In recent months, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been at the center of heated debate, and even many fans who enjoyed the game have not held back their criticism of its parkour, calling it stiff, clunky, and far removed from the fluid movement that defined the earlier entries. Ubisoft has attempted to address these complaints with a series of post-launch updates, but for many players, the damage was already done. Now one of the studio’s lead developers openly admits that the RPG-era Assassin’s Creed games went down the wrong path, and promises that parkour will once again become a core pillar of the series.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was surrounded by controversy long before release, and after launch, the same criticism came up again and again: traversal simply did not feel right. Many players felt that the freerunning was too rigid and lacked the sense of momentum that used to be a trademark of the franchise. Although patches have improved the system since then, the game’s reputation in this area has clearly suffered a setback.
Now Ubisoft Quebec and Assassin’s Creed Shadows associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois are acknowledging that the team missed the mark on parkour. He points out that ever since the series shifted toward large-scale RPG design, Ubisoft has gradually stopped treating parkour as a central mechanic, even though this is exactly what many fans were missing. After seeing how unhappy players were with the direction of movement in recent entries, the publisher has decided that future Assassin’s Creed games need to put traversal back near the top of the priority list.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Lemay-Comtois explained that the team has learned from this misstep and now wants to treat parkour as its own gameplay pillar in upcoming titles. He notes that as the world became wider and more open, the games lost some of their verticality and the overall need for truly fluid parkour, which meant the system stopped being a clear focus. At the same time, he admits that the stiffer, heavier movement in recent games has failed to resonate with fans, which is why they intend to pour much more attention into designing, tuning and polishing the parkour systems going forward.
According to Lemay-Comtois, both Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Assassin’s Creed Mirage have already seen major improvements to parkour through post-launch updates, but Ubisoft is also pushing the importance of traversal internally across its Assassin’s Creed teams. As he puts it, they are trying to correct course after release with Shadows, while also sending a clear message within the company that “parkour matters” and needs to be pushed to the forefront again. The idea is that future projects will treat movement and verticality as a foundation, not an afterthought.
All of this suggests that upcoming games like the mobile-focused Assassin’s Creed Jade, the darker, more mysterious Assassin’s Creed Hexe, and the long-rumored Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake could deliver traversal that feels more natural, responsive, and nostalgic, echoing the classic era of the franchise.
Meanwhile, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has also received mixed feedback on the content side. The main campaign has been called out by some players for its uneven pacing and execution, with criticism that it does not quite reach the level of quality expected from a flagship Assassin’s Creed entry. The Claws of Awaji DLC brought a hefty batch of new content, but the overall reception to this first expansion was underwhelming, leading Ubisoft to scrap its plans for a second DLC entirely. On top of that, the game’s unexpected crossover with the anime Attack on Titan has also raised eyebrows among parts of the fanbase.
The big question now is whether a significantly improved parkour system in the RPG-era Assassin’s Creed titles will be enough to bring back the fluid, satisfying movement that fans fell in love with in the first place. Do you think a renewed focus on traversal can restore some of the old magic, or is the series’ direction too far gone? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion over on the Tech4Gamers forum.
Source: tech4gamers
