‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’ Set For Release On November 15

The Assassin’s Creed game series has gone through a bit of a rough patch lately, but Ubisoft looks to get things back on track with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, which finally acknowledges the fan desire to see the Assassin Brotherhood feudal Japan. In the trailer above, the company introduces the key protagonists: the historical samurai Yasuke and the fictional assassin/kunoichi, Naoe.  While there’s no gameplay in the trailer, it provides a sense of both player’s characters, and both are expounded on by a separate interview with some of the lead creators.

An interview with IGN details a bit more about what players can expect in the game, including:

• The size of the world is about as large as Assassin’s Creed: Origins‘ Egypt
• There’s a dynamic lighting system to add to the stealth element, where players can be caught by lanterns or sunlight or cut out existing light to create more darkness to hide in.
• Parkour has been enhanced, specifically through Naoe’s grappling hook, which is physics-based and can be used to do assassinations.
• Naoe can knock out enemies for players who want to do playthroughs without taking lives.
• Ubisoft’s Anvil engine has been updated to show better object destruction for combat.
• While there are some quests that are specific to Naoe or Yasuke, most quests can be played by either character.
• The open world will not only have a day/night system, but will have a season system that will change the terrain of the world. Examples included hiding in grass in the spring that does not exist in the winter, and hiding in lakes in the summer that will be frozen in the winter.
• Seasons will change based on main quest stories, so side quests will look differently based on when players complete them.

Of course Ubisoft already has multiple different versions available for pre-order, including a Standard, Gold, and an Ultimate Edition of the game. Meanwhile, pre-ordering will include a bonus quest entitled “Thrown to the Dogs”.

While no gameplay has been shown yet, that’s probably being saved for UbiForward on June 10th.  For now, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows releases on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC on November 15th.