Parkour has been an important part of the Assassin’s Creed franchise from the beginning, but Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be making some adjustments to the acrobatic running style. Ubisoft has already hinted that Naoe–one of Shadows’ new leading characters–can Naruto run in the game. But that’s just the beginning of what she can pull off while running.
Ubisoft has shared an extensive breakdown of Shadow’s new parkour options, as well as the revised button map for the game. One of the most notable changes is that the crouch and the dodge buttons have traded places. That will allow the player to either crouch or lie in a prone position. Naoe can even kill her targets while lying prone.
Yasuke–the game’s other lead character–and Naoe can both perform dodges while crouched, but only the latter can pull off a dodge in her prone stance. The other new parkour moves that Naoe can pull off include a wall-run eject and a backward dodge, which you can see below.
Some of the parkour and climbing moves can be performed by both Yasuke and Naoe, but she’s more suited for those because she’s light on her feet and able to pull off a recovery roll while falling.
The developers also noted that not every wall surface in the game will be climbable for either character. The grappling hook can help players overcome some of those areas, but they will also have to be on the lookout for surfaces that have physical handholds to grab.
For players who don’t want to deal with romances or branching narrative paths, Shadows will have a Canon Mode, which will make the big story decisions for you. Shadows will also introduce a new direction for the modern-day storyline. A few of the details about the game’s battle pass have leaked online, and Ubisoft has stated that the rewards in the Animus Hub will be free.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on February 14, 2025.
