Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a gorgeous retread of tired RPG mechanics

A shinobi deftly runs across several rooftops after swiftly assassinating several guards. She opens a large castle gate for reinforcements. A hulking samurai walks through, leaving behind a trail of bodies. The two climb up the castle stairs before being greeted by four samurai. They unsheathe their swords, offering me a choice of which character to enter the duel with. Naoe steps forward, her hidden blade extended, ready to meet its target.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes the series through the late Sengoku period of Japan, set roughly between the 1570s and 1600 C.E., during the time in which Oda Nobunaga attempted to unify the nation and Japan saw an increase in Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries. Much like the duality of the historical setting, Shadows is always playing with multiple themes throughout its story. Revenge, heartbreak, and even a sense of belonging and purpose are present in every mission. The narrative of Shadows is its best feature, one that kept me engaged throughout my 35-hour play session, and one that will continue to draw me in as I finish the campaign.

Shadows has players swap between the two main characters — Naoe, the assassin, and Yasuke, the samurai — but only after the first 10 hours or so, when you unlock Yasuke. Naoe’s story sees her coming to terms with her background as a member of the Iga clan, coupled with her understanding of her role in the Brotherhood, the secretive era-traversing assassin guild. Her journeys throughout Japan reflect the vastness of the nation’s cultural and political landscape. She is fierce and deadly, assassinating high-profile samurai while simultaneously learning how to exist beyond the fields of her home.

In one of my favorite missions, Naoe discovered the art of chanoyu, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Players are required to fetch an ornate gift for the host of the ceremony, memorize proper cup placement when drinking, and even choose a formal kosode to wear. Every decision you make during this mission impacts your conversation with the others at the ceremony, the guests clearly discerning that Naoe is out of her element. She is so singularly focused on her goal of revenge that the intricacies of chanoyu fall to the wayside. And once she locates her target, she shifts out of her disguise and into her shinobi identity.

Yasuke is also quite literally the definition of an outsider. Arriving with the Jesuits, Yasuke quickly gains Nobunaga’s attention because of his race. Both true to the game and the historical figure, Yasuke was the first Black man in Japan, and the only Black man in history to achieve the rank of samurai. And his missions in Shadows reflect the duality of his life as a samurai and a foreigner. During a flashback in the game, Yasuke is sent to study under the same sensei that trained Nobunaga. Three students beat him and mock him for his large size and his inability to properly wield a sword. After training dutifully, he kills the three in a duel, winning the favor of Nobunaga and becoming one of his samurai and trusted advisers. And yet, he is still disrespected by several members of Nobunaga’s council for being an outsider.

Even the world of Shadows feeds into the themes of belonging. Naoe is all but ignored as she wanders through cities and villages. People pay no mind to her as she recruits companions to her cause or gathers information on targets. Her sense of place comes from trying to establish a new home with those equally impacted by the plight of war. Yasuke, on the other hand, is feared and revered as he travels. Random villagers will walk up to him and bow, or say his name in excited tones. One of my favorite things to do when discovering a new location was to swap between characters and compare the reactions of townsfolk. It brought the world to life, something that is often missing with protagonists in other Assassin’s Creed games. You’re always meant to be hidden, a nobody. But it’s disappointing to explore these prominent historical settings and not feel like you’re part of these moments. Shadows rectifies that.

Unfortunately, my adoration with Shadows began to falter after the novelty of the story and the initial exploration elements wore off. At its core, Shadows adheres to the same open-world role-playing game formula we’ve been exposed to since Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017. Main missions and side objectives follow a predictable flow: Go to a general area in a region, locate intel or a person of interest, find and eliminate the target, then rinse and repeat. The gameplay loop is admittedly fun during the first 15 hours, as players are introduced to the differing ways in which Naoe and Yasuke play — Naoe as the traditional stealthy character in every Assassin’s Creed game, and Yasuke as a powerhouse that can overwhelm heavily armored opponents — but that novelty can’t mask the repetitive objectives. Even side storylines, which reveal themselves as you progress through the story and discover new regions, play out the same way as main missions.

