## 2025-03-22 I'm about 13 hours into **Assassin's Creed: Shadows**, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Much has already been said of "Ubisoft bloat." The idea that the game is too big and "waste's the player's time." "Open world fatigue" is another commonly used phrase. I find it interesting. I feel like the people who say this are always hardcore """gamers"""[^1]. Because when I hit up my barbershop the day this game came out, every dude under the age of like, 25, was sitting around and talking about how excited they were for **Shadows** to come out. A common misunderstanding people have when they complain about "open world fatigue" is that the average person plays maybe 4 or 5 games a year: **NBA2K**/**FIFA**, **Call of Duty**, **Fortnite**, and whatever **Assassin's Creed** game comes out that year. The average person is not tackling multiple 100 hour experiences every year when they play videogames. Hell, most people don't finish most videogames, lmfao. When you look at a game like this - a gigantic, sprawling world with a bunch of checkmarks to clear off - you might see it as a chore. I wouldn't begrudge you for that. But as someone who plays an **AC** game once every three or four years, I just see it as meditative. Especially right now! Life kind of sucks right now. Some structure is nice to help me power through that, and it certainly exists in the meditative experience of filling out a map with a sense of format and routine, going region to region and repeating the process. In the end, all games are loops, and if the game loop is good enough, I will do it for a long-ass time. So let's talk about the loop. It's good! I wasn't sure at first, but I honestly love the split between Naoe and Yasuke[^2] and their skillset. In previous **Assassin's Creed** games like **Odyssey** and **Origins**, I would basically just stealth my way through stuff until I got caught and then murder everyone. In **Shadows** that's not really an option - if I get caught as Naoe I have to actually think my way through an escape, because she's built like a twig and can barely handle more than one or two enemies at a time. The split makes my actions more deliberate. If I see a castle I want to take and it's daytime, or has five generals in it, I'll switch to Yasuke. If it's night I'll pick Naoe, because of note is the game's lighting system that makes sneaking around much easier in darkness. You can even eliminate light sources, which is fun. The game also encourages you to swap between characters thanks to a wanted status system as well. If one character becomes wanted in a region, it's easier to switch to another until the season changes. There are other ways to clear it, but so far I've enjoyed the lite roleplaying that comes with adapting to one character or the other. Combat feels good and has more depth than I expected with three weapons per character. Parkour feels great as Naoe and terrible as Yasuke, as intended - his trade-off is the ability to just smash through walls and shit. He feels like a tank. You can even get a sense of it when he lands from a jump, with the rumble in my controller being louder than when moving around as Naoe. There is a plot, and I've yet to really get into it, but it's sufficient. Unlike **Valhalla**, which was a fucking snooze-fest, **Shadows** makes sure to set the stakes effectively from the jump, similar to **Origins**. So far so good. I don't know if I'll even finish this game, but I'm not too pressed about it. I dropped **Odyssey** for like half a year before coming back and finishing it. I'm in no rush, and happy to explore one of the most gorgeous games I think I've ever seen at my own pace. ## 2025-03-23 Can't overstate how easy it is to just turn your brain off and play this game. Did that for like 6 hours today while I hung out with friends and it was a blast. It's the perfect game for those kind of [[Parallel Play]] days because it keeps just engaged enough to have something to focus on and relax while still being able to yap with my friends. Might just be the mindset I've been in lately, but clearing out the checklists has been super relaxing and fun. I personally don't mind the loot system at all. I found a chest piece that makes it easier for Naoe to make less noise, and two pieces of armor that let Yasuke parry unparryable moves and do 50% damage off of any parry. It's kind of annoying to have to fast-travel to my base to upgrade the gear I like all the time, but the load times are pretty fast. Currently this is the most fun I've ever had playing an **Assassin's Creed** game. I might even...finish it? *Gasp*. We'll see, but signs are currently positive. [^1]: *retch* [^2]: I'm not acknowledging any of the conversation around this character. I don't need to. :)