[Assassin's Creed] Shadows | Now arriving on 2/14/25 with day 1 Steam release

Drez

RELEASE DATE: 2/14/25
Coming to:

PC: Ubisoft Connect, Epic Game Store, Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC/Mac, and iPad (?)

-MORE INFO COMING-

PREVIOUS GAME: Assassin's Creed Mirage

Assassin's Creed: Mirage comes out Thursday. A couple of important things that we know:

Setting/Background: The game primarily takes place in 9th century Baghdad, and the protagonist is Basim Ibn Ishaq, who was a character introduced in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. I have no idea if you "need" to (or if it's better to) beat Valhalla first for narrative continuity/comprehension. I'm betting no, but I have no idea.

Availability: According to Wikipedia the game is coming out on these systems: PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S. The PC version is not available on Steam at this time. It is available through Epic Game Store and Ubisoft Connect. The Deluxe Version is ALSO available at launch through Ubisoft+, which (at least in the US) is $14.99.

Preorder bonus: There IS a preorder quest, and I am not sure if the Ubisoft+ version entitles you to the preorder quest. The bonus quest is called "The Forty Thieves." I assume it's a quest about Ali Baba. And some random unspecified number of thieves.

Versions: The game is $49.99 for the non-deluxe version and $59.99 for the deluxe version. The Deluxe Version comes with additional things as pictured below:



Length: People in the thread said it's a return to shorter AC games - 20-30 hours? I hope that is true.

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2020 OP, now archived:

Previous thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/202542/assassins-creed-to-fight-the-horde-sing-and-cry/p1

Local H Jay wrote: »

https://youtu.be/L0Fr3cS3MtY

The latest entry in the AC Franchise is Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.

Massena wrote: »

So, if I have this right:
-Play as male or female
-A raven is your companion animal
-Set in Scandinavia, Norway, Britain, and Alfred the Great is the big bad (which, yeah that's a significant reversal from his typical portrayal)
-Build your own Viking village (super interested in this)
-In-game decisions affect settlement, story, romances (will this fill the void in my gaming that Bioware left when they started sucking?)
-Customize tattoos, beard, war paint, gear, longboats (sort of expected but still awesome and fun)

I'm super pumped here as long as they don't, you know, pull a III or a Unity.

It's coming to current and next gen consoles, and likely PC as well





The AC Franchise is over a decade old and features games in multiple historical settings and eras. The overarching plot ended in AC3, but the games latest iterations focusing more on RPG style character building and choice trees, like an action adventure Mass Effect. So while the original games were about Desmond stepping into his ancestors shoes, these new games are about the player themselves taking on Desmond's role.

Well known for Unity's buggy release, Syndicate marked a shift in Ubisoft's direction for the series. They recognized fans wanted more freedom and control over the experience, starting with choice of player character. Originally Ubisoft was quoted as saying that female Playable Characters would be too expensive and time consuming to implement. Well they've apparently found it in their budget to include them in every game since, something fans are quite happy about. While the games are a far cry from the original trilogy, the modern releases are oft praised, starting with Origins in 2017.

The Assassin's Creed series is a video game series that started in 2007 seven with the appropriately-named Assassin's Creed, the first entry into the Assassin's Creed series. If it were named something else, discussion of it wouldn't belong in this thread, but since it was called Assassin's Creed, I can include it here.

There are an infinite number of games in this series, a number so large that the individual elements of the series are uncountable - a total unable to be comprehended or expressed through mere words. Or if you believe Wikipedia, there are a total of 24 games, about half of which are main series games and half of which are side-story offshoots. I would normally plagiarize here, but for now I will just provide a link to that Wikipedia page. Wikipedia, for those that don't know, is a crowdsourced collection of information in a "pedia" type format. It is an abyss and you can get trapped and lost within its walls, so venture within only sparingly AND DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OTHER LINKS or you may never again emerge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Creed

The Assassin's Creed series is a game based on the modern day real life conflict between the Assassin's and Templars. Basically, the Assassin's and the Templars are having a bit of a spat and they like to kill each other. This plays out across different settings in the game series, but the main point is the modern day stuff that everyone loves and universally and unanimously agrees is the only real point of the game series. I've 100%ed most of the games myself. There apparently is a whole historical and mythological fiction aspect of the game but I've never noticed - just the modern day stuff.

Here's a quick rundown of the game settings (i.e. where each game takes place) for the main series title.

