After announcing AC Shadows would be delayed til March 20,2025 – Ubisoft has keep up with a great content drip teasing what all is new in the game. This week, it’s an overview of exploration gameplay. Charles, AC Shadow Game Director had this to say about the changes in the open world: “We didn’t want to hold the player’s hand too much with icons and markers” says Charles. “We wanted to craft an open world where information was key and would become a form of reward. This made sense in the context of playing a shinobi and fighting for information. In Shadows, information is something you need to look for and earn, whether through your spies, NPC encounters, or through your own eyes. In short, we want players to discover all our cool secrets on their own terms through investigation, their spy network, or by observing the world.”
WORLD MAP, VIEWPOINTS, SAFEHOUSES
After criticisms of open worlds in previous Assassin’s Creed games, Ubisoft aims to make the open map the “backbone” of the player experience. This time around, the map will only reveal region names. The player exploring will reveal more locations and more of the map as they explore. However the usual “?” will signal to the player a reason to explore.
Viewpoints have always been a staple of the AC series and they’re back in Shadows. This time around, Viewpoints do not reveal large sections of the map. They will reveal nearby points of interest like cities, shrines, or castles. Basically, climbing a viewpoint reveals to the player nearby locations to explore. Viewpoints will again act as fast travel points, but their placement is a little more interesting. For example, viewpoints can now be located within enemy bases – making it hard to escape once fast traveling to that viewpoint.
Shadows is mixing up exploration even further by not giving the player an eagle companion. In previous titles, players could use the eagle to scout an entire area and mark points of interest. This time, it’s all on the player. Ubisoft refers to this as “Observe.” Observe is a mechanic that allows the player to mark locations and points of interest on their own, but only if they can physically see said object. Player safehouses can be discovered through this method. Safehouses act as fast travel points and locations to replenish gear and managing contracts.
PATHFINDER
Taking inspiration from Ghost of Tsushima’s exploration marker, Shadows will place a thin line on the screen to guide you to your next objective. This is something the player can toggle on or off at any time. And should eliminate accidentally navigating to a dead end when trying to get to your goal.
OBJECTIVE BOARD & SCOUTS
The tried and true quest board from previous AC entries makes a return here. Allowing players to use a guided or exploration mode. More of the board gets revealed with clues as the player progresses. However, a new addition to Shadows is the inclusion of Scouts. Scouts help the player with locating objectives, escaping danger, and overall assist with exploration. Ubisoft explains this that scouts will be a useful feature if players have not fully explored an area or are unsure of where to find the last clue to locate a target. Deploy some scouts and all your prayers will be answered.
AC SHADOWS OPEN WORLD SHAPING UP TO BE THE BEST YET
Ubisoft is trying very hard to make the open world an engaging place for the player to explore. And not just empty space between objectives. Ubisoft promises that exploration will constantly help progress the player in some way and that players will be continuously rewarded for exploration. As an AC vet, I’m very much looking forward to the open world in Shadows.
Leave a Reply