Assassin’s Creed games have gotten exponentially bigger over the last 18 years, and the more recent RPG entries have taken things to a whole new level. Assassin’s Creed Origins‘ Ancient Egypt map was around 80km², while Assassin’s Creed Syndicate‘s London (the map before it) weighed in at 3.7km². Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s Ancient Greece was even larger at 130km², though that included a few large areas of open water. Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ Japan-set map is roughly 120km², and it’s all land that’s densely packed with things to do.
Following the trend set by AC Origins and then continued by its other RPG predecessors, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is an absolutely gigantic game. Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ main story can take anywhere between 30 and 50 hours to complete, and its side content adds at least another 20–30 hours to the total runtime. But, more so than ever before, Assassin’s Creed Shadows wants players to take their time, so much so it’s baked into its gameplay loop and story.
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Dual Protagonists Atone for Syndicate’s Sins
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Naoe and Yasuke effectively make up for one major shortcoming of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s dual protagonists.
How Assassin’s Creed Shadows Encourages Players to Take Their Time
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Story Is Best Enjoyed in Bite-Sized Chunks
Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ main story might take 30–50 hours to beat, but Ubisoft has seemingly designed the gameplay loop deliberately so that players can feel fulfilled after just an hour of playtime. The main premise of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is that Naoe and Yasuke need to hunt down every member of the mysterious Shinbakufu organization.
Each Shinbakufu member has their own set of distinct preparation missions, many of which require the use of a Spy to reveal their starting locations. Once these prep missions have been completed, players are able to assassinate their target. From scouting the first objective to killing the target, these Shinbakufu main missions usually take around 60–90 minutes to complete, offering a satisfying beginning, middle, and end in a relatively short amount of time.
While players are able to dash through Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ main story as fast as possible and still find its gameplay loop enjoyable, these bite-sized chunks of gameplay offer a natural way for players to take their time, take breaks, and really enjoy everything that Shadows‘ story has to offer.
Open-World Activities Are Designed to be Stopgaps
But Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t just its main story. Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ open-world is packed to the brim with optional content, and its placement in the world is another way in which Ubisoft encourages players to take their time. As players travel from one main objective to the next, they’re bound to run into at least a handful of side activities, all of which have likely been placed there in order to give players more gameplay variety, and a bit of a breather between lengthy cutscenes. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is arguably best enjoyed when players embrace this encouraged gameplay loop.
Naoe’s Playstyle Is All About Patience
One half of Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ dual protagonists also acts as a natural encouragement for players to take their time with the game’s content. Revolving around stealth, Naoe’s playstyle requires players to scout out a location, mark enemies, observe patrol patterns, create a plan, and execute that plan slowly and carefully. Playing as Naoe requires patience, and that type of gameplay ensures the player paces themselves.
- Released
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March 20, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
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