Posted in: Assassin's Creed, Games, Ubisoft, Video Games | Tagged: Assassin's Creed Shadows

Assassin's Creed Shadows Discusses Exploring The World

In the latest developer blog for Assassin's Creed Shadows, the team talks about exploring the surroundings of their version of Japan

Ubisoft released a new blog this week for Assassin's Creed Shadows, this time going over the fundamentals of exploring their world. Specifically, when it comes to the mechanics of navigating their version of Feudal Japan in the story and how you'll utilize different elements to find your way and use your surroundings to your advantage. We have a couple of snippets of the blog below, as the game will be out on March 20, 2025.

Assassin's Creed Shadows – Exploration Fundamentals

The World Map

The World Map is the backbone of exploration. You will start the game with a map that only reveals region names and drawings hinting at the potential nature of key locations. Moving around the world will slowly reveal a significant radius around your character, uncovering more and more details as you go. Each new region, sub-region, and local landmark you encounter will deepen the clarity and richness of your map: in short, the more you explore, the more information the map will provide. When navigating in the menu, the world map offers different zoom levels, each toggling different sets of information. From provinces' names at the farthest zoom to local landmarks and relevant icons at the closest. This map will be the cornerstone of your journey, your best ally in choosing where your next adventure lies, or where to find your quest objectives.

Viewpoints

Viewpoints (i.e. synchronization points) are back in Shadows but work a little differently compared to past entries of the series. Rather than unveiling large sections of the world map along with all its opportunity icons, climbing viewpoints now reveal nearby points of interest as you observe your surroundings from the top of the high point: city districts, temples, shrines, castles – most of which are tied to quests or activities you'll want to engage in.

By using the observe mechanic – first shown in our stealth overview article – you can move the camera manually through a 360-degree range to contemplate these points of interest and tag the nearby places that you wish to add to your compass. If you have visited them before, their names will appear. If you haven't, they'll be listed as "undiscovered locations" which you can mark for future exploration. Our goal in evolving the way viewpoints work was to give players a more intentional and active way to find their next adventure.

For our long-time fans, you'll be pleased to know that on top of the new manual camera move feature, the iconic synchronized camera movement will also return. This will let you fully appreciate the stunning scenery around you. While each viewpoint unlocks a Fast Travel point, players will have to be careful about using them, as some of these viewpoints will be located in the heart of enemy-controlled territories, like on top of a tenshu – the largest and tallest tower in any castle – which can be challenging to escape. Most viewpoints are accessible with both characters, but their approach may vary. In some instances, Naoe can easily climb outside of the structure using her grappling hook, whereas Yasuke will likely need to take the stairs and go through the guards to reach the top.

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