Interview with “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” Gameplay Analyzer

Last updated on May 26, 2026

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was a game that, although I was waiting for it, exceeded my expectations a bit and I started to have more trust in Ubisoft than before. However, the decisions they made after it gave us all question marks.. but today, we are about to talk to a very important person who spent months testing the game before its release.

He followed the game since the first reveal and saw the complete evolution of a title worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We asked 10 questions about Assassin’s Creed Shadows to the interviewee, gameplay analyzer at Ubisoft. We also talked a little about their next game in the pipeline, namely Black Flag Resynced, which is due out in July.

Question 1 –

        How true is the rumor that Yasuke’s content was scaled down after people’s reactions?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> I didn’t find that the public reaction resulted in cut content for Yasuke, the changes I noticed were tuning, which was to be expected anyway.

 

Question 2 –

      In your opinion, which of the two characters was more difficult to create in terms of gameplay?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> I think Naoe is more difficult to create in terms of gameplay.

The main reason is that a clear balance needs to be found between stealth vs active combat compared to Yasuke.

Considering that Yasuke is much more limited in gameplay options.. parkour, very difficult stealth, if at all. On the other hand he is very strong in active combat.

This makes Naoe feel more like a stealth specialist, with active combat much weaker, but not at such a low level that it:

• Ruins her backstory, because she is still a trained shinobi and also to not become frustrating for the player

Question 3 –

      Do you think that just one protagonist (either Naoe or Yasuke) would have been enough for the game to have at least the same success?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> I think the most important aspect at the end of the day is the execution, both dual protag’ and solo protag’ can work. Personally I would have preferred a single character, but at the same time, it’s fun to see the contrast between the 2 every time you swap them.

Question 4 –

    Could everything that has been improved in gameplay through updates have been there at launch, or was there really a need for more time for them?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> Some of the post-launch improvements for Shadows were from user feedback, even with extensive playtests sometimes things still get missed. As for those that weren’t generated by user feedback, it’s natural for them to appear post-launch to continue the game’s evolution.

Question 5 –

  How much did the evolution of the “Anvil” graphics engine matter for Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> I honestly don’t really know how to answer this. Given that my job is to analyze the game from an end user POV, I would say that it was super important for the game to depict Japan in as much detail as possible, especially when considering the season system, the atmosphere and the general ambiance of the country, it’s clearly a very important point to get right.

Question 6 –

Can you tell me more about the development of the game’s parkour system? .. there were huge changes compared to the other titles.

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> A huge difference is clearly the fact that it no longer uses the “Climb anywhere” system like Origins-Valhalla, but feels like a hybrid between it and “pre-climb anywhere”, I see this as a plus, because the world design is much more “intentional”, but without being overly restrictive like some the old games.

Question 7 –

What is your dream period for an Assassin’s Creed game, now that we’ve had over 4 mythologies explored?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> Well, Japan :D, There are still many eras unexplored by the series that I personally would like to see how they would be interpreted, for example, Napoleonic wars, 100 years war, Mongol empire, Roman empire vs Carthage etc… an interesting setting but less realistic due to the gameplay would be WW1 (although there is Chronicles Russia, I don’t know if a full length game would work).

Question 8 –

Do you think enemy AI will improve in future Assassin’s Creed games?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> I think that what systems the developers choose to use and how they interact with NPCs will matter a lot here, but it’s hard to say at the moment.

Question 9 –

I’m very curious.. where do you see the franchise in a few years? .. will it grow into something better or will it remain stagnant?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> The last few years have been difficult for the industry in general, with a lot of feedback to internalize overall, gamers have spoken, and at least in my experience, Ubisoft is listening. I think overall it will raise the opinion of the franchise.

Question 10 –

What do you think of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, can we expect another strong title from Ubisoft?

      Answer –

      Interviewee –> Personally, in Resynced I had a more pleasant experience than Shadows, both as a work part, and as a personal part, which is fair, there may be a little bias because I’m a fan of the original game, but personally I would say that it evolves very nicely thus far.

A big “thank you!” to our interviewee for accepting this Q and A interview, and i hope we will cross paths again in the future.