Ubisoft has shared new info on Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ combat gameplay, explaining enemy types, weapon differences, and new features. We knew two protagonists would mean two different styles to choose from when hunting down the Assassin’s Creed Shadows achievements, and now we have a little more detail to work with.Assassin’s Creed Shadows includes fight tournaments, Posture Attacks, and moreAssassin’s Creed Shadows has different weapons and defense options for its two protagonistsRelease Date: Friday, February 14, 2025Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PCAssassin’s Creed Shadows has you unlock weapon-based skills in Mastery trees with Mastery Points. Active abilities and passive skills both have a part to play, but according to Ubisoft, “Mastering a weapon takes time and dedication” with players able to use Mastery Points on “their favorite weapon type to unlock new abilities.”Light and heavy attacks are combined with Posture Attacks. These can deal more damage but, since they need to be charged, can also be interrupted by enemies. “A Posture Attack can be held indefinitely, allowing you to adjust your distances or change targets. All posture attacks are great at breaking through an enemy’s blocking stance — breaking their guard instantly.” Naoe and Yasuke can both dodge, parry, and deflect, but there are differences in how they perform these acts, and only Yasuke has a special block mechanic. For instance, Naoe dodges with “directional rolls” while Yasuke remains upright and dodge-steps. He also needs to recover a little after doing two dodge-steps in a row.Yasuke can “switch weapons mid-combo” with an ability “which allows him to rapidly string together attacks and weapon abilities in a continuous flow.” Both characters can have dual weapons, however, and Naoe will apparently be able to hold her own in combat, although she’ll struggle with multiple enemies.Another change for Yasuke is that while Naoe has the katana, the Kusarigama, and the Tanto and Hidden blade combo, Yasuke has five weapons: the long katana, the Naginata, the kanabo, the Yumi Bow, and the Teppo rifle. These weapon selections will apparently give a fair amount of choice whether you’re fighting a crowd of enemies, going for a powerful attack, or relying on ranged combat.Arrayed against these two characters are the different enemy types in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which include, amongst others, outlaws, Ashigaru soldiers, Ronin, samurai, samurai Daisho, and Guardians. While all of these might pose a challenge, enemy types like the samurai Daisho and Guardians will offer greater loot for a greater challenge.Following this combat overview, Ubisoft also did an AMA which, among several other nuggets of info, also told us that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will have a Canon Mode. “Choices come more into play when recruiting allies and romance some of the characters. Since the fan base is divided on branching dialogues, we have incorporated an option called Canon Mode which allows you to play the game with choices already made for you, to give you a choice free experience,” creative director Jonathan Dumont says.Heidi’s Take — After overpowered Eivor, I’m curious to see how these changes play outI like the differences between the two protagonists since it all seems to blend into their different fighting styles (quick stealth for Naoe, full-on combat for Yasuke) but I do wonder whether it means one character will just end up benched the whole time depending on what playstyle we prefer.Two protagonists might offer greater replayability, but if I prefer stealth, does that mean Yasuke will just be off making daisy chains somewhere and waiting for Naoe to tell him what’s going on? Sure, we don’t yet know how much we might actually be asked to switch between the two for different missions. That Reddit AMA also explained that we can be assisted by allies, with a stealth ally to offer more stealth options when playing as Yasuke. Plus, some of his moves look awesome — you can take a look at Yasuke’s Naginata Crescent Strike below.Normally, I’d veer away from comparing an upcoming Xbox game to an old PlayStation exclusive. However, from looking at that combat clip above, it’s easy to wonder if Assassin’s Creed Shadows was inspired by (or is paying homage to) the cinematic aspects of Sucker Punch’s wonderful Ghost of Tsushima. The fact that you earn Mastery Points by defeating strong foes and “gaining levels” does sound like interesting encouragement to seek out stronger foes. It sounds a bit like in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey when you had to chase down the best Mercenaries — or, if you played like me, hiding in a bush until they ride by and shooting them from behind so you can get a few extra hits in before they get up. Maybe not so honourable, but a bit less scary. It is good to see the hidden blade back in action, as well as the destructible environments with Naoe’s Kusarigama, and the “fight tournaments” mentioned in that overview do sound interesting. Even with Yasuke’s extra weapons (and a rifle) Naoe still sounds the more interesting choice, especially for an Assassin’s Creed game.That being said, when it comes to Yasuke’s block mechanics, I’m very happy with Ubisoft’s word choice. Yasuke can “turtle up,” which presumably doesn’t mean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shenanigans but more of a hunching down behind his weapons. Still, I can’t quite get the image of a harried castle guard out of my head — “Sir, help, I can’t fight this man, he’s turtled up.”We’ve still got a ways to go before February rolls around, so we’ll likely be hearing more about what Ubisoft has planned for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla were so enormous when it came to the maps and collectables that it could sometimes be fatiguing. It’ll be interesting to see how Assassin’s Creed Shadows tackles its ambitions, and whether it’ll rank as one of the best Xbox open-world games. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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