Assassin's Creed Shadows' Dual Protagonists May Solve AC's Combat Puzzle

Summary

In 2007, Ubisoft released the firstAssassin’s Creedgame and set a new standard for stealth gameplay. The series continued to push the stealth genre forward for another eight years until the release ofAssassin’s Creed: Originschanged everything.AC: Originsstarted a new trend that saw the series' iconic stealth gameplay steadily pushed aside to make way for a more action-oriented role-playing experience and fans have been divided about this change ever since. Now, the latest announced installment in the series,Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is arriving on the scene with a significant change to the franchise’s familiar model.

Almost everyAssassin’s Creedgame has featured only one playable protagonist, and nowAssassin’s Creed Shadowsis changing the game by featuring two. It’s not the first game in the series to do so, asAssassin’s Creed Syndicateallowed players to control one of two protagonists at any time during the game. However,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis taking an approach evenAC: Syndicatedidn’t take by featuring two distinct playable protagonists, each with their own playstyle. This accomplishes much more than simply diversifying its gameplay, as it could potentially see the now age-old war betweenAssassin’s Creed’s stealth and action brought to a much-needed conclusion.

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows Protagonists Could Solve the Franchise’s Playstyle Dilemma

Assassin’s Creed Shadows' Protagonists Offer Both Stealth and Action Gameplay

In a first for theAssassin’s Creedseries,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsfeatures two playable protagonists who each have their own unique approaches to combat and gameplay. There’s Naoe, who excels in stealth-based gameplay, striking at her foes from the shadows usingAssassin’s Creed Shadowsillumination stealth system. Then there’s Yasuke, who prefers a direct approach to combat as a powerful samurai. This meansAssassin’s Creed Shadows' gameplay should be similar toGhost of Tsushima’s, only instead of playing as one protagonist who can freely swap between stealth and action, players will be in control of two. As such, theAssassin’s Creedfranchise’s ongoing playstyle dilemma might finally have a solution if it plays its cards right.

The Assassin’s Creed Shadows Protagonist Approach Should Be Applied to Future Installments

Rather than attempting to appease one side or the other when it comes to featuring either stealth or action-oriented gameplay,theAssassin’s Creedfranchiseshould just apply theAssassin’s Creed Shadowsapproach to its games from here on out. Of course, this would mean that each installment would have at least two playable protagonists who are unique in their playstyle, so it would need to work from a narrative standpoint. However, it could finally bring an end to the debate about which form of gameplay is better for the series because it would always offer players both playstyles, and it would work as long as both playstyles were in balance with each other.

One would think applying a Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima) approach to theAssassin’s Creedseries would work in giving players one protagonist who can function well in either stealth or action gameplay. The only issue is thatGhost of Tsushimawas a brand-new IP, so there are no qualms with having the option of either path in the game.Assassin’s Creed, on the other hand, is a stealth series at its roots, so making one protagonist a melting pot of playstyles ultimately overshadows the franchise’s established stealth gameplay. In light of that, the only option may be to feature two different playable protagonists in futureAssassin’s Creedgameswho can offer both stealth and action playstyles.