Introduction
Ubisoft needs a win. 2024 was not a good year for them financially. It was the year that many of their less-than-popular design practices finally came home to roost. It was the year that everyone finally decided to collectively turn on the company. And honestly, justifiably so.
Fans' Complaints Finally Manifested
Fans have been complaining about the state of Ubisoft's formula for years. But for whatever reason, we are now at the point where those complaints have finally manifested into mainstream disinterest. Ubisoft games just aren't selling like they used to, which is a big problem for a company as big as Ubisoft, as they need to sell big numbers to keep their international chain of developers working at max capacity.
Underperforming Titles
And those sales did not happen in 2024. It was one financial disappointment after another. "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora," "Skull and Bones," "Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown," and "Star Wars Outlaws" all underperformed according to Ubisoft. And it's not necessarily that those are bad games. The Avatar game was surprisingly good.
"Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown" as well. It was kind of unfair to expect what they expected there, but it's a great game. The less said about "Skull and Bones" and "Star Wars Outlaws," the better right now. The situation has been so bad that they're actually considering a buyout or selling the entire studio to whoever is willing to pay.
Failed Deal with Tencent
A recent deal with Tencent fell through because the founders wanted to keep control of the company. And when you're owned by somebody, that's not how it works. So honestly, yes, you can say there were some big problems with some of the games. Exclude "Skull and Bones" and all the games I mentioned are decent games.
Exclude "Star Wars Outlaws" and, well, they're actually very good games. Some of the best the studio has put out in years. They're finally starting to evolve their formula. But it's kind of too little too late. So with all that said, there is a pretty big question mark on top of the new game about the oath that murderers take.
Assassin's Creed Shadows: Make or Break
Hi folks, it's Zaid Ikram, and today on Gamix we're gonna talk about how much is riding on "Assassin's Creed Shadows." A lot. I mean, this game needs to be a success. Assassin's Creed is their premier franchise. And while "Valhalla" may have been responsible for a lot of fans giving up on Ubisoft in the first place, it was, without a doubt, a massive hit.
It sold over 20 million copies and earned over a billion dollars in revenue. That game's success has been a double-edged sword. It made a lot of money, but for, I guess, lack of a better way of putting it, also just bludgeons you with endless content. Using the word very deliberately here to convey what people think of the word "content."
I can see why for a lot of people enough was enough. It was a game where people were finally getting fed up with the Ubisoft formula, full-blown. The funny thing is, I don't think "Valhalla" is bad at all. I think it's a good game. It's just really long, really bloated, and ultimately pretty formulaic.
Endurance Test
It wears out its welcome, I guess, is the way to put it. To really enjoy "Valhalla," you have to play it until you're sick of it and then put it down for like a week, and then play it until you're sick of it, and then put it down for like a week. And you're gonna do that at least twice. You're gonna put it down for a week at least twice while playing it to really enjoy the game, which is not good.
The game was an endurance test. It did not do enough to advance Assassin's Creed as a series. "Shadows," "Assassin's Creed Shadows," the new one, is supposed to be that evolution. The game where Ubisoft finally innovates their stale gameplay systems and updates all the tired cliches. I don't know if it's actually going to or not, but from all the previews going around and all the pre-release information, it does seem like Ubisoft really wants us to think of this game as a new beginning for the series.
Desperation to Succeed
It's not just that "Assassin's Creed Shadows" desperately wants us back, either. It needs us back. The future of the entire company is riding on this game. It has to make a splash, or else. And there's a certain desperation around the release of this game that you usually do not see from Ubisoft. They pushed it back to March 20th in order to release the game with no competition.
They're offering DLC with pre-orders. They're finally releasing day one on Steam again. The things the old Ubisoft would never do. They knew they had your money, where they were 100% confident in their success. So they released their games whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted. Expensive DLC passes be damned.
Learning the Lesson
In this new punished Ubisoft era, they're actually doing things people like. And while it's clearly all from a place of desperation, I mean, it's nice to see somebody learning the lesson. There's 100 different things I could point to right now of people who just refuse to learn the lesson. Just do what people want you to do and it'll work.
