One of the best things about Assassin's Creed Shadows — and in our opinion, one of the most overlooked — is the game's extremely detailed weather system. It's easily one of the best in the biz.
We suppose that it's the kind of thing many players won't even pay proper attention to, but Ubisoft really did create something special with Shadows' massive open world, and how it changes with both day-to-day weather and overarching seasons.
As part of a new video series, the developer has outlined its use of said system, which was made possible through Ubisoft's in-house Anvil engine. It makes for an interesting watch, especially if you're into the more technical side of open world design.
For the uninitiated, Shadows utilises a completely dynamic weather system that runs in real time. In other open world titles, for example, you may notice that the in-game weather changes based on your location; they just give an illusion of shifting weather.
But in Shadows, the weather is constantly running in the background no matter what you're up to. If it's been raining, mist will start to form as the day wears on. Or, if the sun comes out to play, then puddles caused by the recent downpour will begin to evaporate.
It gets even more detailed when seasons are taken into account. As time passes in-game, its recreation of Japan will transition between spring, summer, autumn, and winter — with each of them boasting their own weather probabilities and effects.
Snowfall, for instance, is actually volumetric in the winter; you can see paths, rocks, and trees become buried during heavy snowstorms — and many of these visual bits and pieces apply to character models, too.
In the video, Ubisoft says that it'll continue to make use of tech introduced in Shadows, so we'll be keeping an eye out for similarly dynamic weather systems in future titles.
Indeed, it's entirely possible that Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced will carry all of this forward. Totally dynamic weather out on the open seas? Count us in.
Were you left impressed with Assassin's Creed Shadows and its focus on weather? Try to keep yourself dry in the comments section below.