Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the Uninspired State of Combat

Every Assassin’s Creed franchise player has their favourite gameplay style; mine is stealth, and I use combat as a last resort when a plan collapses. Combat has never been the main attraction, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows does not change that. While combat is well executed, clean, mechanically competent, and polished, it lacks that intangible zest and exuberance that makes it come alive. For a game that brilliantly integrates atmosphere with movement and stealth, the combat design feels puzzlingly unsatisfactory.

Naoe, the agile shinobi, and Yasuke, the disciplined samurai. On paper, this should deliver a rich and diverse contrast in playstyle: Naoe is quick and precise, while Yasuke wields his control with strength. As it is, both characters complain of the same monotonous combat style that Assassin's Creed has employed since the series transitioned into RPGs. Whether it's a katana or a dagger, the same mechanics that have haunted us since Origins are there: dodge, parry, counter, repeat.

The Weight of Familiarity

Ubisoft's comfort with this system is obvious, and it's sad. The loop of light and heavy attacks and stamina is there, only this time, it is disguised under Japanese armor, and, of course, ornate animations. There is nothing terribly wrong with that system: it is smooth and it works. But the thing is, it's safe, predictable, and monotonous to the point of being boring. Every combat, even simple ones, is designed to remind you that combat is there, rather than to frustrate you into thinking outside the box.

The system's transition from stealth to action is predictable, almost safe. Gunfire and melee action trigger the system from the stealth mode. Pick your targets; wait; shoot; melee. It’s a cycle the machine has performed repeatedly. It’s a system, but there’s really no engagement. There is no interplay from you to the machine. Just a set of mechanical, predictable, and sequential actions has to be performed.

For those avoiding confrontation, the system's combat is predictable and will suffice as a fallback. There is no runaway system and no derailing your progress. It’s like you were designed to bypass a system. It’s like a dual system of stealth and combat. There is a lack of interplay and engagement in one system, while sudden and confusing expectations are present in the other. Stealth punishes you for lack of precision; combat punishes you for lack of timing. There’s really no interplay.

The Characters in Combat

Let’s start with Naoe. As the stealth character, her toolkit naturally favors evasion and precision. Her attacks are fast, and her dodges are very responsive. Naoe has a flow in her movements that is truly amazing. The animations are beautiful: every movement flows, and every stance is balanced. But once you get used to Naoe, you start to see that she is no different from every other agile protagonist in modern Ubisoft games. You dodge left or right, use a light and heavy attack, and then build a meter to perform a cinematic finisher. It’s a loop that is satisfying, yet stale.

Yasuke brings raw power to the table. His blows are heavy and calculated, giving the animation of impact a certain satisfaction. One can feel the weight of each swing, and the pauses between blows lend a certain gravity to the rhythm. But, mechanically, there is a hollow feeling. You still dodge, parry, and wait for your opening. The only difference is that he tends to get hit a lot more, so he has a larger margin of error built into the rhythm of the fight.

The difference between Naoe and Yasuke is more in the aesthetics of combat. They may look and sound different in a fight, but neither plays in a way that forces a change in your approach, in your thinking, or in your feelings. If Shadows had delved more into the differences between the two, like giving Naoe an evasion-based counter system and Yasuke a stance system for defense, the game would have had a lot more variety in its combat.

A System That Doesn’t Evolve

One of the ongoing issues in the series is the static in-game combat system. Over the course of lengthy play sessions, the enemies may become tougher, but the combat system remains the same. Combat system abilities may be unlocked by those who buy PS5 games, but they are largely just heightened modifications of the existing moves, whether it be countering, dodging, or the overall attack radius. These upgrades, in the end, don't help a player advance in a system or strategy, but assist in accomplishing a task in a more rapid or visually impressive way.

Infrequent combat might lead to the same system issues, but the game itself is designed to capture player attention in combat and killing activities. Although marketed as a stealth experience, Shadows places the player in combat as the optimal solution. It is not a problem to place the player in combat, but the player should be purposefully frustrated in order to achieve combat. Combat in the game is designed to be so simple that the player may even view combat positively. As combat is designed to be simple, it is repetitive, and even more so at the end of the game.