Assassin's Creed 1 - Masayaf, Jersualem, Acre, and Damascus
Assassin's Creed II - Italy
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Eataly
Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Constantinople
Assassin's Creed III - America
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - The Carribean
Assassin's Creed Rogue - Seven Year's War locations
Assassin's Creed Unity - Paris, France
Assassin's Creed Syndicate - London, England
Assassin's Creed Origins - Egypt
Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Greece
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Skyrim

I won't list all the side games but the locations for most of those games should be obvious. For instance, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China obviously takes place in China.

Anyway, Valhalla is buggy right now so buy and play at your own risk. I'm sure it will be amazing once all the bugs and kinks are worked out.

I'll update this soon so it doesn't suck so much.

Here's a quick rundown of the game settings (i.e. where each game takes place) for the main series title.

Assassin's Creed 1 - Masayaf, Jersualem, Acre, and Damascus
Assassin's Creed II - Italy
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Eataly
Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Constantinople
Assassin's Creed III - America
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - The Carribean
Assassin's Creed Rogue - Seven Year's War locations
Assassin's Creed Unity - Paris, France
Assassin's Creed Syndicate - London, England
Assassin's Creed Origins - Egypt
Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Greece
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Skyrim
Assassin's Creed Mirage - Seattle
Assassin's Creed Shadows - Daytona Speedway

Drez

Reserved for later.

urahonky

Drunk Eivor is the best. Seriously I loved it.

Prohass

What’s the advantage of the swap weapons skill? Like what set up is that for?

mosssnack

Probably to take advantage of specific R2s and L1s?

At power level 125 and playing on hard, not something I have even needed to think about yet. Maybe there’s an armor set or rune that rewards doing it

Pixelated Pixie

Prohass wrote: »

What’s the advantage of the swap weapons skill? Like what set up is that for?

I like to switch between hammer and axe heavy attacks depending on who I'm fighting.

Carpy

Hahahaha, so I guess slow time on dodge literally only slows time, you can still get hit by the slowed attack. I just died on the Grantsbridgeshire witch by perfect dodging the shadow's lunge but when I tried to run back to the witch I ran into the still lunging shadow and fell over dead.

Edit: I kind of figured it removed hit detection on the slowed attack but apparently not.

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me

Okay I'm really confused about the ending

(Spoilers for the ending)

The game doesn't have an ending

Or did I just.... miss something?

urahonky

70 hours and numerous bugs later I think I've finally finished the game?

Nosf

Worst bug ever, my cloak is perma on. Had to remove it entirely. Game ruined.

Aistan

Why is Dag such a fucking moron.

Preacher

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me wrote: »

Okay I'm really confused about the ending

(Spoilers for the ending)

The game doesn't have an ending

Or did I just.... miss something?

Honestly that was the way I felt about Odyssey too, like end game spoilers for odyssey and valhalla

It feels like in both cases you have a resolution with like 10% of the game left to do, and because you need to be able to keep playing they let you and its like "but I really shouldn't be."

Especially in Valhalla there is no reason that Basim should be in the animus.

urahonky

I did end up getting every alliance in the end because I thought that's what triggered the ending...

So that was literally it? Basim gets out of his simulation, and jumps into the Animus to control/learn Eivor's memories?

Preacher

Aistan wrote: »

Why is Dag such a fucking moron.

I really got the feeling he had some massive projection. Mid game spoiler

Dag wanted to be Jarl and you were in his way.

Nosf

Aistan wrote: »

Why is Dag such a fucking moron.

I look forward to killing Dag, because I know we're definitely gonna be killing Dag. I do have a fair number of complaints about the game, outside of bugs and such, but I simply enjoy running around as Eivor (not using a mount) and finding settlements and forts of assholes 200 levels over me and then slowly assassinating them all. I'm just finishing that spoilery place you go after drinking the thing and basically all my gear is maxed out and my rations and quiver are just 1-2 points from being fully upgraded. Well, finishing the first part of it, I assume we're going back for more of it.

Aistan

So I just did Suthsexe.

Sigurd's... heel turn? I guess you'd call it? It would be more surprising if the last time we spent time with him he wasn't acting exactly this same way. Ranting about how he's a living god and second-guessing Eivor's loyalty every second. Even before we met Fulke.

So she didn't really do anything, he was already a giant asshole. Now he's just a giant asshole with a missing arm.

