Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be an important episode in more ways than one. Ultra ambitious and, above all, extremely promising from a technical perspective. Dynamic weather, seasonal system… Shadows could well mark a turning point for the franchise.
Since its announcement, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has attracted a lot of attention. Highly anticipated, if only to provide a framework that many fans finally wanted to see in the franchise, the game was mostly noticed for numerous false controversies that it certainly did not want. But AC Shadows doesn’t care, they want to leave their mark differently by becoming “the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed game yet”as entrusted to us by the developers at Gamescom 2024. And it will not be just a question of gameplay or inspiration here, staying true to the era it is inspired by, this Assassin’s Creed will mark a turning point in the franchise and will include the most technically mature game in the license, creating a new base on which future games can build and which it will obviously improve in return.
The most ambitious and beautiful Assassin’s Creed in the series
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be more important than ever for the entire license. On the player side, a technical slap in the face is promised. If they are in heaven on PC, they will also be able to enjoy the sights on console, especially with the famous PS5 Pro, since the game is already announced as compatible upon release.
To impress us, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has pulled out all the stops. For example, we are promised a pretty incredible amount of particles, whether to raise dust or make leaves swirl in the wind… The emphasis is always on the details, with the aim of recreating a feudal Japan that cries out for true dynamism, allowing total immersion. The various presentations and the ones we were able to have during Gamescom are quite clear about this. We are promised real attention to detail.
The trees move with the wind, with more or less force, and all are animated by hand. Water runs off roofs and floors and seeps into the unevenness of surfaces… The weather will be more important than ever. Especially on the gameplay, as has been said many times, but not only that. The entire environment and life in the open world will be different depending on the weather and/or seasons.
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, NPCs (villagers, etc.) and enemies also react to their environment, to the weather, to the weather… As a reminder, the game will not only have dynamic weather, but also a cycle of seasons, which will contribute a lot to the visual aspect of the game (management of flora, light, elements, etc.) but also to the gameplay, especially when it snows.
A very promising game
We are also told that a lot of work has been put into modeling urban environments (house, fortress, temple, human creations in general). New technologies have been developed to manage the transparency of certain materials such as fabric or precious wood. This will also help us in the gameplay, as we will be able to detect and kill our enemies through certain walls, as seen in one of the latest trailers. The destruction effects will also be significantly improved thanks to more advanced particle and physics management.
Once again, many promises are made and the fact that the studio once again supports the topic by explicitly talking to us about the technology proves its ambition. Now we can only hope that the game really lives up to the expectations and promises, because until then it is a real dream. For now we only have our eyes to marvel, because yes, the game is very beautiful (on PS5) and will be even more beautiful on PC and PS5 Pro.
Not to mention that the gameplay, as we saw at Summer Game Fest, looks very promising, so it could well be thatAssassin’s Creed Shadows is a tough one to deal with after its release. See you on November 15th on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC for the verdict.