So I mean, to some extent, we do have to look at this as an aberrant situation. Desperation or not, I don't really care why. They're doing what we want them to do, at least. So let's at least hear them out. One thing they're trying to do is show they're pretty serious about PC support. On top of just straight-up releasing the game on Steam day one, they recently put out a trailer specifically to show off all the PC support features, including the stuff you'd expect, like access to all the AI upscaling tools and ray tracing features.
But they also mentioned stuff like built-in benchmarking tools and a wide range of support for low and medium-end systems, meaning optimization, perhaps. I don't know, we'll see. But another highly requested feature that's finally in "Shadows" is an immersive mode, where you can set it so that characters actually speak their native language.
Immersive Mode
It's just an option. Default's still English or whatever your local language is. But it's a welcome feature. I'll probably play it in English, if I'm completely honest, at least the first time. Assuming there's a second time, I'll probably go through with immersive mode.
But for AC fans, "Shadow" sounds, on paper, like the game we've all been waiting for. A game set in Japan with more complex stealth systems and more visceral combat. It promises an immersive open world with things like changing seasons and a focus on actual investigation, where you don't just find your target simply by following a series of linear quests, but actually searching the world and discovering things naturally.
Execution is Key
On paper, it sounds like the dream Assassin's Creed game. Right? But what matters is the implementation. We've seen "Ghost of Tsushima" already, for one. In a lot of ways, I am describing "Ghost of Tsushima." On that same hand, it's also pretty hard not to be cynical about a new game from Ubisoft, which is one of the most cynical game developers out there.
But from everything I have seen, this new game does look like a genuine step up for the series, perhaps even a big one. But whether it's big enough is yet to be seen. A lot of what they've shown so far is pretty exciting. Almost all the changes to stealth sound like huge improvements: finally being able to hide in darkness, noise being a concern with things like creaky floors, and being able to crawl and go prone.
Long-requested Changes
It's all very intriguing, and these are long-requested changes. You can put out lights like in "Splinter Cell," or even just stuff that existed on PlayStation and Nintendo 64. I don't know why, for whatever reason, you couldn't put lights out. I don't understand that. I like that you're gonna be able to do it here, though.
There are servant NPCs. They'll run and call guards if they see you. It all sounds a lot more complex, and even, like I kind of mentioned, old school. Like, there's stuff here that reminds me of, like, PlayStation 1, N64 to PlayStation 2 and GameCube-era stuff. I like that. Combat looks more intense here too.
They're clearly taking inspiration from, and I mentioned this already, the more fast and brutal fights of "Ghost of Tsushima." I do kind of think they realized they were out Assassins Creeded by that game. But they aren't just trying to, you know, copy that. They're also giving us a much wider array of weapons to play with, which potentially I think makes that fast and brutal combat a lot cooler sounding.
Split Protagonists
The thing a lot of people still aren't entirely sold on are the split protagonists. There's Naoe the shinobi and Yasuke the samurai. Naoe basically plays like your old-school AC protagonist, where you're sneaking around rooftops, sneakily stabbing people, while Yasuke is a big bruiser who sucks at stealth but excels at combat.
It's an interesting concept. And from all the previews, I actually respect that they're trying to make each character actually play differently rather than just be reskins.
But also, Yasuke, the sort of big bruiser style, makes the game sound less interesting mechanically. I don't know if that's the truth, of course. But Naoe gets access to all the cool ninja tools, like a grappling hook. She can run on walls, hide in tight spaces, and use all these interesting tricks.
While Yasuke allegedly can just kill stuff better, he's the melee guy. It's like Ubisoft is afraid to make a game where you just play as a ninja in Assassin's Creed. They have to have a warrior in there somewhere for people who want to run around killing everything without having to worry about the boring stealth aspects. Which, to some extent, I get.
Cost and Availability
But they definitely want the game to be a success, and we'll see if they pull it off. Either way, you can just use Ubisoft+. It's available there on day one. And that's a whole lot cheaper than actually buying the game. So if you're curious, just do that.
Complex Gameplay Mechanics
I do kind of understand the thought process here. I don't hate the idea of getting options. I just worry about one of those options making it so that the development of both of those options was effort diverted that could have been put into one thing that would have been better. I guess if Naoe is fantastic, it doesn't really matter to me.
