Assassin’s Creed Shadows exploration gameplay released: ‘We don’t want to hold players’ hands’

Three minutes of new Assassin’s Creed Shadows footage has been published, showcasing the game’s exploration gameplay.

The video, which comes via content creator JorRaptor, showcases some new features, such as the ability to chain dodges into parkour gameplay.

In a blog posted published earlier this week, Ubisoft went into more detail about Shadows’ exploration gameplay, and claimed it had made “major changes and additions to foster a unique sense of discovery as you roam the world”.

Director Charles Benoit said: “We didn’t want to hold the player’s hand too much with icons and markers. We wanted to craft an open world where information was key and would become a form of reward.

“This made sense in the context of playing a shinobi and fighting for information. In Shadows, information is something you need to look for and earn, whether through your spies, NPC encounters, or through your own eyes.

“In short, we want players to discover all our cool secrets on their own terms through investigation, their spy network, or by observing the world.”

Ubisoft says it designed Shadows so that the more players explore, the more of the game world they will reveal. The series’ infamous towers (or ‘viewpoints’) are also changing, now revealing nearby points of interest instead of large chunks of the map.

“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.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which was previously delayed from last November to February 2025, will now be released on Match 20. Earlier this week, information on the first Assassin’s Creed Shadows expansion reportedly leaked.