I ended up giving up after around three hours. Died multiple times from a bug where I couldn't draw my weapon, and then had this third bug which wasn't major in the grand scheme of things, but just really annoying, where I got soft locked on a tutorial because I didn't click on the exact thing it demanded when it demanded.
I accessed this through Ubi Plus and they let you do an immediate cancel and get a partial refund, so I just went ahead and took it. I do fully intend to come back this later in the year, I feel like I was one of about 12 people who actually finished Rise of the Ronin, so my tolerance for janky Samurai games is higher than average apparently 😆But for now, I have got Xenoblade X, then we have Atom Fall, Clair Obscura and so much more over the next few months, so like I'm good, AC Shadows. You didn't grab me in your opening hours, and that is like... your problem bro, not mine 😆
Hope by the time I come back, you can remap the controls without unresolvable conflicts and all these annoying little bugs are gone.
Sorry to hear a bug has put you off the game i hope its sorted soon.
I have only seen one major bug so far and that was one of the enemy died against a fence every time i walked away he jumped up and attacked me from behind after a couple of times i lifted his body immediately after killing him and once moved into the open and placed on the ground I finished him off and could move on.
All these sh**posts online, but no one is addressing an actual laughable aspect: the movements in cutscenes are so robotic. I think it's inexcusable in 2025, from a studio that has set an unfathomable number of people to work on this game. No mocap, no handcrafted movements. Ridiculous.
Oh, also, very often the enemies will just pop back up after you've "assassinated" them.
I've played a couple hours of Shadows yesterday (got to the point where base building becomes available) and my this was definitely my best first impression of "modern AC" game to date.
Combat is a definite improvement over Valhalla and running around as Naoe feels great (she's so fast).
Not much Yasuke time so far so idk how he compares but, based on that one opening section, combat also feels good.
On top of that, the environments look incredible (although there are some places where frame drops are very noticeable - playing on PS5 Pro balanced mode)
@breakneck@TheIdleCritic I haven’t played Shadows, but am currently playing SW Outlaws and one issue I have is the inconsistency of polish in the cutscenes and also sometimes the gameplay animations too. I mean, it’s not terrible and doesn’t ruin the game or anything, but for a AAA studio and a big budget I was expecting a little more panache. Sometimes the in-game facial expressions are better than the cutscenes. The gameplay has some jank from time to time also, which can cause some minor frustration. For example having to struggle with positioning Kay in just the right spot so that I can pick up a collectible or execute an order to my little animal companion, Nix. I can forgive some of these technical shortcomings because the game is so vast and there’s a lot going on and a lot of depth to the game, but I figured Ubisoft took some extra time to iron out and polish up these kinds of irks in Shadows.
I haven’t played a Ubisoft game since playing Immortals Fenyx Rising three years ago (well, an open world AAA Ubisoft game, that is. I tried Child of Light last year), and I remember their games being more refined.
But I don’t want to dump on Ubisoft necessarily. For me the game is still quite fun and has probably been unfairly maligned. Shadows looks like quite an achievement; I just don’t think I want to play it yet with Ghost of Yotei around the corner and a couple other AC games still in my backlog first.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution A lot of people call out gamefreak for measly upgrades in each Pokémon entry, but Ubisoft are one of the worst offenders. And as I said, for a studio of this size I find it inexcusable.
There are so many recycled animations, and a jarring lack of polish and care - for instance when an enemy is walking over to where you're hiding and gets close enough, the instigation of an assassination abruptly stops any animations and the enemy suddenly stands upright, stock still, waiting for death. This has been the same in every single one and it sucks in every single one. There's just no flow with anything. Every button input or command just stops whatever animations or sequences that are currently happening. There's just no care in refining the world.
But the very unnatural, robotic, non mocap movement in cutscenes seems to have been dialled up to 11 this time around, and it's made the story completely unengaging.
I refuse to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure there's a great number of talented developers making this, but they just don't care anymore. It just seems to be a job for them. Heart is what's missing from Ubisoft games. And this is coming from someone who has an AC tattoo. I don't regret it as I still have great affinity for the games and universe, I'm just saddened that Ubisoft haven't taken care of their darling series.
@breakneck Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think people give Horizon the level of appreciation is deserves. The facial animations during cutscenes is unmatched. Also, it's such a little thing but the detail of tiny hairs on Aloy's face gets me every time. A graphical powerhouse.
@Voltan The one thing I will give Shadows is that the environments really do look fantastic.
Oh, also, very often the enemies will just pop back up after you've "assassinated" them.
I mentioned this in an earlier post -
I have only seen one major bug so far and that was one of the enemy died against a fence every time i walked away he jumped up and attacked me from behind after a couple of times i lifted his body immediately after killing him and once moved into the open and placed on the ground I finished him off and could move on.
@TheIdleCritic Did you play Mirage? I didn’t, but I’m wondering if it does a better job with the animations, cutscenes, and other finer details. It’s a smaller, more limited game so I’m curious if they were able to optimize it better. The game fizzled fairly quickly so I never really heard much about it other than it was a return the older AC roots, as far as gameplay. Didn’t hear much about the technical aspects.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Mirage definitely does a worse job with that, it's pretty much the only issue I had with it
Especially dialogue with shop owners and NPCs like that is really bad.