I often felt forced to complete side quests just to level up and get better gear because I didn’t want to be underleveled. However, this meant exposing myself to the exact gameplay sequence I just spent hours completing. For example, each castle has a select number of daimyo (samurai) to eliminate before collecting legendary loot. And they look and play exactly the same at every single castle you visit. While some side quests beautifully weave in Japanese history and folklore, like the hunt for yokai (spirits from folklore), there is no deviation in the way they’re completed. The design and development choices feel far more invested in ensuring accurate Japanese historical and cultural representation than in weaving entertaining gameplay throughout. Learning about the culture and time period is definitely a plus, but the setting can only do so much to draw me in before I’m inevitably bored.

Even the exploration of Japan is repetitive. While I loved interacting with the environment and encountering wild animals to paint through sumi-e, finding new sensei to train my skills through kata, and navigating through kofun (tombs) and Hidden Trails, they don’t do enough to level up your character.

Activities like discovering lost scrolls in temples, praying at various shrines, and looting castles are all introduced within the first several hours, and nothing about them changes. If you successfully loot one castle, you’ve essentially looted them all. But because they have legendary gear, precious materials for upgrading your hideout, and large amounts of experience points as rewards, you’re expected to continuously loot them as you progress. This is by far my biggest complaint with Shadows. The RPG elements force you to play through repetitive side missions just to level up and complete main missions. It was unique with Origins, but roughly eight years later, I find myself longing for a traditional, relatively linear Assassin’s Creed game.

These issues are compounded with the game’s perplexing accessibility. Ubisoft is known to regularly champion accessible features and inclusive design practices with its games, and Shadows is no exception. With options like Guaranteed Assassination, audio cues for mechanics like traversal and combat, and Auto Movement, Shadows is an example of what players have come to expect with modern accessible titles. Even the combat is inclusive through the simplistic and accessible design, allowing me to play for long hours. However, the limitations of customizable controls on Windows PC left me frustrated and physically exhausted.

While it’s possible to customize every input, even stacking actions on the same button or key, the remapped inputs don’t always register, and they occasionally override each other. With my limited reach, I can access approximately nine mouse buttons and keyboard keys. I often require games to let me bind actions to the same key, like Escape from Tarkov does. Shadows does technically enable this, as my grappling hook and assassination are bound to the same key, as well as interact and swap weapons — but no other functions behave this way. I’ve tried combining other inputs to the same keys with little success, and I can’t discern why some combinations work and others don’t.

These difficulties force me to use a virtual keyboard to make up for the lack of available buttons and keys, but even the virtual keyboard doesn’t properly function within the game. With every click, the game registers me attacking first before applying the desired input. For example, pressing H lets me heal, but my character always swings their weapon before the heal is applied. This isn’t necessarily an issue during combat, but can be problematic when I’m trying to remain hidden in the bushes or on top of rooftops. This even affects aspects like changing equipment. You are unable to change equipment when performing any action, and to open my inventory, I need to press I with the virtual keyboard. The only way I can successfully change weapons or armor is by being in an area that locks the game out of combat, like in your hideout or on observation platforms. This forces me to either wait for a family member or friend to press the key, continue playing until I reach a new lookout spot, or fast travel back to my hideout.

The virtual keyboard also impacts summoning my mount. Since I need to click X to summon my horse, the game always registers me attacking first. I have yet to properly ride a horse anywhere, forcing me to either fast travel around the map or run to new locations, which can be thousands of meters away. I’ve added approximately three hours to my overall playtime just from running across the map because I can’t access my horse. And while you can customize every key, every option I already have is crucial to playing the game, forcing me to leave some functions unavailable without the virtual keyboard.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows explores a setting I’ve wanted to explore for years. It’s always made sense to bring the series known for its hidden organizations and ninja-like aesthetics to feudal Japan. And while I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the setting and story, so much so that I will be rolling credits well after launch, it’s marred by the open-world RPG mechanics that continue to plague modern Assassin’s Creed games with repetitiveness.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be released March 20 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Ubisoft. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.