DUELING BLADES

Does ASSASSIN’S CREED SHADOWS deliver a clean one-cut kill?

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As analysts ready their takes on what Shadows means for the future of the industry's old giants and their huge open-world games, I've got a simpler question to answer: is Shadows fun? I'm so glad that one is an easy yes. Shadows is some of the most fun I've had with a stealth game in a decade, and impressively, it also has the best, stickiest combat this series has seen. When I'm Naoe, ghosting past samurai by rooftop or shadow, or I'm Yasuke, charging through a castle gate and nailing every perfect block against a warrior monk, Shadows is peak Assassin's Creed.

But it's not all neck stabs and decapitation by katana. Shadows is massive—I'm knocking at the door of 50 hours having completed the main story and a chunk of side stuff—but its bloated map of breathtaking castles, unending temples, quaint villages, and gorgeous countryside is much wider than it is deep. In terms of stealth and action, Shadows is a successful return to what made early Assassin's Creed great, but it also drags along baggage from Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. It's got quests, companions, and dialogue options clearly designed to resemble a BioWare or Bethesda classic, but the resemblance is only superficial, and I didn't find the characters or stories memorable.

A disjointed main story, bland cast, and barrage of quests that all end the same way has me missing the days when Assassin's Creed was solely focused on the two things it still excels at: infiltrating a place and killing the right guy inside.

NEW ORDER

As if Ubisoft knew exactly how to get on this classic AC fan's good side, one of