Big Preview: Assassin's Creed Shadows – Exclusive access and hands-on impressions with the huge open world Japan's impressive stealth and combat

Big in 2025 is the annual new year preview from 12DOVE. Throughout January we are spotlighting the 50 most anticipated games of 2025 with exclusive interviews, hands-on previews, analysis, and so much more. Visit our Big in 2025 coverage hub to find all of our articles across the month.

Assassin's Creed Shadows hands-on: Stealthier and bloodier than ever: That's right, after spending almost seven hours with the game you know I'm going to talk about it a lot. Almost to spare my colleagues further monologuing, I've detailed my play session here, covering what I'm able to share about the prologue, and how it felt to play through one of the main mission chains. At times, it feels like the stealthiest Assassin's Creed ever. At others, it feels the least stealthy. But rather than pure binary, both sides mix together to create something shockingly complimentary.

Assassin's Creed Shadows new gameplay: Don't just take my words for it. Have a peek at the gameplay too. I was allowed to capture the majority of my play session, excluding the prologue (though b-roll was provided), meaning you can see me jump, tumble, and slice my way through feudal Japan. Hopefully you won't see me die lots, unless the video team has betrayed me. Visually gorgeous, Assassin's Creed Shadows' step up in fidelity benefits the gameplay too, especially as the devs have said they don't want to "hold the player's hand" too much.

Assassin's Creed Shadows forced Ubisoft to "craft the crap" out of its new-style open world, ensuring you won't have Points of Interest every 50 meters: In conversation with Jonathan Dumont, and talking with the game's art and historical team, we get into how this open world feels different from its predecessors. That's a lot to do with the sense of scale, and approach to historical accuracy, as well as nudging how "point of interest" spots are deployed to feel more natural rather than just a deluge of content to tick off a list.

Assassin's Creed Infinity is now The Animus Hub, a launcher for modern Assassin's Creed games that Ubisoft definitely doesn't want you to call a launcher: Jumping into Assassin's Creed Shadows also means jumping into The Animus Hub, the new gateway into the series' meta-narrative, as well as a way to earn rewards. We were given a presentation by series producer Andrée-Anne Boisvert about the goals behind the project, and what they've managed to achieve so far.

Ubisoft namedrops Assassin's Creed Hexe, the next Assassin's Creed game after Shadows, for the first time in more than 2 years as it reveals new launcher: Sometimes a small gesture can mean a lot, which is how we felt when we got a nod to Hexe and Invictus during our introduction to the aforementioned Animus Hub. No doubt it'll take a while until we learn more about the mysterious next entry, however.

Assassin's Creed Shadows guide: Beyond our lovely trip to go hands-on with the game, there's still plenty more to learn as the release date draws ever closer. From the details on the planned launch rollout, to pre-orders, romance, the setting, and its development history, we've got plenty in our all-encompassing everything you need to know guide on Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Assassin's Creed Animus Hub guide: But that's not all. Assassin's Creed Shadows isn't just Assassin's Creed Shadows. Previously know as Assassin's Creed Infinity, the Animus Hub is a relaunch of sorts for the series' meta-narrative set in the near-future that combines lore with rewards, while also being a home for the modern generation of Assassin's Creed titles. And it's all part of Shadows. Confusing? Maybe ever so slightly, which is why it's handy we've collected together a codex of our own to get into the details.