@Ulverstonian That's so weird. I wonder what's happening in the code that's not moving the sequence along. The command should be closed once inputted, but it seems like the game is thinking something else is happening.
I hope they patch this soon because it's bloody annoying. It's happened to me multiple times.
@Th3solution I did. That entire game is an anomaly. I enjoyed it. But when they pitched it as going back to AC routes, they really meant it. It's like they took the engine from 2014's Rogue, and slapped a skin on to it. Gone are any quality of life upgrade (like there really are any). This does mean any upgraded animations from Unity or Syndicate onwards, are absent. But somehow it felt fine?
Like I said, it was an anomaly. A homage to the older games. I suppose that's why I was able to forgive it in that regard. I still didn't like that they went to gung-ho with it all - they should have kept some modern designs. Lazy in my opinion. A cash grab of a game. But having said that, it wasn't bad. No major bugs that I can recall. Technically a fine game. Not polished as usual, but they may have used a version of the old code that already had things ironed out.
@Ulverstonian That's so weird. I wonder what's happening in the code that's not moving the sequence along. The command should be closed once inputted, but it seems like the game is thinking something else is happening.
I hope they patch this soon because it's bloody annoying. It's happened to me multiple times.
There was a patch last night but i haven't looked what its supposed to fix, i have only seen this dead man rising glitch twice and i am now around 10 hours into the game.
Edit to add -
Not much detail -
Bug fixes & Improvements
Stabilization - Fixed some global issues
[PS5] Fixed a Photo mode issue that could cause a crash when fetching photos to display on the world map.
[PC] Fixed a Photo mode issue that could cause a crash when taking a photo.
Once you've got the patch downloaded, you can get back to tracking down all the Legendary Armor Sets and upgrading your build with Legendary Trinkets. Refer to our Assassin's Creed Shadows guide for more help and information.
I can’t see it saving ubi but I’m real glad the game looks to be doing well. Everyone knows I love their games (if not their business practices)… I’d love nothing more than for Shadows to be a fresh start, however unlikely.
@NintendoBebop from what I gather, there are certain points in the game where you have to play as one or the other… but then apart from those sections you can play as whoever.
What do they mean the playstyle doesn't really work, out of interest? 👀
I started it last night and it seems to work exactly as intended. It's just a guy who is a little bit bigger (but still not as big as the exaggerated OTT heavy enemies in games like this) and he parries, hits and brutally finishes people with a sword with relative ease, but he doesn't roll around on the floor like a gymnast for no reason.
That is literally it?
I'd definitely not pick him to climb around on rooftops or be stealthy, but I don't assume he's supposed to do that much anyway. And if he is, then it is supposed to be awkward as part of the narrative.
Naoe is always going to be your choice for stealth and assassin content as she is the Shinobi and if that is your prefered style then yes, pick that as much as you like. And Yasuke is still there for moments when his side of the story and attack style matters more.
I'm playing in Canon mode, anyway, as I'd rather be told the intended story and not the half arsed choices that Ubisoft are known to include for some reason 🤷♂️😛
It still baffles me that they didn't have the balls to make Kasandra the only selectable character in Odyssey because they were told it's risky to have a female protagonist. (I mean, they were told right, because people are f***wits, but it still lacked conviction when her's was the story that they wanted to tell 😅)
But honestly, Play it and enjoy it, or don't. I wouldn't let "reviews said this" ever put you off. We each have our own brains, for the most part, and I wouldn't worry whether it "works" when it clearly fits the story and gameplay exactly as intended and these people are, on the whole, looking for issues to justify their bias about either Yasuke, or the direction of the game since the 'action' era, which we know includes a more open combat focused gameplay anyway. But Naoe has to be the most assassiny assassin they have had in years, so look at that as a big positive if that's the style you prefer, and select her as much as possible 😃 @NintendoBebop
@NintendoBebop I only unlocked Yasuke recently and haven't done any of the main quests since but from what I can tell:
some conversations within quests may only be available to one character (if you find the NPC as the wrong character they will say the other character should talk to them)
some of the activities that give you Knowledge Points (they are required to unlock new tiers in the skill trees) are unique to one character (you can, however get near them as the other, switch, do it and then switch back, and they don't take much time)
some of the Kofuns (tombs-dungeons with a big chest at the end) may require a specific character to complete, as they may contain either platforming challenges that only Naoe can complete or require you to move some heavier stuff around, which she can't do
killing your targets can most likely be done by either character
Personally, I'm finding both characters quite fun so I'm switching from time to time. I'm using Naoe more than Yasuke so far though.
@NintendoBebop the story is, in part, of an outsider in a world he is becoming accustomed to. He fits in just right. I really wouldn't worry about it.
One is a warrior, one is a ninja. And the game is about a warrior and a ninja, so it is definitely the right game 🤷♂️
I think people get a bit wrapped up in the "but, but, assasins" when the last 3 mainline games had warriors as the protagonists who kind of become assassins. But this one has a Shinobi that becomes an assassin instead, as well as some extra Warrior stuff on the side with Yasuke. It fits the culture to have both of these elements explored, too. As well as a solid link to Portugal, Europe, Christianity etc. Which is more like the themes of the original AC games that were kind of missing with the "Ancient Cult" versions.
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