Assassin’s Creed Shadows is turning back to its roots with overhauled parkour mechanics and different playstyles of both the protagonists.

With only one month until the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft is starting to tease us with additional details about the numerous additions, enhancements, and modifications in the next installment of the franchise.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to be released on February 14, 2025. | Credit: Ubisoft.

The developers have now given a thorough explanation of how parkour operates, and perhaps the most noteworthy aspect is that, unlike many Assassin’s Creed games, you won’t be able to climb over absolutely everything. Not only that, but the recent explanation also reveals that both protagonists will have different playstyles.

Parkour system is going to be a lot different in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

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Simon Lemay-Comtois, associate game director, recently wrote a blog post outlining some of the impending changes to the parkour system in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Although parkour in Assassin’s Creed was initially a kind of mini-puzzle in which you had to slither around buildings in search of ways to proceed, more recent games have made the concept simpler and let you scale surfaces vertically as much as you want. It seems Assassin’s Creed is heading back to its roots.

There will be a handful of “unclimbable surfaces” in Shadows that lack tangible handholds. “This is a pretty big deal for us,” stated Lemay-Comtois in that blog post. However, he also stated, “Most of what you’ll see in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is still very much climbable,” but other sections will need a little more “creativity” to access. At the very least, that’s really thrilling. The wide worlds in recent Assassin’s Creeds have a tendency to feel a little flat because all you have to do is press a button to climb over anything.

The blog also discusses how Ubisoft changed the crouch and dodge buttons in an attempt to incorporate the dodge into the larger parkour concept, which may not seem like a significant alteration at first glance. According to Lemay-Comtois, “there are two main ways to parkour down.”

Without using directional input, the traditional method is to press the dodge/parkour down button close to a ledge. This will cause your character to descend and grasp the ledge in a climbing stance. The second, and more ostentatious, method is to execute a directional dodge over that ledge, which initiates a number of acrobatic maneuvers.

Both protagonists will have different playstyles

Naoe and Yasuke have their own ways of fighting and parkour. | Credit: Ubisoft

This change in parkour mechanics will also reflect on the playstyles of Yasuke and Naoe. Some of the distinctions between the two playable characters are explained by Ubisoft.

Being a shinobi, Naoe is skilled at climbing, moving more quickly, and being stealthy. Although he can’t climb as quickly as Naoe, Yasuke can get over barriers that the shinobi face. Naoe can also dodge while prone, wall-run higher than Yasuke, and has a grappling hook. This is what Lemay-Comtois stated:

….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 playstyles even more contrasted.

One would think that Yasuke is more equipped for battle and circumstances that call for his fighting skills, though a large portion of the post describes the things that Naoe can access and Yasuke cannot. In contrast, Naoe is more focused on stealth and parkour.

When Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes on February 14, we’ll see how everything works out in reality, but it looks like Ubisoft is creating a clever reworking of the parkour features that the series is known for.