Highlights

  • Assassin's Creed Shadows strikes a balance between classic stealth mechanics and new features, pushing the franchise forward.
  • The spy network feature in Assassin's Creed Shadows emphasizes the importance of collaboration and working together.
  • The spy network in Assassin's Creed Shadows reinforces the importance of stealth and preparation in both narrative and gameplay.

Based on the trailers released so far, it seems as though Assassin's Creed Shadows could end up striking a perfect balance between hearkening back to the series' roots, while simultaneously pushing the franchise forward into new territory. After becoming more of an action-RPG-focused franchise, stealth started to take a bit of a backseat in Assassin's Creed, but Assassin's Creed Shadows is bringing it back in full force, and it's the perfect example of the next entry's attempt to balance legacy and evolution.

Along with bringing back a slew of classic series stealth mechanics, Assassin's Creed Shadows is introducing a wealth of new ones. Assassin's Creed Shadows will let players go prone and hide in tall grass, extinguish lights to hide in the dark, and grab enemies and silently drag them to a more secluded part of the environment, just to name just a few new mechanics. Going hand in hand with these new stealth mechanics is Assassin's Creed Shadows' spy network feature, which is exactly the type of feature the series needs again.

Star WArs Outlaws x Assassins creed Shadows
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Assassin's Creed Shadows' Spy Network Highlights The Series' Long-Standing Strengths

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Spy Network Shows the Importance of Brotherhood

A major highlight of the early Assassin's Creed games was the notion that the player was part of something bigger. While Altair, Ezio, and Connor were all incredibly powerful Assassins capable of taking down countless Templar thugs and high-value targets, there was always a feeling in these early entries that they were just a cog in a much bigger wheel, a single but important part of a war that's been raging for hundreds of years. This feeling was demonstrated well in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, where players could recruit their own small network of Assassins and send them around Europe on secret missions, furthering the Assassin cause slowly but surely.

But as the Assassin's Creed series went on, this feeling started to become less prevalent. Rather than feel like a collaborative effort, later Assassin's Creed stories often felt as though the playable protagonist was a one-person army who didn't need anyone's help to bring down these mighty tyrannical organizations. While this one-person army power fantasy isn't necessarily a bad direction for the series, it is a step away from Assassin's Creed's roots. But Assassin's Creed Shadows is picking those roots back up.

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Spy Network will remind us that it's not about the lore heroes but an entire network of people dedicated to achieving one goal.

Along with having two playable protagonists who will likely rely on each other's unique skillsets throughout the main story, Assassin's Creed Shadows is also adding a spy network feature whereby players can recruit citizens to the Assassin's side. In adding this feature, Assassin's Creed Shadows emphasizes the notion that the Assassin Brotherhood doesn't just consist of lone heroes but a whole network of loyal, dedicated individuals working together under one secretive banner.

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Spy Network Shows the Importance of Stealth

Not only does Assassin's Creed Shadows' spy network feature bring back a core part of the series' original thematic identity, but it also helps to reinforce the importance of stealth, both from a narrative and gameplay perspective. Though it's still unconfirmed exactly what one will be able to do with the spy network, the recent Ubisoft Forward gameplay breakdown for Assassin's Creed Shadows hinted that players will be able to send their spies to scout out locations and discover the whereabouts of Assassination targets. This preparedness is something that Assassin's Creed has, rather surprisingly, rarely focused on, and it proves that Shadows is going out of its way to tap back into the series' roots.