Ubisoft Did a Reddit AMA About ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ and Dropped a Bunch of New Info That Has Me Cautiously Optimistic

As someone who has been involved in the Assassin’s Creed franchise since its debut, watching it go off the path and turn into whatever it is now hasn’t been fun. While the incredibly bloated Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was partnered up with Mirage to bring us back to form, things have been rocky with the franchise for a minute now. That being said, between the Reddit AMA put on by Ubisoft and new gameplay footage, I’m cautiously optimistic about the direction Assassin’s Creed Shadows is moving in.

Earnest Commentary by the Development Team Has Reignited Hope in My Heart

With Ubisoft being in the crosshairs more often than not lately, it’s easy to understand the hesitation toward new projects. I’m guilty of it myself. It’s been quite a while since I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a Ubisoft project for what it offers beyond its surface-level beauty. That may finally change, though. After reading through the recent Reddit AMA done by Brook, Charles, Jonathan, and Thierry, I have a slight tinge of excitement building up inside of me for the upcoming Shadows.

Hi, we are Brooke, Charles, Jonathan, and Thierry, developers on Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ask us anything!
byu/ubi-louu inassassinscreed

If there is bound to be a group of people more adamant about a proper return to the franchise they once loved? It would be the Assassin’s Creed subreddit. From what I can see, almost every comment is surprisingly positive about the changes being made to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It seems that pushing the game back has given the team adequate time to polish out the rough edges.

Wait… am I looking forward to this game now? It’s still up in the air. But between the recently revealed combat update and this AMA? The additions seem genuinely meaningful instead of just filler fluff as we’ve grown accustomed to.

What Stood out to Me the Most During the ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ AMA

Regarding Shadows, plenty of new information has been revealed during the AMA, with the following standing out most to me:

• In terms of land to explore, I would say that AC Shadows is close to Origins scale.  – Jonathan
• Players will be able to customize quite a lot their experience with different Hud customizations, controller remapping and multiple other options like camera auto-follow, aim assist parameters, etc. – Charles
• We have a couple of activities in the world that you can discover. Those activities can be completed by Naoe or Yasuke, though some are specific to one or the other characters.
  My favorite one is what we called the Hidden trail. They are paths in the mountains that challenge some parkour and grappling hook sequence for Naoe and unfold some mysteries… that I won’t spoil now. – Charles
• Hi Joe, so I’ll try answering this one without spoiling anything! Shadows will lay the groundwork for a new chapter of Modern narrative that will be different than what we have done in the past but that is connected to our modern day lore and will develop over time in the Animus Hub and subsequent titles. The franchise team will have more on this soon. As for the transmedia, we’ve had to retool some of the AC memories lore. – Jonathan
• Choices come more into play when recruiting allies and romance some of the characters. Since the fan base is divided on branching dialogues, we have incorporated an option called CANON MODE which allows you to play the game with choices already made for you, to give you a choice-free experience. Hope this makes it fun for everyone. – Jonathan

Canon Mode, in particular, sounds like a great addition. Rather than having 45 different branching paths, I would rather see it as the developers intended.