Make no mistake: Assassin’s Creed Shadows is an Assassin’s Creed game to its core. You probably have a general idea of what to expect. Sneaking past bad guys. Stabbing bad guys. Climbing tall structures and elegantly diving into hay bales that happen to be next to some bad guys (who you then stab).
Still, thanks to its massive scope, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has so many moving parts even the most stalwart series fan can get tripped up.
Below, we’ve collected 33 beginner’s tips for Assassins’s Creed Shadows.
1. Before you start: Immersive mode is actually really cool. Rather than one language track, you’ll hear characters speak in their natural tongue (Japanese, Portuguese, English, and so on).
2. Love Assassin’s Creed stories and lore? In that case, before you start, turn on canon mode, which removes dialogue options. (But if you just want a solid RPG, you can ignore it.)
3. Assassin’s Creed Shadows can be very visually dark — especially in caves and at nighttime. The screenshot below, for what it’s worth, is unaltered. We recommend turning the brightness up a few notches.
4. Assassin’s Creed Shadows stars two protagonists (Naoe and Yasuke), but you won’t unlock Yasuke for a while. Like, a really long while. Even if you’re rushing through the main story, give yourself at least ten hours.
5. When you’ve eventually unlocked both characters, use Yasuke for combat and Naoe for stealth. For the most part. Naoe isn’t entirely useless in combat, for what it’s worth — just remember to use her kusarigama weapon. And Yasuke can technically perform stealth attacks, depending on how you invest in his skill trees.
6. The differences extend to navigation too. Yasuke can run through walls but can’t walk on tightropes. Naoe can’t move heavy crates but can grapple across lengthy gaps. And we implore you: At least once, try to do a leap of faith as Yasuke.
7. You can do most quests as either character. Though if you literally are unable to do a quest as one or the other, the game will tell you (either through a notification or through a character’s spoken dialogue, like, “I bet Yasuke can move these crates”).
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
8. If you’re not in combat or in a restricted zone, you’ll automatically heal back to full health.
9. But you won’t automatically restore any used rations (that’s Assassin’s Creed speak for “potions”). Instead, you’ll have to find those at shops or in ration-specific loot boxes.
10. Increasing your total ration capacity isn’t a matter of shopping or upgrading equipment but rather… finding a specific NPC. Who doesn’t show up on your map. Yes. Really.
11. The autosave? Surprisingly good, actually! In our testing, Shadows seems to autosave every two to three minutes, and logs the five most recent autosaves. Between that and the seemingly limitless number of manual saves (on Xbox at least), you can really save-scum your way through this game if you’d like.
12. You can recruit companions to fight by your side, and even though they map to ability prompts, they actually stick around in combat for a few moments.
13. Also, there’s technically romance, but only for a few characters (that we’ve found so far).
14. If you’re riding a horse or other mount, stick to the roads. The countryside of Shadows is peppered with steep mountains, and the horse controls are already janky enough on flat terrain — no need to introduce a 45º pitch.
15. Actually, just stick to the roads anyway. You’ll stumble upon more shrines, temples, castles, side quests, Hidden Trails, Kofun, and other optional activities that way. Plus, if you try to run through the woods in a straight line to your destination, your screen is gonna look like this:
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
16. When you first enter a new province, take the time to unlock a bunch the synchronization points (the eagle symbols). Those are your fast travel spots, and the more you’ve unlocked, the more time you’ll shave off the back-and-forth travel required for the main questline.
17. You can’t fast travel out of restricted areas like enemy bases, camps, and castles.
18. Synchronization points are considered combat-free zones — even if they’re in the middle of a restricted area — so you can always fast travel to and from one.
19. As soon as you can, get the Ascension Boost skill in Naoe’s Shinobi mastery tree. It dramatically increases Naoe’s climbing speed with the grappling hook, which is the fastest way to unlock new synchronization points.
20. Remember the Assassin’s Creed golden rule: If there’s paint on the wall, that means “CLIMB HERE.”
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
21. Your level determines your base stats (health, attack, defense, and so on). Your knowledge rank determines what tier of skill points you can unlock in mastery trees. Your mastery points are used to unlock those skills.
22. Spend time hunting down knowledge points to expand how many skills you can unlock. Completing Horse Archery, Kata, Kuji-kiri, and Lost Pages are some of the fastest ways to get knowledge points.
23. But don’t worry too much about mastery points. You’ll get a bunch of them just by leveling up (though if you want more, start by attacking castles).
24. You can automatically transmog all of your gear from the start. And after you come across a weapon or armor set for the first time, it’s unlocked as a customization option permanently. In other words, you don’t need to keep it in your inventory.
25. At the start, sell your loot, don’t break it down. The currency, mon, is more valuable than the upgrade materials you get for dismantling weapons and armor.
26. Don’t bother trying to upgrade gear until you’re at least level 20. You cycle through so much gear in your early levels that anything you upgrade, you’ll likely replace in a few levels anyway.
27. There’s a suggested level for each province, and you should largely follow the provinces in order from lowest level to highest, but don’t worry about out-leveling any activities. Province levels will scale with you.
28. When exploring a Kofun (tomb), light the candles as you go. Not only does it help illuminate the space, maddeningly dim as it is, but it also helps you keep tabs on which tunnels you’ve already explored so you don’t end up going in circles.
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
29. Liberally use your scouts to reveal objectives. Though scouts seem like a limited resource, you can restore them quite effectively as needed.
30. Yes, you can pet the dog:
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
32. But watch out for the kitten!
Image: Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft via Polygon
33. To send you on your way with a note of sincerity, though, it’s this: Do not sleep on the Codex menu. As you explore Shadows, you’ll unlock Codex entries about various aspects of Japanese history. Each one is written up in elaborate detail, with many featuring scanned or photographed artworks from real-world museums. On paper, sure, Assassin’s Creed games might tell stories about stabbing — but the root here is and always has been about stories that actually happened. It’s easy to miss this aspect of the game, buried in a menu as it is, but in this regard, Shadows is as sharp as Assassin’s Creed has ever been.
Just starting Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Beyond our full Assassin’s Creed Shadows walkthrough, here are explainers on how long to beat the game and when you unlock Yasuke, plus if you should play canon, immersive, or guided exploration modes.
