Ubisoft has just made a big announcement and the actors of Assassin’s Creed Shadows are not in agreement with it. The official social media account of the Assassin’s Creed game posted a very fashionable costume of the main character, Yasuke, and announced that it was a crossover with the Attack on Titan anime. The claim was even made that Yasuke was “sick and tired of walls.” Isn’t this a wonderful way of hinting at something? However, the gamers who replied are absolutely upset about one thing: the game’s online store and the shortage of real content in the game.
To put it simply, Ubisoft announced that the new Yasuke costume is available for a limited time in the Assassin’s Creed Shadows in-game store now. It’s a collaboration with the ultra-popular anime Attack on Titan, which sounds like a great idea in theory. The image shows Yasuke in some armor that definitely represents the Survey Corps which is fantastic for all the fans. However, the first post announcing this event was the spark for most of the complaints players have had for quite a while regarding the game.
What is the most frequent criticism? The presence of a store selling cosmetics in a single-player game is an absolute no-no. Users like Olbroe saying “Sick and tired of in-game stores and games especially single-player ones” and PauseMidnight declaring “In-game store? Shame on you for demanding extra money” were among the comments that poured in. JGRIFFY2020, another gamer, said simply, “Nah… not doing in-game purchases. Thanks though.” This is a sentiment that has been voiced for years in the gaming community but this time it seems to have particularly affected the gamers of Shadows.
But it’s even worse than just the shop. Many comments indicate that the players are of the opinion that the game is being treated like a live-service game even though it isn’t one. A gamer xDarkWiffster expressed it very clearly: “Do you really keep expecting us to buy stuff from the store when nothing new is added? I’m a big fan but after 400 hrs of playing and many NG+ runs, I feel there is nothing more to do. I am fine with that. It is not a live-service. I think you should not treat it as one either.”
This is a very crucial point. This user has put in 400 hours on the game, done several New Game Plus runs, and says the game has dried out on content. Some other users were astonished by the 400 hours mark and xDarkWiffster said that the gameplay was fun but got monotonous with “no extra real content,” calling the recent updates “Just filler shit.” So, for many, the crossover idea is not the main issue—rather, it’s the notion that money is being spent on premium cosmetics instead of high-quality new adventures or missions that can keep the game alive for committed players.
And then, there are… other complaints. The thread is really a mix of different things. Some players are talking about tech issues. YurrBacons said they were missing Isu weapons and lost abilities and there’s no way to redo that mission. eurons1 wanted to know about specific graphical downgrades and performance issues on the Switch 2 version after a recent patch. jobeagle5 bluntly asked, “Fix the facial animations they don’t match dialogue audio.” So, apart from the store issue, there is a segment of the community that just wants to see basic fixes and have bugs eliminated and the game polished.
Additionally, the never-ending discussion about the game’s historical setting and characters has arisen again. One user, amibotherd, mocked the idea of Yasuke by using a bunch of laughing-crying emojis, calling him “the black man who became a leading ‘samurai’ leader in 6 weeks.” It is the same old argument that has been with the game since its announcement and another user, Speed35money, responded to the first user by saying that they must still be very interested to keep discussing it. Sigh.
On the other hand, some players did express their excitement! User celoGlaus seemed very happy and wrote “Yasuke + Kanabo + Corrupted Castles = FUN! 😃💥💪🏻”. And shzhv13 acknowledged the effort by saying, “The epic crossover Attack on Titan energy in the Shadows of Assassin’s Creed hits differently. Respect to the teams for this bold collaboration.” So, it is not all hate—the collab definitely has its supporters. SyKo_City even said that the crossover brought them back to the game after switching to Ghost of Yotei, joking that they now see Yasuke as “a mikasa after the show.”
However, the overall atmosphere is still quite critical. There are a few players who long for the “good old days” and JohnBar64697504 is one of them, commenting, “I miss when you could just enjoy a game on your PlayStation or Xbox without all this extra nonsense.”
