Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a dense game packed with detail. To survive in its world and live to see the conclusion of its revenge-charged plot, you’ll need to understand its systems entirely, from its unique combat styles, to its ally management gameplay, and beyond.
That means learning more about the game’s Hideout, understanding the danger of the Shinbakufu, taking on side quests, chatting to strangers, and so much more. With such a large scope, you’ll need to investment ample time to exploring its many facets – or you can just dive into this guide, and learn a lot more about what to expect, and how to make the most of your adventure.
Read: Assassin’s Creed Shadows review – Revenge is sweet
Here’s our top 10 tips for surviving and thriving in the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Table of Contents
1. Be patient with the story, and mind enemy levels
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a long game, and you’ll need to exercise patience as you run through its many challenges. That goes doubly so as you pursue the main threads of the story, which revolve around the villainous Shinbakufu. While the temptation is to run at the game’s challenges and start to cut down every enemy in your path, there is serious level gating in this overarching goal.
The Shinbakufu are all differently levelled, with some members levelled in the high 20s and 30s. No matter how much you dive and dodge at lower levels, you won’t be able to take these folks down – so it’s best to stay patient and take on other quests as you encounter these foes. Watch from a distance and analyse their behaviours, but ensure that when you tackle these quests, you have the resources and skills to handle them. Otherwise, you’ll really struggle.
While sometimes, the level gating does cause impatience, as you’re essentially forced to pause your progress to tend to another quest, all facets of the game are enticing as long as you give them time and grace.
2. Invest resources into your Hideout
Your Hideout is a magical place where members of your League will live and grow together. While you can completely ignore it during your quest through Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you really shouldn’t – because placing buildings and upgrading them will give you all sorts of boons.
Upgrading the Study will give you more Scouts to use. Upgrading the Stables will let you use fewer Scouts to tag stockpiles, and allow you to smuggle more resources. Building a Dojo will strengthen your Allies. You won’t struggle without these upgrades, but they’re very useful to have.
To keep your Hideout levelled up and ensure you’re building your strength well, you should take the time to gather resources while you’re plowing through quests, and leave enough Scouts in your arsenal to tag bigger stockpiles of resources as you find them.
3. Observe to find your goals, or deploy Scouts
Many quests in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are guided by vague clues. You’ll be told a general area to look for your next point of contact, including a relative area or distance from landmarks. To get yourself on track, the best thing to do is analyse clues and place a marker on possible places for exploration. Then, once you get there, you should roam with the Observe button held down. You’ll want to do a full 360 on all sides, up and below, to ensure you get maximum coverage. Once you spot a blue glowing point, focus on that, and then pursue it – that’s where you’ll need to go.
If you can’t find one, you’ll need to re-analyse your clues, and then try again. But failing that, there is another option: deploy a Scout via the map.
As long as you have Scouts available, you’ll be able to send them to investigate a corner of the map. Deploy more than one Scout, and the area for investigation will be increased. While you shouldn’t burn through Scouts on easier quests, if you’re having difficulty finding your next step, it’s best to head to the map and place a Scout where you think your goal might be – and if you guessed correctly, the blue quest marker will appear. This is particularly useful if you goal is far away from any nearby Fast Travel points.
4. How to refresh Scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
There’s multiple ways to refresh Scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The primary one is to wait for an entire season to pass. As you travel and complete quests, the game’s calendar will slowly tick over, and at certain story points (or manually, on the map) the season will change. This will automatically refresh your Scouts.
In addition to this, certain quests will refresh Scouts. You can also gain an additional Scout by rescuing or helping village folks in the wild (you’ll get this option after you dispatch their tormentors). You may also visit a Kakurega, and pay to refresh your Scouts.
It’s worth noting you can also increase the number of Scouts in your roster by upgrading the Hideout’s Study area, or by progressing the game and recruiting new people to the League.