Foefaller wrote: »

Aistan wrote: »

From what i've seen so far, Eivor was historically a woman but the animus got confused due to

(spoilers for a thing that happens after you build the seer hut)

Seriously it's a really cool thing to see fresh and not know about beforehand

Eivor tripping out of her mind and spending some time as Odin running around Valhalla

I've played the game up to and including Suthexe, and while it hasn't been said straight up, I'm pretty sure it's

Huge effing spoiler

No seriously, you don't want this spoiled

Last Warning

Eivor is the reincarnation of Odin, who was an Ancient from a contemporary civilization to the Isu we've been dealing with who heard what the Sage did to survive and went "You know, if that's the only way I can live past the apocalypse that renders my species extinct, I'm good with that." Unfortunately, his attempt didn't ensure that future versions of him would be male, which is probably what caused the Animus to freak out when a traumatic incident that is a (metaphorical?) parallel to his previous life (nearly killed by a wolf and saved by ravens) happened.

Yeah this was my assumption after finishing the seer hut areas.

Having just done Suthsexe, my speculation is that

Sigurd is Tyr, with cutting off his arm being part of triggering the memories, but her torture has made him less justice-oriented and more of a flaming asshole.

BronzeKoopa

Prohass wrote: »

What’s the advantage of the swap weapons skill? Like what set up is that for?

It’s to rapidly spam weapon swap so it looks like Eivor is juggling axes, very important.

Snicketysnick

BronzeKoopa wrote: »

Prohass wrote: »

What’s the advantage of the swap weapons skill? Like what set up is that for?

It’s to rapidly spam weapon swap so it looks like Eivor is juggling axes, very important.

This is the best pitch for the skill I've heard so far

Capt Howdy

Missile Reversal is awesome. You should get it.

Zilla360

I love how weird in tone the Asgard sections are, I just had a rap battle with a talking squirrel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLGiA8IeBKs

Big Classy

I'm having weird hdr/brightness on the PS5 version. It like jumps between light and dark rather than gradually adjusting.

BionicPenguin

I really wish wealth/artifacts/mysteries that are gated behind quests wouldn't show up on the map. Whenever I find one I can't reach, it's impossible to know if it's that or a bug.

urahonky

I have to wonder if covid fucked this game. The first half of it is absolutely wonderful. But the last half it's like they stopped giving a shit and copy/pasted everything.

OpposingFarce

BionicPenguin wrote: »

I really wish wealth/artifacts/mysteries that are gated behind quests wouldn't show up on the map. Whenever I find one I can't reach, it's impossible to know if it's that or a bug.

That's why my recommendation is to always clear a regions quest line before 100%-ing it.

Also I liked the ending to this more than odyssey. It was more interesting, at least to me.

Also Dag was such an eye roll. Basically the first time he challenged Eivor I just knew where this was going and it was STILL ham fisted and boring. Handled terribly.

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me

Without trying to do spoilers, I've ostensibly "finished" the main story of the game, and I have to say, I think it's a real disservice to the narrative and people playing it for Ubi to let you get to the "ending" without completing certain parts of the game that would have most definitely clarified exactly what was happening.

In a way it's frustrating because I get what they were going for here with the overall story, both past and modern-day, and it's like they went out of the way to make it possible to not have it make sense in a way that could have been avoided by simply insisting you do things before endgame. (And the fact that there a appears to be a part of the game that should ABSOLUTELY take place before the ending but you can't actually do before doing the ending is... very frustrating)

Like there's so much here that I was beaming over, "haha okay that's very clever, well done guys!" and then getting angry because I switch to thinking "there are a MILLION ways you guys could have made this easier to understand without sacrificing anything in the game."

Update: okay, just one example specifically about the endgame (spoilers for final hours of the game):

It seems incredibly blatant from a narrative perspective that you should clear Hamptonshire and pacify all of England BEFORE going to Norway with Sigurd, except not only does the game not lock you to that path, it incentivizes you to go with Sigurd first, both by ranking it a lower power level and literally having Sigurd say "go with me right now!." There's no reason to save Hamptonshire for after this, especially when it's basically a downer and doesn't even further the story because the game just tells you to collect all the Library Cards instead. So basically, instead of the final hour of the game being a climactic discovery of an alien temple and the revelation of your connection to your perception of Norse gods combined with the reveal of a possible Isu now alive in the modern day, the ending is doing that, and THEN spending two hours watching some side characters die as you continue to pretend you don't know who Aelfred is. It's.... incredibly deflating, honestly.

Big Classy

Is there a way to suggest what kinds stuff we should do before the end without giving the plot away?

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me

Big Classy wrote: »

I'm having weird hdr/brightness on the PS5 version. It like jumps between light and dark rather than gradually adjusting.

Xbox One X has been doing a weird thing where the lighting disappears on the alliance map. Thankfully the raven/bishop pieces are still rendered clearly so everything is playable but definitely the most prominent glitch that existed throughout my entire playthrough.

