Ubisoft has big plans for Assassin's Creed Shadows' signature parkour feature and outlined a few important changes to dodging and climbing in a recent blog post. Shadows will let players dodge while performing parkour, a seemingly minor alteration that Ubisoft says will add new layers of strategy to stealth and movement.
Parkour plays an important role in the series, but older games often limited player actions to jumping and climbing. In 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage, for example, the only safe way to drop from a high place involved finding pre-designated areas, such as a wheelbarrow full of hay or a particularly well-cushioned hedge. Shadows' protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, can perform a rolling dodge move after jumping to soften their landing -- plus the noise it makes -- and avoid damage. Holding the dodge button while jumping automatically identifies the safest spot to land as well.
Ubisoft designed Shadows' changes to give players more options for how they approach a stealth scenario or elusive target and -- for those playing as Naoe -- even how they can escape.
Dodging backward over a ledge in Assassin's Creed normally leaves a player hanging onto it and requires an additional action to drop down. Shadows keeps that option, but Naoe can also use it to reach the ground in a single motion -- a faster, quieter method than just jumping right off the edge would allow for. Yasuke, the heavier armored warrior, doesn't have that advantage, as Ubisoft designed him for a more aggressive, in-your-face approach to stealth and puzzles.
Both characters can dodge out of cover while crouching for a quick, hard-to-notice attack or use the move to reach cover quickly when in danger of being spotted. However, only Naoe can run up walls, swing with a grappling hook and dodge while sprinting, a move Ubisoft says lets her avoid incoming projectiles. Her grappling hook also serves as a climbing tool, as it embeds in a roof or ledge so Naoe can use it as a rope.
"[These changes are] a pretty big deal for us." Simon Lemay-Comtois, Assassin's Creed Shadows' associate director, said in the blog post. "We had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and afforded us more control about where Naoe can go, and where Yasuke can't, making our two play styles even more contrasted."
Assassin's Creed Shadows launches on Feb. 14 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam and Ubisoft Connect.