off, and you’re caught in a big fight.

Lastly, while the stealth gameplay is almost entirely reserved for Naoe, the blog post does add that if you’re deliberate and slick with a bow and arrow, Yasuke can engage enemies in a stealthy manner himself. By standing very far away with a bow and arrow and then walking right in the front door after the guards are dispatched.

Source – [Ubisoft]