Assassin’s Creed Shadows boasts many strengths, and high on that list is how crammed full of details it is, and how effectively those details help bring its world to life. A heightened sense of immersion is what Assassin’s Creed games tend to go for with their open world settings more often than now, and Shadows achieves that with an almost obsessive level of attention to detail. Here, we’re going to shine the spotlight on a few that have stood out to us. Tiny details that many may never notice (or, if they do, give too much thought to) are often the ones that many players end up obsessing over the most, and we have plenty of those to talk about here.
CUTTING BAMBOO
Pretty early on in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the game tells you you can slice through bamboo, and from that point forward, it’s difficult to stop yourself from slicing all the bamboo you can lay your eyes on. Whether you’re running through thickets in a forest or tearing through thin walls in an enemy encampment, it never stops being unreasonably fun to slash through bamboo and watch it dynamically react to your hits and fall apart in the most satisfying fashion.
(LIMITED) ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION
It’s not just bamboo that you can destroy in Shadows’ world. The game features limited environmental destruction- very limited, actually, but effective nonetheless. Crates, barrels, some trees and fences, boxes and what have you can be destroyed in a variety of ways, and watching the bits and pieces fly around never loses its charm.
DESTRUCTIBLE BOATS
Assassin’s Creed has often made naval gameplay its centerpiece, but in Shadows, it’s a tertiary element at best. Case in point: pilot a boat through water at max speed for too long without a break, and eventually, the boat will simply crumble under the pressure and shatter, requiring you to abandon ship and swim your way to shore (or, you know, another boat).
CHANGING SEASONS
Changing seasons are one of Shadows’ headlining gameplay features, and watching the tiny little details in how the world changes each time remains a highlight of the experience from start to finish. The brilliantly vibrant fields of flowers when its spring, the breathtaking blankets of snow that cover the entire landscape in the middle of winter, how gorgeous a waterfall in the middle of a forest looks in summertime as it catches the sunlight- Shadows knows how to convincingly sell its seasons mechanic, especially because it also affects gameplay in everything from stealth and exploration to even moment-to-moment movement. Try moving through a thick field of snow, and you’ll instantly feel the difference.
SNOW DEFORMATION
Speaking of moving through snow, Shadows’ snow deformation also stands out. This is, of course, one of the weirdly satisfying details that gaming audiences have been collectively obsessing over for as long as anyone can remember, and Assassin’s Creed has been flexing its snow deformation muscles going as far back as Assassin’s Creed 3. Shadows does the same, to the extent that simply walking around in a fresh and untouched field of snow to draw patterns may very well end up taking an inordinate amount of your time.
SLIDING ON ICE
Here’s another example of how winter environments will impact gameplay in small but noticeable ways. For starters, lakes or ponds that you’d be swimming through at other times become frozen over, allowing you to walk over them. If you try to sprint while you’re on the ice, however, you’ll find yourself slipping and trying to regain your balance every now and then.
MELTING SNOW
If you have the patience to stand around in one single spot and keep watching it while doing absolutely nothing else, you’ll notice that the snow around you is melting in real time. You’ll watch the world around you dynamically accumulating snow, and then losing it all bit by bit as it melts and seeps into the ground.
ICICLES
In another example of changing seasons impacting Shadows’ world in both visual and gameplay ways, winter will also bring with it icicles of varying shapes and sizes hanging off of roofs pretty much everywhere you look. And they’re not just there as set dressing- you can also break them off, and the ice that shatters can serve as a way to distract enemies during stealth.
THE DANGERS OF ICICLES
As you may have put together, icicles aren’t just good as distractions- they can also damage enemies. You can, for instance, make sure that you’re breaking off an icicle at the exact moment that a guard passes beneath it. It’s yet another way the game lets you use your surroundings to your advantage in stealth.
FLAMES IN THE WIND
Moving on from winter, let’s jump from cold to hot. Playing around with flames and watching them interact with the environment has been a thing in Assassin’s Creed for several years now, but Shadows’ virtual arson has some additional flair to it. Shadows’ feudal Japan is particularly windy, and watching flames dance in and react to the wind is oddly captivating.
NPCs’ DAILY CHORES
NPCs are often spotted doing a variety of day to day chores in Shadows’ vast world, especially in towns and villages, but what’s particularly impressive is watching the tiny details tied to those actions- like an NPC at a well filling up buckets of water.
NPCs’ FOOTWEAR
Something else of note that you can catch with Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ NPCs is their footwear- specifically, when they wear it and when they don’t. In a nutshell, anytime they are indoors, you’ll see that they are moving around without any footwear, in keeping with the etiquette of the time.
FEARFUL ENEMIES
Yasuke, as a renowned and formidable samurai, has a reputation that clearly precedes him in the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. NPCs will often bow to him as he passes them by, for instance, while some enemies will also be blatantly fearful of him in specific circumstances. For example, if a guard catches you standing near a dead body and you confess to having killed them, the guard will fearfully back away and leave. If you are playing as Naoe, however, in that same scenario, guards will be much more willing to attack you- though of course, Naoe has plenty of tricks up her sleeve to brutally dispatch her enemies as well.
ANIMALS’ EYES
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ open world is full of an impressive amount (and variety) of wildlife, which contributes significantly to the open world’s immersion. Even the simple act of watching different animals in the wild has an undeniable appeal to it- which, of course, means you’ll notice some interesting details as well. When it’s dark out, for instance, you’ll notice animals’ eyes glowing, just as they would in real life.
CAMPFIRES
You’ll come across a number of campfires as you make your way through Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ vast and gorgeous open world, and chances are, you’ll often find yourself stopping at them for once reason or another, from conversing with NPCs to simply looking around to take in the view. While you’re doing so, if you pay attention, you will also notice that when Naoe or Yasuke are standing next to a campfire, every now and then, they will bring their hands up to warm them against the flames.