5. Unlock regional Eagle Points ASAP
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will often send you on quests that chart multiple regions, or disparate regions. One leg of a quest might take place in Izumi Settsu, and then you’ll be forced into the upper regions of Wakasa or Yamashiro. When this happens, you’ll be grateful for forethought, if you’ve managed to unlock a nearby Eagle Point (Viewpoint).
As you venture through regions, it’s best to climb any Eagle Point in sight, to ensure you can easily journey back to these regions in future, without the need to travel great distances. If there’s no nearby Eagle Point, you should also consider paying money to unlock your nearest Kakurega, which can also serve as a Fast Travel point.
6. Don’t knock your head against the wall
Yasuke and Naoe both have very different fighting styles, weapons, and tools. They’re there for variety, and you should make use of them when you can. If you find yourself taking on a quest that feels slightly out of your reach, and you’re knocking your head against the wall trying to defeat one person or another, it’s time to stop. Take stock of what you have. Try a new technique.
This may mean swapping between Yasuke and Naoe, finding a new weapon, or equipping new armour. Try anything and everything, but don’t feel like your options are limited. You’ll always have new options to explore in this game.
7. Complete ally quests to unlock guest fighters
Here’s a feature that isn’t super clear from the start of the game: if you make friends with the folks in your League, you’ll be able to summon them in battle. And based on experience, they are very powerful, and can actually tackle enemies of a higher level than you are.
In my journey, I befriended the noble Yaya (one of the best companions in the game), and I was then able to summon her to fight on my behalf. In one particular quest, she actually took out three high-powered enemies of the Kabukimono, with me throwing kunai from a nearby roof, and mostly staying out of the action.
As you play through quests, make sure to pay attention to what your League members want. Eventually, they’ll serve as essential fighting companions, allowing you to perform remote or in-tandem attacks.
8. Prioritise shrine and temple visits for Knowledge
You won’t get far in Assassin’s Creed Shadows unless you build your Knowledge base. You can level up as much as you want in the game, but unless you have Knowledge, you won’t be able to unlock higher-powered skills, like better stealth assassinations or armour-piercing attacks.
Frankly, the accumulation of Knowledge can be tedious. You can get it by collecting Lost Scrolls and/or praying in shrines and temples, and by completing an array of side quests (rewards will note Knowledge gained). These actions tend to be slow-moving, so it’s best to take them on as you find them, in the natural course of gameplay. If you have to stop and collect Knowledge before a major boss fight, you’re in for a slog – so make sure you start collecting Knowledge early.
9. Don’t rely on your healing tools
Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ healing tools are handy in a pinch, but they’re also a bit useless. While you can improve their effectiveness over time, in the early hours of the game, healing tools will give you a bit more rope as you fight enemies – but they won’t save you outright. Not only are they limited, it’s also hard to find restock boxes in the wild, unless you’re willing to traipse back to your nearest hideout every time you take on a new quest.
The best way to play the game is to avoid using healing tools as you normally would. Rather, focus on learning enemy attack patterns – when to dodge, parry, and hit – so you won’t need healing tools at all. Naoe tends to go down easily, so she’s best used with this cautious approach. While Yasuke can absorb more deadly blows, it’s still best to rely on your dodging skills, rather than simply healing.
10. Skyrim your horse up hills and mountains
There will be times in Assassin’s Creed Shadows where it feels like you can’t quite reach your planned destination. The marker will appear to be over a ridge, or up a hill, and that hill is covered in trees and rocks and other obstacles. Well, let me tell you something: you can get up that hill, and you will. As long as you don’t mind a bit of immersion breaking.
See, the horse in AC Shadows is frankly a bit overpowered. It can charge up near-vertical ground, and while it will occasionally protest and spin in circles, if you push it long enough, your horse will eventually make its way up your nearest hill, ignoring all laws of physics. It’s probably cheating, but push this feature to its limit, and you’ll be able to conquer any obstacle, and reach your goals easily.
A copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows was provided by the publisher for the purposes of reviewing and guide creation.
