The First Official PS5 Pro Enhanced Game

all right we finally got some brand new Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay and this time it's all about the tech behind the upgraded Anvil engine but first question of the day are you hyped for AC Shadows or you kind of over the whole franchise let me know down there I'm still kind of hyped for the game so let's get into the nitty-gritty first up the updated geometry is looking pretty damn impressive what Ubisoft did was build more independent segments for things like doors fences jars and other decorations which means they break more realistically for example example playing as Yas you can use your kick which is part of a regular attack combo to knock over a fish rack and watch all the pieces fall individually you can even destroy Market parasols I'm curious if there will be a wanted system like in Mirage or Odyssey where if you start smashing up property roaming bosses will come to hunt you down I sure hope so but either way it looks pretty sick you can also use this destructibility to create openings in houses or use a shoulder bash to go through these SOI doors now way can also use this system slashing with her sword feels very realistic it can even destroy some plants but the real fun comes when using the gig Gama in a bamboo forest that's going to be super satisfying another cool thing in Assassin's Creed Shadows is the new wind system that makes trees move very realistically just like the grass this even affects the water streams in rivers you'll see leaves flying by they also have this new thing called edmos that simulates clouds dynamically meaning rain and snowfall can be fully simulated rather than pre-programmed in previous games like Valhalla and odyssey you'd have regions where it would always snow but in Shadows snow can exist anywhere in the world if it makes sense for the current season now I know what you're thinking it's kind of nuts that we're still looking at Tech demos for a game that's dropping in 2 months I get it I just want to see all this Tech come together in the actual gam playay but it's still promising and we also learned at Gamescom that this Tech will be used in all the upcoming Mainline Assassin's Creed games yep all the features they've been cooking up for shadows will be in hexi in the big games after that which is awesome news also the rain effects like how the rain falls off buildings up close look really impressive and just so you know all this gameplay you're seeing is on PS5 not the PS5 Pro speaking of which Assassin's Creed shadows will be the first new game to support PS5 pro at launch so I'm expecting a sweet combo of 60 FPS and killer Graphics we've now learned that guards might get sleepy after standing in the sun all day which means they're less alert perfect for sneaking past them heavy snowfall can also block guard's vision and rain will make your footsteps less noticeable but the dynamic light will be the real game Cher I loved the recent gameplay where we saw nawe stay out of the light from a window to avoid getting spotted by enemies we're going to have to think about our surroundings in completely new ways that said these sneaky tag won't work with yasuke in the new gameplay we saw him try a leap of faith and yeah that didn't go so well but I like this approach add some humor instead of removing the feature alt together because that would mess with the gameplay too much in a new blog post Ubisoft mentioned that yusuke is still stealth capable able to sneak assassin and silently kill with his bow and silently is the key here because his assassinations won't be quiet at all Yas is an honorable samurai so when he crouches toward an enemy with their back turned he yells for them to turn around before assassinating them and that shout will definitely alert everyone nearby still a full stealth run might be possible if you stick to using only the bow which is interesting I've got some extra info on what yusuke can do that nawe can't because overall nawe seems like the more versatile character with access to Eagle Vision to spot enemies through walls while nawe doesn't have a bow or rifle she's got the classic assassin tools Ubisoft confirmed that Bells can be used to attract guards it's likely similar to the noise makers we had in Mirage you throw it and enemies come to investigate you'd think we'd still have the whistle to attract enemies to our location but there's another way to distract them Ubisoft confirmed on Twitter that we can call in our Shinobi recruits for support in combat striking together the leaked image shows some interesting things for one it looks like the system is similar to the feature introduced in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood where you can call in other assassins to help you at any time but in Shadows it's more like a mix of Call to Arms from Odyssey and the JS viiking feature from Valhalla if you zoom in on the Shinobi in the image she's wearing gear that looks like something na could wear too she even has a cool Red Rifle on her back while as the player we can only use a rifle with yaske but it seems like similar to the yams Vikings in Valhalla we can equip recruits with items found