If you've just sat down with your copy of Assassin's Creed Shadows, you might be wanting to get a few early tips from people who have played it. Fear not; we've reviewed the game, we enjoyed it, and we have a few tips to share with you.
As you progress through the game, you'll get used to the mechanics, combat, and the story beats. But it's easy to miss out on some of the nuances of the game as you push through. In this article, we'll list a bunch of tips that we found while playing the game that might make your adventure a little better.
This article will focus on some early tips that will help you out in the first 10 or so hours.
Tips for Assassins Creed Shadows
Unlock every Synchronize Point you see
As you travel the world, do quests, kill targets, and complete side activities. You'll notice that the game often sends you back to locations that you've previously been to. As a result, it makes Sync Points a key thing to unlock. Most of these come in the form of Castles/Strongholds, though a number of them are also on high perches overlooking towns. Simply, you'll find at least one for each town, with larger locations often having one central, and two in the surrounding area.
Unlock Kakuregas for Bonus Fast Travel
Something that we even overlooked while reviewing the game was that Kakuregas, which act as your home away from home, are also fast travel spots. These locations are more often than not located in the middle of the town, making them ideal spots to travel around. What makes them even better is, you can unlock the perks from anywhere on the map. Providing you've been to the location first. This can come in handy if you need to travel to a place you visited but forgot to get a Sync Point. Many times, we managed to unlock one in a clutch moment as we were looking to complete a main story quest.
Do all Early Kuji Kiris for Early Knowledge and Story
Kuji Kiris is one of the activities that are exclusive to Naoe. These meditation spots serve two purposes, at least in the early game. Once you get to the location, you'll follow a button prompt before completing the trial and earning a Knowledge Point. In the early game, these also act as Naoe's way to unlock her backstory. While this isn't required, it does help flesh out her story, and adds important context to her adventure. These will only trigger for the first few Kuji Kiris that you do, once you have done the backstory, you will just get Knowledge.
Knowledge is power, Never pass up on a chance to get Knowledge
As mentioned above, Knowledge is a key resource in the game. Knowledge acts as a capstone for your talents/mastery points, stopping you from progressing to the next section of the talent tree. Knowledge is shared between Yasuke and Naoe, so doing the work early on Naoe will help once you unlock Yasuke. There are plenty of ways to get Knowledge, and you can see the orange icon of the Itatehyozu Shrine.
Get the Forge Hideout so you can Upgrade Gear
The Forge is the key to using the upgrade system in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Thanks to the Way of the Blacksmith quest in Assassin's Creed Shadows, you'll get access to it pretty early. Once you build your Kakurega, the first building in the hideout, it will trigger the quest. You will be required to search for the Blacksmith, Heiji, who is located in Sakai.
Once you find him in Sakai, you'll need to rescue him, which you can do by assassinating them all. Once you save him, you can build the Forge in your Hideout, which requires the following:
- 40 Crops
- 30 Wood
- 10 Minerals
These are easy to find in camps and castles, and you'll likely have most of them already. Then, head to the Hideout to build your new forge.
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Once the Forge is built, talk to Heiji to open the upgrade and dismantle menu. In this section, you can browse all your weapons and gear. The left menu displays the stats of your weapon. If the stats appear in green, they indicate an enhancement over your current ones, making the upgrade potentially worthwhile for the materials needed. Once you are happy, just confirm the upgrade and enjoy your new gear. You can also upgrade the Forge, which opens up more levels to items and means you can keep important items as your main weapon for much longer.
Upgrade Buildings
As mentioned above, you can upgrade buildings in Assassin's Creed Shadows. While you can upgrade most of the key rooms, there are clear best choices. Below is the order in which we recommend prioritizing these upgrades.
- The Forge: Essential for enhancing weapons and armour, the forge also allows for engravings. You will find these upgrades as you do objectives in the game, and when added to certain items, they can be overpowered. Keeping your favourite gear at a high level as you progress is crucial, so aim to upgrade this building to level three as soon as possible
- The Stable: Upgrade the stables to lower the expenses of smuggling stockpiles, which is useful when upgraded alongside the Study. As this helps you upgrade other buildings faster, we suggest getting this done fairly soon
- Zashiki and Tea Room: Both facilities boost ration healing by 20%
- The Study: Each upgrade provides an extra scout and increases their efficiency. This is a good upgrade, but if you play on Guided mode, then you won't need these as badly
- The Nando: This building decreases the cost of refreshing scouts at kakurega by 30%. While useful, Mon, the game's currency, won't be in short supply.
Don't buy Gear
You'll get plenty of gear as you play Assassin's Creed Shadows, from quests, chests, activities and more. You can also buy gear from vendors around towns; while the vendors are good for selling gear to and buying Hideout cosmetics, we don't recommend buying gear. The gear you can buy is fine, but with the ability to upgrade gear being so easy, and finding gear also being easy, buying gear just makes no sense. As we mention in the section above, if you focus on the Forge building early, you can upgrade the best gear you find in the world as you level.
...But do Check the Merchants!
While Merchants sell a lot of bad gear, they do sell a lot of useful stuff, from simply selling Ration replenishments, to a new horse or saddle. Some quests, like the Tea Sets, are only sold be Merchants, so always check them to see what they have. They will also sell cosmetic items for your Hideout, alongside buying all your rubbish old gear.
Pathfinder is Your Friend, But Not Always
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The Pathfinder feature allows you to get a directional marker on the path to your most recently placed marker. This is important because it means it won't, by default, go to your tracked objectives. However, if you place multiple markers, it will continue to lead you after you reach the first destination.
While Pathfinder is great at getting you to point B, it is not always the fastest option. A bit like Google Maps, when you select "big roads," the Pathfinder ability will stick to the main path. Making it the safest route, not necessarily the fastest.
Block, Parry, Dodge, Kill
Combat in Assassin's Creed Shadows is like a well-orchestrated dance; when you pull it off, it looks magnificent. While the game does tell you how to block, parry, and dodge, it fails to make clear what each of the circle notifications on enemies does. Below is a brief rundown of what each actually does.
When you deflect White Attacks - This will interrupt the entire attack sequence
When you deflect Blue Combo Attacks - Block each attack to expose the enemy and make them vulnerable
When you evade Red Attacks - Expose the enemy and make them vulnerable. This works for the large attack red circles, and the kick red circles that ranged enemies will use
Immerse Yourself
The following are not really tips, and more "realistic" options we found interesting.
Immersive Mode - This mode adds real languages to characters, making them speak in their mother tongue in all dialogue, whether Japanese, Portuguese, or English
Canon Mode - Removes all dialogue options, and plays the game as if it were a character narrative, rather than an RPG
Two-Character Problem - While both characters are better equipped for different things, it can be fun to play the story to their strengths. Most story missions, once Yasuke is unlocked, will let you pick how you want to tackle a mission. This will change the objective, with the other characters doing their job off-screen. If you need to attack a port to get some documents, Naoe might be tasked with sneaking into the Forman's Hut, stealing the documents without spilling blood. Yasuke, on the other hand, might be tasked with heading to the port to create a distraction.
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