“Assasisin’s Creed Shadows” is just around the corner, and as the game inches closer to its March 20 launch, Ubisoft is letting more people get their hands on it. At a private event during NBA All-Star Weekend, I had the chance to check out a shorter demo compared to the one I played in January.
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It’s the same demo that NBA players such as Karl Anthony Towns, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Cameron Johnson checked out. It focused on the finale of the Noble storyline, featuring Kuroda Kanbei and Naoie Ukita, so I was familiar with the scenario’s ins and outs. The big difference this time was that I had the chance to switch it up.
In the past demo, I infiltrated the castle as Naoe and targeted assassins lurking in the ranks of servants. This time, I chose Yasuke and went in through the front door. While Naoe was the stealthy route, Yasuke was more direct and focused on combat.
After readjusting to the controls, I powered through the demo, discovering that the two paths made a circle around the castle. Naoe’s stealth-focused mission went behind the fortress and Yasuke’s mission rammed through the entrance, but they both essentially ended in the same place.
Yasuke is still as powerful as ever in direct combat though I did need to take advantage of the terrain and use ranged weapons to pick off foes before moving ahead and fighting the heavies. The loadout I had was problematic because it didn’t have much area of effect abilities to deal with being surrounded by adversaries.
On the other side of the equation, I found that Naoe felt more powerful. I used her in the boss fight and didn’t have as much trouble as I expected in a one-on-one battle. She acquitted herself well using her agility to dodge attacks and deal heavy damage in counterattacks. It appears that it’s another tweak as Ubisoft continues to fine tune “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” for its launch next month.
