(Image credit: Ubisoft)

In Assassin’s Creed 2, I can still remember how satisfying it was to see the Villa Auditore and the town of Monteriggioni improve over the course of several renovations. Nestled in Tuscany, the town’s buildings are initially boarded up, but as you spend more florins to restore it, it steadily begins to transform into a living and breathing place. The villa also develops alongside it, acting as the homestead and central base for Ezio and the Brotherhood. I always loved how rich and inviting the home was, outfitted with useful features – such as an armory, weapons stash, and more – and decorations that captured the 15th century time period. Plus, nothing could quite beat walking through the street corners to see first-hand how much had changed thanks to my efforts.

We’ve seen several bases and hideouts in subsequent Assassin’s Creed entries since, with each one coming in a shape or form that befits the setting and style of the adventure it’s home to. It’s become something of a staple that’s changed as the series has evolved, but Assassin’s Creed Shadows signals something of a new dawn for them. Set to offer up Sims-style customization and a wealth of new ways to engage with the space to make it our own, Shadows promises to make the base more homely than ever.

Your safe space

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

When I think about all of the bases we’ve seen across the Assassin’s Creed series, I have some standout favorites. Some are far more customizable and feature-heavy than others, but above all, I’ve always appreciated how unique many of them feel because of the way they fit into the time period they’re in. Outside of the Villa Auditore, another big highlight came in the shape of a steam train in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which would move through Victorian London. Apt and novel at the same time, it gave Evie and Jacob a little mobile base of operations, away from the gangs, where you could set down souvenirs, access the black market, and collect any funds your gangs have earned.

I was also always very fond of the theatre cafe in Assassin’s Creed Unity, which captured the 18th century Parisian backdrop of the adventure perfectly. With several renovations to work towards, it featured a training room, an area for collectibles, and even a bedroom for Arno that housed his belongings and personal letters – which I always appreciated from a role-playing perspective. Now, Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks set to bring forward some of the features I loved in previous home bases, and also build on what’s come before by providing more meaningful customization and additional touches that lean into its RPG direction.

As GamesRadar+’s Gaming Editor Oscar Taylor-Kent explains in his Assassin’s Creed Shadows preview of the new home base, we’re set to have a hideout that will let us carve out our own safe space amid the violence and chaos of the Sengoku era in Japan. Not only can we feel more at home by displaying collectibles and adopting pets – such as Shiba Inus and cats – but we can also spend time there getting to know characters we’ve recruited along the way. As the studio behind Syndicate, there are immediate parallels to the steam train, with the collectible aspect in Shadows instantly bringing to mind the souvenir-laden room on the locomotive.

Heading home

Plus, not unlike the Fyre twins, Yasuke or Naoe will reside at the base when you switch between them, but in Shadows you can engage in a conversation with your fellow protagonist counterpart when you pop by. It’s always great to have a place to reflect on all of your own achievements, or take some down time during your adventures in RPGs, and Shadows sounds like a great evolution on what the developer has brought us before in Syndicate.

Ultimately the hideout is designed to be a place “where you feel at ease”, as creative director Jonathan Dumont put it, and from everything we’ve heard about it so far, it looks set to capture the idea of the found family. With Yaskue being an outsider and Naoe trying to better understand herself and her lineage, it sounds as though the base will provide a feeling of home that they can’t find anywhere else. I already love how the circumstances of the dual protagonists give the base greater emotional weight and importance as a place they both need, as well as a functional area with useful features.

But what is even more exciting is the emphasis Shadows is putting on customization. While I’ve enjoyed the ability to upgrade bases in the past to see how the likes of Assassin’s Creed 2’s town and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Ravensthorpe transform – largely due to the sense of progression it affords – Shadows is going all out by putting the design and look of our hideout directly into our hands. With a grid-based system and tools not unlike The Sims 4, we’ll be able to place down paths, trees, and more. It’s entirely ours to mold and shape, which makes it far more personal not just to Yaskue and Naoe, but also to us as players.

Bases have come a long way and chopped and changed often since the days I spent walking through the restored streets of Monteriggioni as Ezio Auditore. From hopping onto a moving train in the Victorian garb of the Fyre Twins, to developing the viking settlement of Ravensthorpe as Eivor, I’ve always loved having some kind of place to return to amid all of the hidden-blade, stealthy action. And now, Assassin’s Creed Shadows promises to bring us not just a hideout, but a home. I can’t think of anything more exciting than that.