Many dedicated Assassin’s Creed Shadows players have voiced their longing for some beloved features from previous games in the franchise. They’re feeling the absence of elements like passing time, automatically following roads while on horseback, and revealing maps by synchronizing viewpoints.
Players venturing into Assassin’s Creed Shadows have quickly noticed these missing elements, though the door isn’t completely closed on them possibly making a return in the future. Ubisoft Quebec, with contributions from 15 other studios, crafted this latest installment, which launched on March 20 for PC and current-gen consoles. Ubisoft reports that over three million players dove into the game during its first week.
Fans and critics have largely praised the game, but some enthusiasts have taken to social media, vocalizing what they miss from earlier titles. One feature players are nostalgic about is the ability to manipulate time through meditation, a feature that made its debut in games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Odyssey, and was early on restricted in Origins. Even Mirage allowed players to alter time while relaxing on benches.
A significant portion of players are also disappointed by the removal of the auto-follow feature for horse travel. While the current game does provide a helpful guide system using map markers that draw lines along paths, expanding this feature to include auto-follow might not be too challenging for Ubisoft. However, Ubisoft assured that the intentional exclusion of social stealth—an element where stealth takes on more of a ninja-inspired style—will remain unchanged despite some fans’ disappointment.
Furthermore, the lack of the bird companion, which many relied on for scouting enemy movements and surveying landscapes in past games, has been another point of contention. While this feature is absent, players can utilize the potent Naoe’s Eagle Vision, which detects foes from afar, so the trade-off seems balanced in many gamers’ eyes.
In this latest chapter of the franchise, players have expressed missing the ways viewpoints would traditionally clear the fog of war from maps, offering more satisfaction upon completion. Some also feel the array of side activities isn’t as varied as in previous titles, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, although these criticisms seem to come from a minority of the user base.
Despite these omissions, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has carved out its own identity and offers ample content for players to immerse themselves in its world. As with any release, it’s finding its balance between legacy and innovation, much like the franchise it belongs to.
