Ubisoft detailed Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ combat gameplay in a new update on Tuesday, focusing on the basics of attacks, defenses, skills and abilities available to players. The developer also shared details about the game’s character-specific weapons; Assassin’s Creed: Shadows features two playable protagonists with different play styles and abilities. In a deep dive, Ubisoft showed off new gameplay footage of the game’s action-packed and visceral combat design.
Assassin’s Creed Shadow Combat
The studio shared details about the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows combat game in a blog post on Wednesday. According to Ubisoft, players’ choice of protagonist and weapon will “dramatically” change the combat experience in the game, with samurai Yasuke taking an explosive approach while ninja Naoe prefers a more precise and quiet approach to taking down enemies.
Players can perform light and heavy attacks in Shadow, but holding down the light or heavy attack input will result in a stance attack – a charged attack that breaks through enemy defenses.
“Light stance attacks are a bit faster than heavy attacks,” game director Charles Benoit said in a blog post, “but if you time it well, heavy stance attacks can be hugely powerful. Be aware, though, that enemies will be aware of stance attacks and try to stop you from charging into them, so be sure to stay alert.”
Under certain circumstances, enemies will also enter a vulnerable state, during which the player can launch stance attacks that deal high damage.
When it comes to defending against incoming attacks, both Naoe and Yasuke can duck to avoid damage – Noe performs a directional roll, while Yasuke avoids attacks. Both characters can block incoming attacks; however, Yasuke can also utilize the blocking mechanic to protect himself from melee and ranged attacks.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadow Skills, Abilities, Weapons
Both characters will also have unique skills and abilities, including active abilities that can be performed in combat. Leveling up and defeating certain enemies will grant players mastery points, which can be used to purchase weapon-based skills. One of the gameplay clips posted on the blog shows off an active ability, “Naginata Crescent Strike,” where Yasuke can perform a spinning attack on three enemies.
Yasuke and Naoe each carry two weapons and switch between them during battle, but only the former can switch weapons during combos. Ubisoft said in the post that while the core combat mechanics of the two are the same, their use of different weapons and abilities in combat feel different.
Noe’s weapons include a katana, a scythe, and a combination of short sword and hidden blade. Yasuke, on the other hand, is armed with a powerful long katana, a naginata for crowd control, a kanabo, and ranged weapons such as the Yumi bow and the Teppo flint rifle. Ubisoft also detailed some of the enemy types players will encounter in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, laying out their attack patterns and tactics.
Judging from the game screen, the combat system in “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” seems to be different from that in “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla”, focusing more on the specific actions of characters and weapons.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows will be released on February 14, 2025 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. In September, Ubisoft announced that it was delaying the game from its original release date of November 15 to next year, citing the need to further polish the game.