Assassin's Creed Shadows finally makes long-awaited gameplay tweak (2024)

Assassin's Creed Shadows introduces a new Observe mechanic and more

• Assassin's Creed Shadows is reworking stealth mechanics after the RPG games changed the original formula
• Release Date: Friday, February 14, 2025
• Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC

The Observe mechanic is independent of Eagle Vision, but you can use both. Observe is "at the core of the Assassin's Creed Shadows experience" and lets you "identify targets, tag and monitor enemies, and highlight lootable stashes, collectibles, and quest objectives. While on a Synch Point, it also allows for close examination of nearby locations." Eagle Vision, as a "dedicated stealth mechanic," lets you detect hidden enemies, hiding spots, and so on.

Without an eagle buddy, any extra options for detection will help, such as the option to hide in night-time shadows to become "invisible" to enemies. Since this works inside and out, Ubisoft says you can create stealth opportunities yourself: by destroying lanterns with a throwable weapon, for instance. Assassin's Creed Shadows' protagonists are also able to go prone, as well as running and crouching.

All this will come in handy against the new enemy behaviors. Servants appear in the game as a new enemy type with their patrol routes — they can't fight you but will rat you out to the guards.

Those guards, meanwhile, will pose different challenges when taking the different enemy types into account. Samurai can "deny" assassinations and slice bushes to stop you from hiding, and you can't assassinate them after dropping a smoke bomb as you can with other enemies. This option to deny assassinations means you need to keep upgrading your Hidden Blade and experiment with different tactics to face tougher enemies.

On the one hand, this could make things a little more enjoyably difficult with the necessity to rely on assassin instincts instead of that aerial viewpoint. On the other hand, the eagle (or raven or vampire bat or pigeon, depending on how much you delve into skin options) is an iconic part of Assassin's Creed. While its various skills do come in useful, its vantage point in the sky also helped to mitigate the overwhelming feeling of the massive maps introduced as Assassin's Creed ventured more into open-world RPG territory.

That Observe mechanic does look a little more natural and realistic, but it doesn't have the magnificence of swooping about and pretending no one will notice the giant phoenix checking out an enemy camp.

The "denying assassination" thing does not, sadly, mean a polite "no thank you" from your intended victim, but more of an embarrassing failure as they dodge your efforts (some of them even laugh at you). All these little changes could mean a nice variety in stealth gameplay — if it isn't bugged into the ground at first, as we've seen with stealth in games like Star Wars Outlaws.

Hopefully, any frustration if we do get caught out again and again will be undone by the fact that in places like castles and fortresses, "different districts each exist as their arenas. This means that should you get caught in one pocket, you can still recover, re-engage, and keep your stealth run going without having an entire location bearing down on you."

Ubisoft has more on the way about stealth details apparently, so there's more to learn yet about how that'll all work. What do you think of these changes so far? Let us know in the comments down below on whether you reckon this'll help Assassin's Creed Shadows rank as one of the best Xbox open world games.