Assassin’s Creed Shadows – The First Truly Accessible Game in the Series

Ubisoft has long promised fans an Assassin’s Creed game set in feudal Japan, and finally, that moment has arrived. Assassin’s Creed Shadows, previously known as Codename Red, was initially announced in 2022 but faced several development delays. Ultimately, it was released in March 2025, and it lived up to expectations: the game delivers not only the classic Assassin’s Creed style but also new features adapted to the Japanese setting.

Moreover, this marks the first time a Ubisoft title has achieved such an impressive level of accessibility. One could say this is another leap forward for one of the most popular gaming franchises in the industry. So let’s dive into the Animus and explore just how immersive and blind-friendly this journey through scenic feudal Japan really is.

Story and Core Mechanics 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in late 16th-century Japan, during the Azuchi–Momoyama period — an era of massive wars, betrayals, and power struggles.

After the destruction of the Iga clan by the forces of Oda Nobunaga, young Naoe Fujibayashi becomes one of the last surviving ninja. She swears to avenge her family and finds unexpected allies among Nobunaga’s enemies.

Meanwhile, Yasuke, a samurai of African origin in the service of Oda, is torn between loyalty to his lord and the realization that Nobunaga’s brutal reign brings only chaos. After a tragic incident, Yasuke is forced to question his ideals and walk the path of a rebel.

Naoe and Yasuke’s fates become intertwined when they’re drawn into a conspiracy that could alter the future of Japan.

Will they be able to unite their strengths and survive in a world where every step could be their last?

Gameplay: Two Paths — Stealth and Strength

The gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows revolves around two main protagonists, offering players completely different ways to interact with the world. Early on, you’ll get a taste of Yasuke’s power as a trained samurai, but shortly after, the majority of the prologue and the entire first act will be played as Naoe. Starting from Act II, you’ll have the freedom to choose which character suits your style best for most of the game. Let’s take a closer look at both heroes.

Naoe — A Kunoichi Born in the Shadows

Naoe Fujibayashi is a descendant of the Iga ninja clan, a master of stealth and deception. Her gameplay style echoes the mechanics of classic Assassin’s Creed titles.

• Top-tier Stealth: Naoe blends into the shadows, hides in tall grass, and uses the environment to remain unseen. By day, she can disappear among merchants and peasants in crowded cities; by night, she becomes nearly invisible in the dark.
• Acrobatics and Vertical Gameplay: As a ninja, she excels in parkour — leaping across rooftops, scaling walls, and using a grappling hook for fluid and dynamic movement.
• Ninja Arsenal: Kusarigama (a sickle on a chain), tanto, katana, shurikens, smoke bombs, and poison darts are all at her disposal.
• Tactical Assassinations: Naoe can take down enemies quietly using poison, distractions, or traps. She can whistle, toss pebbles, or create false trails to lure enemies into a stealth kill.

Playing as Naoe is a true challenge — especially if you prefer completing missions without raising alarms. Blind gameplay as Naoe demands extreme focus and awareness. You’ll need to listen closely to enemy footsteps and rely on audio cues to navigate safely. On Normal difficulty, Naoe can barely handle more than a couple of enemies at once in open combat — one-on-one duels are much safer. Everything changes if you switch to Story Mode — here, combat becomes a dance of death, filled with rapid, precise strikes. Honestly, for a first playthrough, this mode is highly recommended, especially since stealth without sight can be tricky — even with sound cues that signal when enemies are becoming suspicious. When you hear that warning, it’s best to relocate quickly before the detection sound fades. And don’t underestimate the whistle — it’s one of your best tools for drawing enemies into a perfect stealth kill setup.

Yasuke — A Samurai Who Crushes Entire Armies

Based on a real historical figure, Yasuke offers a completely different gameplay experience:

• Open Combat: Yasuke is a heavy-hitter. Unlike Naoe, he doesn’t hide — he charges head-on with a katana or smashes skulls with a massive kanabo club. His attacks are powerful but require precision and timing.
• Armor and Durability: Clad in traditional samurai armor, Yasuke can absorb far more damage than Naoe, but he moves slower and makes much more noise.
• Firearms: Unlike traditional Assassins, Yasuke uses a Teppo (arquebus) — a loud but devastating firearm. For quieter ranged kills, a bow is the better option.
• Crowd Control: During battles, Yasuke can knock enemies down, break shield defenses, and counter multiple foes at once.