in the world and we might even see some crossover between exclusive yusuke and not items that's just my read from looking at at this image but it' be awesome if like an odyssey we could recruit characters through side missions I'm also curious if we can once again get characters made by other players it was a cool idea in Valhalla that didn't really go anywhere but if in Shadows you can summon a friend sh in the world with a call to arms that could be a lot of fun there's also a good chance yuk can call these recruits to help him out but something else Ubisoft showed that I got more info on is the posture system we see him do a Charged heavy attack followed by a regular light attack and then a regular heavy attack this move is needed to strip the enemy of their armor I've learned you can now charge a light attack too and then do a combo we don't have footage of this yet but some enemies can break you out of the charge meaning they can react to your posture attack and stop you from breaking their armor one advantage yusuke has over na is that he can charge every attack in a while na can only charge the first attack did your father ever tell you why my bones ache in the weather they talk of peace and dream of War as always for an Assassin's Creed game we try to pick a setting that is a pivotal moment in history that can also allow plenty of gameplay opportunity explains Stephanie an ruata World director and historian at Ubisoft Quebec for Shadows that pivotal moment is 16th century Japan specifically the azuchi momoyama period an era of transition between the Civil War stricken sangoku period and the peaceful Ido period it would be the last time that Samurai would fight a major battle and the last time that they would have a strictly military role ruata adds with the Samurai and active fighting force during the era it's unsurprising to discover that you'll be playing as one what is surprising though is this Samurai's Heritage in a first for Assassin's Creed shadows will allow you to play as a real historical figure if you know your Japanese history you may be familiar with yasuke the legendary African Samurai likely born in mosambique he was brought to Japan in 1579 by a Jesuit missionary and went on to serve the mighty Dao Oda Nobunaga yasuke is somebody who is going to tie together many of the most powerful figures in our era says associate narrative director Brooke Davies he really is a great point of entry to this as well with Oda Nobunaga on one side and on the other side the Portuguese that he arrives with he really does a lovely job of connecting the dots historically what we know factually and then narratively we had so much fun Imagining the kind of person who would have this trajectory through Yuk's Foreigner eyes shadows will explore A Tale Of Honor Justice and belonging but his isn't the only story you'll experience replicating the format of 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate shadows will feature two unique protagonists played in tandem starring beside Yos is na a Swift and agile Shinobi whose talents more closely align with Assassin's Creed's traditional hero archetype the fictional daughter of real historical figure Fuji bayashi nagato na is a very different character to yasuke where he is a bold fighter she's the hidden blade in the shadows it's through her that Ubisoft are seemingly rediscovering the series stealth roots in a manner that surpasses even last year's Assassin's Creed Mirage the thing that shines the most I feel in Assassin's Creed it's really the hidden blade the assassination being able to stay hidden says game director Charles benois so that's the core that we want to keep what we needed to push forward was to make it feel a bit more modern in the approach that needed modernity has been found in a fully Dynamic lighting system in which the radiance from sunlight torches and lanterns can illuminate both the land and you escape into the Shadows though and you're invisible and if you can't escape the light you can snuff it out lamps or their carriers can be eliminated to create pools of Darkness if like me you were raised on Splinter Cell this is all very enticing parkour has always been something that's pretty iconic and pretty core to the stealth experience because they go hand inand adds Jonathan Dumont Assassin's Creed Shadows creative director to enhance the parkour the team has given Nai a grappling hook it's all physics based so there's a little bit of improbability sometimes when using it he says there's a danger to using it but you could also perform assassinations from it these Shinobi skills make NA the ideal choice for players who want to get back to an Assassin's Creed that's actually about assassins but the sneaking systems also pull on other aspects of the stealth genre that Creed has typically ignored for instance enemies can now be knocked out unlocking the option for a more pacifist playthrough of course the RPG era of Assassin's Creed has demanded a robust combat experience too and that's where Ubisoft plans to let yasuke shine fine we want the combat to feel spectacular so we've pushed quite a bit on having a lot of the objects destroyable or sliceable explains dant the