That's who I'll play as. And to be frank, Yasuke does at least seem to have some interesting skills. He can smash through walls, for instance. He can shoulder-check enemies off cliffs. He's got a more traditional combat system with a parry and block button. He's got access to a traditional samurai sword along with some bigger weapons like the naginata and the kanabo, the giant cudgel that can smash through armor with ease.
Yasuke might sound a little bit like easy mode even, but they're attempting to balance him out by making it so he absolutely sucks at stealth. Climbing is slow and awkward. And don't even think about trying to use tightropes 'cause they're just gonna snap with the weight. His animations play up the fact that he is not built for stealth, which is both kind of interesting and potentially pretty limiting.
His stealth basically begins and ends with the bow, which is a silent kill weapon that he has access to that Naoe doesn't. She could be worse in combat, but she actually sounds more unique and interesting as a character to play as, at least from the previews. Instead of a standard parry, she has deflect, where she repositions after a well-timed block, moving around to attack the enemy from behind.
But that leaves her vulnerable to getting stabbed in the back. It sounds like the guys you fight are gonna be more aggressive in general too. They're not afraid to gang up on you. And they can probably easily overwhelm the much squishier, but stealthier Naoe. "Shadows" might be attempting to modernize the formula in a lot of ways, but it's also bringing back a few old gameplay staples of the series.
Climbing and World Design
For one thing, you can no longer climb absolutely everything. Certain mountains and smooth surfaces can't be climbed. You need an actual handhold to get anywhere in "AC Shadows." And honestly, that should allow for more interesting and complex world design. Just because it works in "Breath of the Wild" doesn't mean it works everywhere.
Sometimes the limitation is good. And I think that in terms of Assassin's Creed, that limitation is necessary. So you can't just go wherever you want anymore. That allows the designers to come up with more carefully curated locations that are more rewarding to explore. Changing seasons could also affect the level design, like winter freezes that can be walked on.
I've seen some previews that are skeptical about the whole weather system, saying it doesn't seem to change much in terms of gameplay, which may be true. But it seems like these seasons are more like measurements of time rather than strictly a gameplay thing. The seasons in the game tie into this whole scout mechanic, where you can recruit scouts to do various things for you.
They can be used to help narrow down objectives in the game. It doesn't tell you their exact locations. They're needed, though, to smuggle supply caches from well-guarded locations. Once you use a scout to smuggle stuff, they can't be used again until the season passes, which is when all the scouts complete their jobs.
Open World Exploration and Scouts
How the open-world exploration works sounds like they took exploration mode from the RPG trilogy and expanded on that. Getting around isn't about following simple waypoints. You're given descriptions of where to go, or you might need to find clues to direct you to the proper area to continue. It sounds like you'll almost always have access to all the clues you need to get the targets or just uncover a point of interest, but you can also send scouts into the world map to find things for you.
The more scouts spent, the larger the radius of the area searched. Resources the scouts can collect can be used back at the hideout, which is a customizable location. You can build structures that boost your characters or unlock new features, sort of like Ravensthorpe from "Valhalla," only you could control where the buildings go, and you can design and decorate the place as much as you want.
Removing the Bird Drone
Another big change is that they're finally removing the bird drone from the RPG trilogy. It was an impressive graphical flex in "Origins." But it was so powerful, there was never any reason not to use it. And actually, going around marking everyone was slow and tedious. It made the first part of sneaking into any given location a chore.
You had to hunt down and mark everything. "Shadows" removes the system and replaces it with observe, which is the same thing, only a little weaker. It serves the same function: marks points of interest and flags enemies. But you're stuck on the ground to do it. And specifically, Yasuke's version of it is more limited.
He can only mark a few guys, while Naoe gets extra skills, like being able to mark enemies through walls. The biggest concern with "Shadows" is if all these changes are actually enough. Some of the previews I've seen make it sound like this plays mostly the same as the old entries, and maybe that the stealth mechanics don't really shake things up enough.
