It seems we’ll have new challenges to face if we prefer to be sneaky when going after those Assassin’s Creed Shadows achievements, as Ubisoft’s overview about Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ stealth outlines several new mechanics and “firsts” for the series — in fact, on our list of all the main Assassin’s Creed games in order, it’ll be the first one since Origins without a flying companion.Assassin’s Creed Shadows introduces a new Observe mechanic and moreAssassin’s Creed Shadows is reworking stealth mechanics after the RPG games changed the original formulaRelease Date: Friday, February 14, 2025Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PCAssassin’s Creed Shadows has “ambitiously overhauled” several aspects of stealth gameplay, according to associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois. The main change is that there won’t be an eagle companion like in the RPG games, which means we’ll need to scout things out ourselves. Another big change is the introduction of the Observe mechanic, special advantages for Naoe as the “smallest Assassin to date,” the return of Double Assassinations, two series firsts with the ability to be “invisible” in the shadows and the option to go prone, and changes in enemy tactics and behaviors. The Observe mechanic is independent of Eagle Vision, but you can use both. Observe is “at the core of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows experience” and lets you “identify targets, tag and monitor enemies, and highlight lootable stashes, collectibles, and quest objectives. While on a Synch Point, it also allows for close examination of nearby locations.” Eagle Vision, as a “dedicated stealth mechanic,” lets you detect hidden enemies, hiding spots, and so on.Without an eagle buddy, any extra options for detection will help, such as the option to hide in night-time shadows to become “invisible” to enemies. Since this works inside and out, Ubisoft says you can create stealth opportunities yourself: by destroying lanterns with a throwable weapon, for instance. Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ protagonists are also able to go prone, as well as running and crouching.This works on rooftops and underwater as well, and you can crawl under buildings and dodge enemies too. Naoe also has the extra option of hiding in small spaces and squeezing through cracks in the walls. Meanwhile, the grab mechanic has been slightly changed in Assassin’s Creed Shadows to take away “some of the automation” it had before, so that “if you want to assassinate someone from a stalking bush you have to manually grab them, pull them in, and only then can you dispatch them.”All this will come in handy against the new enemy behaviors. Servants appear in the game as a new enemy type with their patrol routes — they can’t fight you but will rat you out to the guards. Those guards, meanwhile, will pose different challenges when taking the different enemy types into account. Samurai can “deny” assassinations and slice bushes to stop you from hiding, and you can’t assassinate them after dropping a smoke bomb as you can with other enemies. This option to deny assassinations means you need to keep upgrading your Hidden Blade and experiment with different tactics to face tougher enemies.Heidi’s Take — I’ll miss the eagle, but these stealth changes could make for better assassin’s anticsWe said in our round-up of how Assassin’s Creed Red might build a better future for the series (that was back when Shadows’ codename was Red) that one thing Ubisoft could do would be not to nerf the bird. This was more because Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Sýnin was a feathered freeloader compared to Odyssey’s Ikaros (although, if we’re talking badass birds, neither would fare well against Far Cry Primal’s owl). Never mind nerfing — Ubisoft has gone one step further and removed the bird element entirely.On the one hand, this could make things a little more enjoyably difficult with the necessity to rely on assassin instincts instead of that aerial viewpoint. On the other hand, the eagle (or raven or vampire bat or pigeon, depending on how much you delve into skin options) is an iconic part of Assassin’s Creed. While its various skills do come in useful, its vantage point in the sky also helped to mitigate the overwhelming feeling of the massive maps introduced as Assassin’s Creed ventured more into open-world RPG territory. That Observe mechanic does look a little more natural and realistic, but it doesn’t have the magnificence of swooping about and pretending no one will notice the giant phoenix checking out an enemy camp. I kind of like the removal of automation with the grabbing mechanic since I did get pretty lazy in relying on that to help me clear out camps. I also like the changes to enemy tactics — having servants ready to rat you out at the first opportunity sounds like it’ll mix things up, while more suspicious enemies imply more of a challenge and less of a lone guard’s “it must have been my imagination” vibe as they stand surrounded by the bodies of their colleagues.The “denying assassination” thing does not, sadly, mean a polite “no thank you” from your intended victim, but more of an embarrassing failure as they dodge your efforts (some of them even laugh at you). All these little changes could mean a nice variety in stealth gameplay — if it isn’t bugged into the ground at first, as we’ve seen with stealth in games like Star Wars Outlaws.Hopefully, any frustration if we do get caught out again and again will be undone by the fact that in places like castles and fortresses, “different districts each exist as their arenas. This means that should you get caught in one pocket, you can still recover, re-engage, and keep your stealth run going without having an entire location bearing down on you.” Ubisoft has more on the way about stealth details apparently, so there’s more to learn yet about how that’ll all work. What do you think of these changes so far? Let us know in the comments down below on whether you reckon this’ll help Assassin’s Creed Shadows rank as one of the best Xbox open world games.
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