Playing as Yasuke feels like wielding raw power. Instead of sneaking around, you bulldoze through enemy lines, spreading chaos. In contrast to Naoe’s careful infiltration, blind gameplay as Yasuke feels like blood-soaked dominance on the battlefield. Taking down hordes of enemies is just as satisfying as in Ghost of Tsushima, with sound design reminiscent of a high-budget samurai action film.

Open World and Its Response to Player Actions

Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels truly alive. NPCs react dynamically to your behavior: if you kill someone in front of a crowd, word spreads quickly, and the city guard will tighten patrols in response.

• Seasonal Changes: Summer’s dense vegetation offers more cover for stealth. In winter, rivers freeze over, unlocking new paths. Rain makes surfaces slippery, while snow muffles footsteps, aiding silent approaches.
• Living Cities and Villages: Faithfully recreated locations like Kyoto, Osaka, and surrounding rural areas are vibrant with life. You can visit bustling markets, chat with merchants, and observe samurai training in their dojo. And yes — you can pet cats and dogs, which is its own kind of joy. Each cat even has unique sound design and counts as a tamed companion!
• Interactive Structures: Break down doors, set fire to ammunition warehouses, or ambush enemies by destroying bridges — all of this creates dynamic and varied gameplay.

Settlement Building and Development

Early in the game, you’ll gain access to your own village hideout, which you can build and upgrade. Here, you’ll be able to construct various buildings that let you enhance gear, hire scouts, and more.

During the tutorial, when you’re tasked with gathering resources to construct your first building, blind players may encounter a few challenges — but here are some tips that can help:

• Pressing the Left Trigger (LT) on your gamepad highlights interactable objects and plays an additional audio cue when aimed at them. This helps a lot with navigating areas where resource collection is required.
• Remember, the resource collection area is limited. A good indicator that you’ve wandered out of bounds is when you’re able to draw your weapon again. In that case, simply return to the village using the fast travel system:
  • Open the map
  • Press Down on the D-pad to open the legend
  • Choose the hideout category and use fast travel to return
• When you’re close to loot, a distinct audio cue will alert you. Just follow the sound and press the interact button to collect resources.

Once you’ve gathered enough, Naoe will say “Time to build”, and the quest marker will reappear, allowing you to continue the mission.

Accessibility and Sound Design

Ubisoft has made “Shadows” not only the most accessible game in the series, but arguably the most accessible game ever developed in all the years I’ve followed releases from developers.

So, what settings make this project so playable for completely blind and visually impaired users:

• Audio description for cutscenes: for the first time in the series, a cutscene audio description feature has been added, allowing blind and visually impaired players to receive verbal narration of what’s happening on screen.
• Menu and UI narration via screen reader (supported only in English): voice-assisted navigation through menus and the interface simplifies interaction for players with visual impairments.
• Thanks to the screen reader, blind players can navigate the world using markers for points of interest. When the camera is facing a tracked object, the screen reader reads the distance to that object. The feature doesn’t always account for terrain or whether the target is located inside a building. Sometimes you need to slightly reposition the character to go around an obstacle or enter a doorway.
• Audio cues for various actions (enabled in sound settings) such as proximity to loot, aiming at an enemy body with a ranged weapon, prompts for using the grappling hook when playing as Naoe, and signals for climbing surfaces.
• Aim assist: an option for automatic aim correction to simplify shooting and throwing. I recommend setting it to “full.”
• Combat and exploration simplification modes: the ability to reduce the difficulty of battles and exploration, making gameplay more accessible for newcomers or players who prefer to focus on the story.
• Four difficulty levels for combat and stealth: flexible difficulty settings allow players to tailor the experience to their preferences, choosing the appropriate level of challenge in both combat and stealth segments.
• Simplification or skipping of QTEs: the ability to simplify or fully skip quick-time events, which is especially useful for players with limited mobility, but blind players will also appreciate this feature, as it’s the only gameplay element not read by the screen reader.
• Automatic camera lock-on during combat.
• Automatic camera follow for the character.
• The ability to individually adjust audio sliders such as effects, music, voice, and environmental sounds. This is especially useful, for example, to lower environmental sounds during heavy rain to better control character movement or combat.

