The French publisher (which has once again postponed the new Assassin’s Creed episode…) is trying to tweak parkour, a core feature of the franchise since its inception in 2007…
As Assassin’s Creed has evolved from historical action-adventures to quasi-RPGs, travel on foot has taken a backseat in favor of much more advanced combat and stealth systems in the games. Horses and ships have also entered the transportation arena. Assassin’s Creed Shadows aims to change that, and Ubisoft also wants to delve into parkour. The French publisher gave more details in a blog post.
The basics of parkour will remain the same (hold the parkour button and use the up key to go up and the down key to go down), but will be slightly different depending on which character you’re controlling. Neo will be able to jump further and reach higher than Yasuke, who specializes more in combat. You’ll have to be careful where you use your parkour, as guards will see climbing and jumping as conspicuous, and you’ll be more likely to get knocked down as a result.
The most notable change is the addition of a dodge button to parkour, which opens up a number of new moves. When dodging near the edge of a rooftop, Naoe will turn away from the ledge and land silently on her feet. Naoe also has a unique sprint sideways ability that allows her to jump over objects while sprinting and turn to maintain momentum. This is not a replacement for the ability to automatically vault over objects, but it does provide more damage protection than the standard horizontal parkour.
Naoe can use the grappling hook for a number of additional parkour moves, including the ability to grab onto the edge of any roof and climb directly up ropes, swing through gaps and run along walls. According to Ubisoft, the grappling hook will be especially useful on rural parkour trails and castle infiltrations, where the added security can make traditional parkour difficult. By comparison, Yasuke’s parkour abilities are more limited. He gains the ability to do a ledge drop, and his landing is harder than Naoe’s. He also can’t use a grappling hook or sprint dodge, but he can break through certain objects that would normally block Naoe’s, which sounds radical in its own way. For the first time in the series, Naoe and Yasuke can lie prone, further reducing their visibility to enemies. Naoe can roll onto her stomach and literally commit assassinations while lying down.
All of this is aimed at making parkour a less passive experience. Ubisoft has also introduced unclimbable surfaces, which prevent players from using a spinning wheel to climb certain walls or structures. “In our game, holding down the parkour button like a gas pedal is not the optimal way to do parkour. This meant we had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and gave us more control over where Naoe can go and where Yasuke can’t, making our two play styles even more contrasting,” says Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Associate Game Director Simon Lemay-Comtois.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ new release date is March 20th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Store), Mac (iOS/iPadOS; App Store) and Amazon Luna.
Source: PCGamer
