Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a pretty standalone entry in Ubisoft’s long-running series, with fewer ties to what’s gone before than any other game in recent memory.
If it’s been a while since your last Assassin’s Creed game and you’re just looking to stomp around feudal Japan for a bit, you’re not going to have any problems here.
I initially planned to write something of a lore explainer for those leaping into Shadows not having played the rest of the canon – and then ultimately had little to actually write about. Instead, then, let this be a PSA as to how little you need to know about the two dozen Assassin’s Creed games already out there, let alone their accompanying novels and that Michael Fassbender film.
If your last Assassin’s Creed was during the Ezio era and you’ve missed everything since, you’ll fit right in here. Shadows is actually set not long after – it begins in 1579 – only about 60 years after Ezio was romping around Renaissance Europe.
Once again, your sojurn back into the past is made possible thanks to the technology of the Animus, which peers into people’s DNA and somehow detects where your ancestors have been and who they tailed over rooftops. In Shadows, unlike the series’ earlier games, the Animus is just an app now, rather than a sci-fi chaise longue.
If you remember a modern day chap named Desmond who wanted to save the world, well, I’m sorry to say he’s long gone. (No, that’s not a spoiler, that happened over a decade ago.) The more recent trilogy of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla featured a similar character, Layla. You don’t need to know about her either. The Isu? No prior knowledge needed there too. (If you don’t know what an Isu is, Shadows is still for you.)
Essentially, all you need to know for Assassin’s Creed Shadows is that the Assassins themselves were a secret group that existed around this time in Europe, amongst other places, who really did not like the Templars.
While the Assassins stand for the messy but human cause of free will, The Templars, backed by the Catholic Church, would rather save humanity from themselves by putting someone, like the Pope, in charge.
And that’s pretty much it! Shadows’ main story is focused on the political warring within Japan at the time, with events outside the country a very distant second. That said, if you’ve watched Shogun, you’ll know that the Portuguese were also in Japan at the time – and you meet a couple of them in Shadows’ introduction.
For more spoiler-free detail on the game, be sure to read Eurogamer’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows review, or drop by our launch day Q&A.