A World You Can “Hear”

When playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows blind, the world opens not through sight, but through sound. Ubisoft has done an incredible job creating a true audio journey through feudal Japan, making it arguably the most detailed soundscape in the entire series.

The opening moments of the game aren’t just a cinematic intro — they are a tapestry of howling wind, the crackling of torches, distant footsteps across wooden floors, and splashes of water at the pier. Unlike previous titles in the franchise, here, sound doesn’t just accompany the visuals — it paints them.

In-game environmental sounds are dynamic, not static. For instance, in rain, footsteps become muted and damp; if you’re hiding in tall grass, leaves rustle all around you. Depending on your character, you might hear the clinking armor of a samurai or the soft swish of a shinobi’s clothing.

Combat in Sound: Navigating Through Battles

Each weapon strike has its own distinct sound. A katana clashing with another katana rings with clean metallic resonance. When hitting armor, it produces a dull, heavy thud. A strike that hits flesh — whether from a sword or kusarigama — triggers a wet, visceral sound that sends chills down your spine. Executions become their own instrument in this brutal symphony.

The game features directional audio cues. For example, if someone swings at you from behind, the sound comes from the rear — slightly muffled but clearly positioned — allowing you to orient yourself in combat without sight.

Stealth: The Art of Listening to Silence

Playing as Naoe becomes a pure audio challenge. You rely not on visual cues, but on the sounds of footsteps, breathing, and fabric rustling from enemies.

• If an enemy is relaxed, they breathe slowly and walk with a lazy stride.
• If suspicious, their steps become cautious, breathing quicker.
• If they spot you, they shout, call for backup, and unsheathe their sword with a sharp metallic sound.

The game offers many tools for stealth gameplay through sound:

• Listen to the rustle of grass as you hide — it masks your own footsteps.
• Hide in water — the sound becomes muffled, and your breathing blends into the ambient noise.
• Throw a pebble — hear it bounce off a wall and distract enemies.

Soundtrack: The Living Rhythm of Japan

If the sound design creates atmosphere, the music brings the soul. Composers The Flight have combined traditional Japanese instruments with modern beats and electronic textures.

Musical themes shift based on the situation:

• Exploration – light, airy tracks featuring the shamisen and koto, sometimes joined by the shakuhachi flute, creating a meditative mood.
• Stealth – tense, quiet percussion with a barely audible chorus, like whispers in the dark.
• Combat – powerful taiko drums, fast strings, sharp flutes creating tension and urgency.
• City hustle – chaotic shamisen riffs, overlapping voices, and distant bell chimes.

What’s especially impressive is the interactivity of the soundtrack: sprinting across rooftops ramps up the intensity. When hiding, the music softens — but still offers subtle cues about the proximity of danger.

Overall Impression of Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is more than just another installment in the franchise — it’s a reimagining of the concept itself. With two distinct protagonists, deep and varied gameplay, a thoughtfully designed open world, and extraordinary sound design, it stands out as one of the most memorable entries in the series.

Pros:

• Unique playstyles for both ninja and samurai characters
• A beautiful, living world with seasonal changes and rich interactivity
• The best accessibility support in any Ubisoft game to date
• A soundtrack so good you’ll want to listen to it on its own
  

Cons:

• Stealth might feel overly difficult for some players
• Yasuke’s combat, while powerful, lacks the flexibility of Naoe’s

To sum it all up, Shadows fully delivers on years of anticipation — and at last, blind players have a truly playable entry in one of Ubisoft’s most iconic series. So whether you choose to disappear into the shadows or deliver justice in war-torn Japan, grab your katana and dive in.

That’s it for now — see you soon across the seas of InviOcean.