In the earlier Assassin’s Creed games, combat felt like something you wanted to avoid, and even then, the fighting was quick and simple. In Shadows, combat is prolonged and lacks the care and precision that was the trademark of the franchise. Now, each combat encounter is like a mini saving the best for last test. As an assassin, you lose much of the draw that comes with the identity, with the fight feeling like an overly choreographed sequence. This was a combat sequence that I encountered, and the monotony of the sequence is what made me actively avoid it.

The Presentation Outshines the Design

As for the combat, it is a thing of beauty. The animations, the design of the sounds, and even the lighting that turns each fight into a mini masterpiece of cinema make combat a sight to behold. Moves in combat by Naoe’s synchronizing, like that of a dancer, and even the strikes by Yasuke are like a bear, where the power is believable. There is dedication to the design, and that is very noticeable. It is a shame then that behind all that design, there is nothing.

Some types of combat may seem impressive from an outside perspective, but performative combat, as those who buy PS5 adventure games see it, lacks soul. There’s nothing creative or improvisational, and nothing seems to grow or develop, just stagnation. By the time you finish the first ten encounters, you’ve seen everything the combat system has to offer. Though technically fine, the combat system is emotionally unresponsive.

The ease of the entire system takes away the positive feelings that should come from mastering the combat system. There are generous windows for successful failures, predictable enemy movements, and even bosses function within predictable patterns. The parry system might help the game be more accessible, but the ease in parry mechanics quantifies combat growth to an extent. It is disappointing that for a game that is fine-tuned for stealth and planning, the combat is seemingly active to a frustrating degree.

Missed Potential of Dual Styles

The dual protagonist structure was a perfect opportunity to rethink combat in Assassin’s Creed. Naoe’s combat could have focused solely on the redirection and deception of combat mechanics for creating openings and escapes, and Yasuke’s on control, timing, and positional endurance. Instead, the characters are just too similar to offer anything fresh.

All Assassin's Creed Shadows combat comes down to a bad case of the “safes.” Don’t mistake this for a poor combat experience; rather, it’s for the lack of one’s imagination to elevate the experience to the next level. No one is saying the system is broken; it’s just conservative. Sticking to your old ways might work, but for this franchise, it’s a regression. Players looking for a narrative fix may get a cinematic experience, but Ubisoft no longer respects the expectations of its loyal gamers for the gameplay experience to include precision.

What is, instead, Shadow’s stagnation, other games have incorporated the system of contextual variety seamlessly. The neglect of Shadow means that it is just more combative tools. Players have the tools; the problem is the combat system’s design. While it aims to be elegant, the combat system’s design is delivered as stagnant.

The Role of Combat in a Stealth Game

To be fair, Assassin's Creed Shadows is still primarily a stealth experience, and that’s where it shines. The combat's purpose is to support that stealth framework, not compete with it. In that sense, it does its job well enough. When you make a mistake, the system allows you to recover gracefully rather than punish you too harshly. As in, you are not punished too harshly. But there is a difference between a safety net and a meaningful system. Combat, in Shadows, feels like the former—a backup plan rather than a core feature.

As someone who plays with story combat difficulty and guaranteed assassinations, I don’t mind that. But I can’t help but wish that when I do get pulled into a fight, it would offer more than just routine.

Conclusion

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a polished combat system, though it does feel a little lukewarm. There is a sense that the combat mechanics have simply settled for the bare minimum. Some players may appreciate the disengagement of combat, but if we consider the best Assassin’s Creed games, that point has an overbalance.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows provides an excellent, engaging disposition to combat tricks and visually captivating scenarios; however, it is better to be performing combat tricks that the player appreciates rather than simply performing combat tricks as a form of unremarkable. While the mechanics have stagnated, they have not cauterized.