upgraded Anvil engine upon which Assassin's Creed Shadows is built can now realistically replicate the damage caused by every type of weapon from accurate sword slices to perfect Arrow puncture marks think Fruit Ninja but with well almost every prop that's in Shadows world of course the real Samurai fantasy comes alive in kurasawa like duels while Ubisoft Quebec isn't using the leg legendary director's filmography as a direct influence they still want that level of tension when we have a mini boss type of fighter we really want it to feel like a duel says benoa so this exchange of blocking parrying dodging so it's always like a dance for the most part stealth or combat will be your choice each character has a number of personal quests in which they are compulsory to play as but beyond that you can freely choose who you control this goes as far as being able to switch characters between objectives that's the beauty says producer car o because during a quest there are several steps and you're going to go from one place to another you want to have this autonomy and agency to choose how you want to play the setup but there's a much greater system at play Seasons the open world progresses through spring summer autumn and winter with each new period bringing its own weather conditions and terrain shifts while this helps lend a sense of realism to the land Dynamic winds will procedurally blow swirls of pollen in the spring and pull leaves from branches in the fall each season can have a dramatic impact on gameplay we've really been pushing about making sure that that gameplay and art are not separate but they're intertwining explains on he offers an example of how in summer you can use the new prone stance to crawl into a pond and hide beneath the surface of the water but in the winter that pond will be frozen over you create new and you remove at the same time different ways and roots of infiltration he says as spring blooms Grass Grows tall enough to hide in bushes become leafy perfect to crouch behind but as the months go by the approaching winter kills off these natural hiding spots hanging icicles threaten to snap and fall revealing your rooftop position but at the same time the worsening weather limits the view of enemies howling winds obscure your footsteps guard patrols stick to areas of warmth allowing you to take new colder paths players will have to adapt constantly to what the Environ man is giving them says dant seasons will change based on your progress Through The Campaign which art director tiar donero tells me is to ensure the world stays authentic as possible to match historical events in terms of area the region is similar in size to Assassin's Creed Origins Egyptian map although based on a more realistic scale ratio because castles took a lot of space and we really wanted the mountains to feel like mountains we've made the environments feel wider in the game reveals deont those castles all prominent historical landmarks are set to be shadows centerpiece dungeons the way they were built it's a level design by itself enthuses benoa it's so big it's like an adventure each time you go in the castle despite all the drama and controversies surrounding the franchise I think this this game has the potential to be a massive hit the sheer scale the lore and the gameplay Innovations keep the excitement alive no matter what the naysayers claim apparently the Japanese government is investigating Ubisoft because of historical accuracy is the government drunk but what really pisses me off is that the Greek government didn't investigate Ubisoft for all the historical inaccuracies in AC Odyssey did you know that alexios was not a real historical figure and what about the Minotaur Medusa and the Cyclops is that not historically accurate listen I could go on and on Connor helping George Washington win the Civil War in Assassin's Creed 3 a Native American commanding an army A black man owning a large mansion in that time period why didn't the US government Sue Ubisoft for those historical inaccuracies next I'm reading that Ubisoft is being investigated for inaccurate weather systems in the game man I hope they put pink snow in the game in AC Valhalla you have these areas avore finds that are cursed and there is a weird fog around and you need to destroy something to lift the curse that's historically inaccurate environmentalists and historians should go after Ubisoft for that oh and why didn't the Japanese government go after the devs of Rise of the Ronin for historical inaccuracies by the way full disclosure the government is not investigating Ubisoft it's all made up if let's talk about price tear why is Ubisoft doing that what's up with all the extras Die Hard AC fans will buy the $130 bundle you know what else they will do they will pay thousands of dollars for costumes they will buy all kinds of Assassin's Creed toys t-shirts posters and all kinds of souvenirs why wouldn't Ubisoft capitalize on that and make their own collector's addition but they also have the base version of the game at $70 for the more casual players like me Assassin's Creed fans never played AC games for historical accuracy Assassin's Creed games are historical fantasy