At a recent Assassin's Creed Shadows showcase event in Japan, Ubisoft Quebec Creative Director Jonathan Dumont discussed the estimated length of the upcoming open world game. According to Genki Gamer, he said that the studio expects the main story to last at least thirty to forty hours, while the whole game could last more than eighty hours when accounting for all the side content.
That's certainly a hefty amount, although a bit less than the gargantuan Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which required 61 hours just for the main story and could last up to nearly 150 hours for a full completionist run, according to the website HowLongToBeat. Admittedly, Valhalla's quests and missions weren't always memorable, and gamers nowadays have loudly expressed their disdain for fetch quests and the like. Hopefully, the new installment can deliver higher quality content on average.
For Ubisoft, it would be an understatement to say that there's a lot riding on Assassin's Creed Shadows. The French publisher had to deal with multiple underwhelming commercial launches, including Skull and Bones, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, XDefiant, and Star Wars Outlaws, just to name a few. The shorter spin-off game Assassin's Creed Mirage did well enough, but now Ubisoft needs a big win. It's why they've delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows twice in a desperate attempt to improve the game and make sure it hits the intended mark.
Bringing players to the long-requested setting of 16th-century Japan, toward the end of the Sengoku era, the game features dual protagonists Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke, a shinobi and a samurai, respectively. Ubisoft Quebec has previously stated that players could stick with their preferred protagonist for most of the game if they so choose, though there will be some things that one is much better at than the other, and at some point, the game might force you to switch.
The new version of the Anvil engine delivers interesting improvements to the stealth gameplay, too. For the first time in the franchise, hiding in the shadows will actually make the player character invisible to their enemies. This means that during nighttime, every shaded spot will become a dynamic hiding spot in which the players can advance themselves further, both indoors and outdoors. Players can even destroy lit lanterns with Shurikens, creating new shadowed spots. Moreover, the dynamic weather and seasons can affect stealth as well. When it's raining, the sound covers the player's footsteps. Rain also makes changes to enemy patrols, as some NPCs will seek shelter from the rain. Seasons have an even greater effect, as some bushes/vegetation won't be there in the winter months.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is set to debut on March 20 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