Similarities and Concerns
I've read other previews that are a lot more glowing and appreciative of what's going on in "Shadows." So right now it's really hard to say whether Ubisoft can actually turn things around here or not. A lot of the features do look suspiciously similar to previous games. Loot appears to be random again. The investigation system seems very similar to hunting the order from "Valhalla."
And there's still tons of resources you have to collect to upgrade. There are experience levels and assassinations that can fail, like in recent RPG games. And if you're not high enough level, it looks like you only do partial damage when attempting to do stealth kills.
Potential for Improvement
A lot of what we're getting here looks very similar to what we've seen in other Assassin's Creed games in terms of controls and the basic gameplay loop. But with more options for stealth, more complex levels, and improved combat, it has the potential to be the best Assassin's Creed game yet. Hunting the order from "Valhalla" doesn't necessarily have to be bad.
Certain contexts could make that mechanic good or at least better than in "Valhalla." It's not like it was terrible in "Valhalla" or anything. But I think the context really does have a lot of effects. And I'm not sure I'm sold on the split protagonists entirely. This story kind of looks, I mean, from what we've currently seen, a bit bland and uninteresting.
Narrative Potential
There is potential, I'm not gonna lie. I can see that. In terms of narrative, it's just, I'm not sure we've seen it. I'm not looking forward to the Animus Hub. We're already stuck with the crappy Ubisoft launcher on PC. I don't understand why we need another piece of bloatware to get between us and playing the game.
I know Ubisoft wants to upsell this concept. But I don't care. It sounds stupid and pointless no matter how they try to spin it. Anyone who's gotten the opportunity to experience the joy of trying to play a Call of Duty game knows how absolutely awful these kinds of unified launches can be. They just make trying to actually play a game more annoying.
Animus Hub and Expectations
Trying to quarantine off the modern-day storyline bits into this thing makes the modern-day story stuff even more inconsequential. This is one idea that really should have been jettisoned with their plans for whatever "Assassin's Creed Infinity" was originally gonna be. Maybe by some miracle, the Animus Hub won't be absolutely terrible and it'll just be unnecessary.
But with so much riding on this one game's success, trying to force something that nobody wants into the package seems a little counterproductive. But that's Ubisoft for you. It seems like they're incapable of just doing it right. Even if all the signs point to the game being good, they gotta throw in some nonsense.
Final Thoughts and Optimism
It's disappointing because otherwise, everything else about "Shadows" looks and sounds pretty promising. As a longtime fan of the series, who both likes the game and is well aware of the flaws—the many varied flaws—it's possible "Shadows" could be the revitalization of the series that it needs. The developers behind "Assassin's Creed Shadows" really want to bring fans back.
And at least looking at the previews and all the information they've released so far, it looks like they're doing the right things. But also, you can't really say that for sure until you play the game. We'll see if this is the game mainstream audiences really want, or if the page is finally starting to turn on open-world games.
It's a volatile market, and games that traditionally were surefire hits are underperforming right now. I mean, it's not even just games. Large entertainment properties that were once guaranteed hits regardless of quality are struggling across the board. Whether it's Marvel movies, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," or the second Joker movie, audiences are not automatically sold on big-name franchises anymore.
Market Uncertainty
Unless you're Call of Duty, there's no certainty of success. And what I just said should make Call of Duty fairly nervous. "Assassin's Creed Shadows" could turn out to be a good game, even a great one, but it still might not be enough to turn Ubisoft's fortunes around. For me, all I really care about is good games.
The business aspect of this is a curiosity and something interesting to follow and talk about. But for me, ultimately, I would rather see a struggling Ubisoft make a great game over a dominant Ubisoft making a bunch of mediocre slop. At this point, we don't know exactly what "Shadows" is going to be—whether it will be a great game or, unfortunately, mediocre.
Conclusion
But they definitely want the game to be a success, and we'll see if they pull it off. Either way, you can just use Ubisoft+. It's available there on day one, and that's a whole lot cheaper than actually buying the game. So if you're curious, just do that.
That's all for today. Leave us a comment, let us know what you think. And as always, we thank you very much for reading this blog.
I'm Zaid Ikram. We'll see you next time right here on Gameranx.
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