Ubisoft’s newest iteration of the Assassin’s Creed series, Shadows, is set in feudal Japan, and the idea of having two protagonists has not been met with complete approval from gamers. Recently, the official Assassin’s Creed Twitter account asked whether players had “mastered the art of stealth with Naoe,” and the gates opened to a pouring down of all sorts of mixed reactions: some praising the mechanics, others questioning the design choices, and, of course, a few persisting in random begging for free keys (we’re looking at you, Haha363873982).
Things first down well. Naoe has a huge fanbase, with Brandon Brindle1 calling her his ‘absolute favourite’ female protagonist in the entire series, even above Kassandra and Evie. JessieLameque wrote: ‘I’m getting better at stealth, and so is combat.’ Then, we have the guy named sentinelzer0, who was showing off his recovery skills during tight situations. chongggg808 casually dropped by and said that they have platinumed the game already. What a show-off.
But it is not all sunshine and roses. MarcosJoseLpz questioned: ‘why are they so afraid to have a woman as a protagonist lead in a mainline AC game, Naoe should have been the main focus.’ MR3Dev added that Yasuke feels out of place. The game is suffering from trying to do ‘everything’ rather than committing to one strong vision. That stings. Meanwhile, Business_Whino admitted Shadows made them realize that Ubisoft games just aren’t for them anymore. Ouch.
Then, there is… the niggling. Milktub69 had some unfair criticisms about kunai drop rates and labeling it as a ‘diabolical’ system. remyratio said Nightmare mode has weird detection placements, and SLClayton wondered why dual assassinations are broken? Charlesberg1988 is the pragmatist, clearing it up by saying stealth only works with the tanto. Back in business.
These are the lower critic segments. cramscythe is still upset about ‘ruining the AC with the most potential,’ while DavidNonNobis referred to the game as a ‘checklist’ and began asking when Ubisoft would make fun games again. Scarfo simply wants a remake of AC I & II. Classic.
A clear divide in the community has arisen around this attempted marriage between stealth and blunt might of Ubisoft with Naoe and Yasuke. Some enjoy the dynamics, while others claim that it waters down the assassin fantasy. Then there’s TechknowShaun who… uh… questioned the games’ sexuality? Okay then.
Stepping into the feudal drama, the shadows, the stealth moves, or just the bitter grumbling, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is definitely talking loud. And hey, if Ubisoft could just hook us up with that New Game Plus mode… Charlseberg1988 is watching you!