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me

Big Classy wrote: »

Is there a way to suggest what kinds stuff we should do before the end without giving the plot away?

Honestly, the simplest answer would be, literally everything you can. At a bare minimum, it appears some finale content is locked behind doing the following: (I'm spoilering this in case folks don't want to see anything specific about the game, but I'm only mentioning some specific locations/quest starts, but just being safe)

-Find all animus anomalies
-Find/kill all Order members (yes, including all 15 of the Zealots)
-Fully upgrade Ravensthorpe

Aistan

Odyssey had three endings that required you do almost everything in the game between them, so it sounds like they unfortunately decided to stick with that direction.

My problem with the story so far is that it's just a constant bummer. Even the big victories are overshadowed by something worse happening in the process or the outcome not being what was expected.

chamberlain

Ugh, I want to play more of this.

#ubisoftfixyourshit

BionicPenguin

I realized today that I don't actually enjoy any of the puzzles they make you do to get a lot of the wealth and artifacts. It's all just a lot of busywork. I don't remember Odyssey having nearly as much of that stuff, but maybe I'm only remembering the good parts.

I think the combat might be the only thing they actually improved for this game. Everything else is the same or worse. I still like the game but if another game comes out before I finish it (*cough*Cyberpunk*cough*), I'll have no trouble dropping it.

DJ Eebs

Aistan wrote: »

Odyssey had three endings that required you do almost everything in the game between them, so it sounds like they unfortunately decided to stick with that direction.

My problem with the story so far is that it's just a constant bummer. Even the big victories are overshadowed by something worse happening in the process or the outcome not being what was expected.

The three endings in Odyssey stood alone as endings, I thought. They could clearly tie into the other endings, but they were all stories that didn't need the full context of the others to work. Like, finishing the main plot didn't need the context from the Hidden Ones or the Atlantis stuff.

I'm An Elk; Shoot Me

Yeah, the difference with Odyssey and Valhalla was Odyssey had a definite conclusion to two major arcs, one of which it said "okay, you need to do these things to complete." Valhalla didn't do that. It literally presented what is ostensibly the final act of the game before you could even finish the entire alliance map, and then when you did that, I got a popup that basically said okay you should do all this stuff now. Like... why not just make me do that first and maintain a better narrative.

urahonky

Yeah the whole "hunt for a way into a building that's barred" got really old after the 100th time doing it. Especially when it turns out it's underground starting from the other side of the town.

Snicketysnick

I finally got to an area that drops Tungsten (and went to Norway to get some wolf fangs off the foxes) so I have 2 gold axes and a gold chest now. Turns out increasing speed on parries and increasing attack, speed and crit on hit with crits igniting my axes as a bonus is incredibly dangerous.

Still getting multiple copies of the Gallogach chest which is a bit odd, last patch deleted the dupe I had before so I hope I don't loose the wrong one if it gets fixed again.

Dragkonias

Reading about these bugs my practice of waiting three months until after an AC is released to play it continues to be effective.

Carpy

Sciropshire(I'm certain that's spelled wrong) opening

I'm assuming Ivarr always kills the brother no matter who you give the silver to?

Fencingsax

Dragkonias wrote: »

Reading about these bugs my practice of waiting three months until after an AC is released to play it continues to be effective.

Yeah, the fact they work at all is a miracle, so I always wait a bit.

Prohass

So many of the minor quests have no directions and no markers. I’m in Asgard where the fuck do you take the guy on the boat, the icon just points to where I picked him up, and he gave no directions other than he lives on a beach.

So many of the secondary quests aren’t nearly as well done as odyssey

Edit: ok you literally just had to drop him off on any shore

I do like the fact that Asgard actually looks like what you’d expect based on the stories, people aren’t in like high fantasy armour and such, they just have armour that you could see a Viking wearing. It would’ve been tempting to go the marvel route, but they kept it more subdued

Also do yourself a favour and call your mount in Asgard, I didn’t for a long time

DJ Eebs

Is anyone having more trouble with stealth after the patch? Guards seem much more quick to spot you now.

Prohass

While I’m really enjoying the game so far, about 25 hours in, I definitely hope they do another shake up for the next one. I still love it, but they need something different to keep things interesting for the next instalment. I’m hoping for a return to cities and a more centralised narrative. Not necessarily completely getting rid of the open world, but just having a focus on major cities and a stronger central narrative focus.

like maybe a period in China? So you could have massive major cities but also landscapes around them