Is Assassin's Creed Shadows an open-world game?

Assassin's Creed Shadows, which is the upcoming installment to the Assassin's Creed series, will be finally releasing globally on March 20, 2025, after being delayed quite a lot. A question that many gamers have asked is whether or not the game will be open-world in nature. The Assassin's Creed series has always delivered some of the best open-world RPG titles, and Shadows will be no exception to that either.

While generically, the game will be an RPG, you can roam around the world freely and explore as much as you like. The game will feature two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, and players will have the liberty to explore the map with both of these characters.

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Ubisoft opens up about Assassin's Creed Shadows' open-world elements

Assassin's Creed Shadows will encourage players to get as much intel as possible (Image via Ubisoft)

In an article from January 14, 2025, which was published on Ubisoft's official website, the developers revealed more details about the game. Charles, who is Shadows' game director, revealed that the game will encourage players to explore as much as possible.

"We wanted to craft an open world where information was key and would become a form of reward. This made sense in the context of playing a shinobi and fighting for information...In short, we want players to discover all our cool secrets on their own terms through investigation, their spy network, or by observing the world," Charles stated.

Another exciting revelation made by Ubisoft was about viewpoints. Finally, viewpoints will be making a return; however, this time, you cannot scan a large area of the map from these points, but rather only the nearby points of interest. Moreover, while climbing these viewpoints will unlock fast travel points, do note that some of them will be located at unsafe locations as well. This is implemented with the intention to make gamers understand the risks of being a shinobi.

Scouts are another new element introduced to the game. Players will now have the option to recruit scouts that can infiltrate enemy areas without them noticing, and then damage the enemy safehouses from inside and provide important intel to you. They will help you by providing all the necessary information.

Overall, Shadows will be an open-world feature that is expected to offer a fun and solid storyline.

Check out this guide to learn more about Assassin's Creed Shadows.

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