One Key Gameplay Feature in Assassin’s Creed Shadows Wouldn’t Have Been Possible Without New Gen Consoles

The latest game in Ubisoft’s massive Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, takes players to the war-torn, medieval Japan of the Warring States era. Players take control of two primary characters, the shinobi Naoe and the samurai Yasuke, in an effort to bring justice to people whose lives have been affected by the continuous strife and battle.

Despite all the hype, the initial path of the game was quite troublesome. First, the game got delayed and then faced huge criticism for including a black samurai in a Japanese setting. However, the gameplay is not going to disappoint at all as Ubisoft has included a franchise-first feature which is going to make the experience more immersive, thanks to the newer gen consoles.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to feature a lot of new aspects that fans haven’t seen in the franchise before, like customizable hideouts, having two playable characters with varying combat styles, the choice of killing or letting go of the antagonist and the surfaces which none of the new protagonists can climb.

However, the most exciting addition to the game has to be the seasonal changes. Yes, the gameplay is going to be heavily impacted by the in-game seasonal changes. But this wouldn’t have been possible if Ubisoft didn’t opt for newer-gen consoles, according to Jonathan Dumont, the creative director of the game (via Game Rant):

For Shadows, we really wanted a world that felt more alive, which led to the seasons. Japan, as a setting, has four distinct seasons. In Japan, these seasons are more important for people than a lot of places. Some festivals are linked to them and everything, so that felt like a great excuse to do it and the technology was there as well. We were at the point, with this new generation of consoles, that we were able to do a little bit more with that. That’s what we are going for there: an open world that is less of a postcard and more of a dynamic representation.

Now it makes quite a lot of sense why it took so long for Ubisoft to explore the game’s Japanese setting and why Shadows will be only released on next-gen consoles.

Shadows is the first Assassin’s Creed game to run only the PS5 and Xbox Series X, completely ditching previous generation systems like PS4 or the Xbox One. Since Assassin’s Creed Valhalla came out in late 2020 alongside the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it straddled the console generation divide, but Shadows did not.

Shadows will progress through Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter as players spend time exploring the open world of Japan in 1579 and advancing through the campaign. Each season brings with it unique weather conditions that will present new challenges and give the environment you explore a sense of realism. In an interview with IGN, this is what Dumont told about this changing weather system:

Players will have to adapt constantly to what the environment is giving them.

The producer Karl Onnée adds that in the summer, players can hide from enemies by crawling under a body of water or assuming a prone position, but in the winter, the water will be frozen over. Similarly, bushes will turn leafy and grass will grow tall in the spring, enabling players to hide from enemies on patrol, but they will bare and wither away in the winter.

Icicles may break and fall while you’re scaling rooftops, giving enemies a glimpse of where you are, but strong winds will conceal your movements. When it’s old, guards will also stay in warmer spots, so players must modify their routes to avoid the weather.

Let’s see how the changing season system in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to affect the gameplay on March 20, 2025.