Assassin's Creed Shadows Gameplay, Dual Protagonists Detailed at Ubisoft Forward

Assassin's Creed Shadows received a 13-minute gameplay deep dive at Ubisoft Forward on Monday, detailing its dual protagonists and their distinct playstyles. The gameplay walkthrough, which included both open combat and stealth sections, showed the two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, working in tandem through a mission in the castle town of Fukuchiyama in Japan's Tamba Province. The gameplay also provided a glimpse of bustling towns and villages we can expect in the game.

Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay details

The walkthrough began with Yasuke, the hulking, armoured samurai, who rides into Fukuchiyama, on the trail of a corrupted daimyo. The intimidating samurai walks through town and encounters a group of samurai harassing villagers. We see Yasuke dispatch his foes with brutal efficiency. Using his club and sword, he crushes and cuts the other samurais down.

Yasuke's abilities are focussed on head-on combat, and it seems he can easily take on multiple enemies at once. While he's not nimble, his brute strength batters everything that's in his path. Yasuke's combat abilities continue the action-RPG ethos of recent Assassin's Creed games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Yasuke takes enemies head-on
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed Shadows dual protagonists

To address the concerns of loyal fans, however, Ubisoft is also emphasising stealth and assassinations in Assassin's Creed Shadows. This is achieved via the second protagonist, Naoe, a shinobi who works from the shadows and utilises nimble parkour mechanics and stealth-focussed tools to reach her targets.

While the two protagonists can be swapped at will while free roaming, the game will let us choose between the two during certain mission sections, which will decide if we confront enemies directly or take the stealthier route. In the gameplay demo, we see the shinobi infiltrate the Fukuchiyama castle and utilise her grappling hook, kunai and her custom Hidden Blade to sneak in and assassinate the daimyo.

Naoe's abilities are stealth-focussed
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

The stealth gameplay in Shadows is reminiscent of older Assassin's Creed titles and the more recent Assassin's Creed Mirage. With dual protagonists offering distinct playstyles, the next title in the stealth-action franchise seems to be taking a best-of-both-worlds approach to please both loyal AC fans and the audience that prefers the action-RPG elements of recent games in the series.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is set in 16th-century feudal Japan and allows players to explore an expansive open world with diverse environments and changing seasons. The game will release November 15 on PC (via Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store), PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. It will also launch on Mac computers with Apple silicon via the Mac App Store.