Upcoming updates toAssassin’s Creed Shadowsare making much-needed improvements to the game’s parkour mechanics. Parkour has always been a central part ofAssassin’s Creed, arguably more so than stealth; even when it shed its stealth requirement for more of an RPG format, it still had plenty of parkour.Shadowsundeniably has a greater focus on stealth and parkour both than any of the three games inAC’s RPG run, but its parkour still fails to reach the heights of thebest games in theAssassin’s Creedseries.
But it’s taking big steps toward a solution.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsjust unveiled its year one roadmap, outlining its plans for several free updates to come throughout the rest of the year. One of the first updatesis focused almost entirely on upgrading parkour, adding three new mechanicsto Naoe’s acrobatic toolbox. They’re not totally revolutionary, but they are a step in the right direction, and could go a long way towards makingShadows' parkour feel as fluid, flexible, and free as some of the bestAssassin’s Creedgames.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is Adding New Parkour Mechanics
What’s Coming In The Parkour Update
According to the new roadmap,Assassin’s Creed Shadowswill be getting three new parkour features in an update coming late this May. Those are height-gaining back ejects, height-gaining side ejects, and a new vertical ledge jump. you’re able to see all three new mechanics in action in the video above.
Still, for a brief explanation of the more technical terminology: the “height-gaining ejects” referred to here aremoves that propel Naoe away from the surfaces she’s currently climbing. The back eject has her pushing herself backwards and upwards off a wall. If you string these together between two walls in proximity, you’re able to even do aMario 64-style wall jump. The side eject lets Naoe jump from a ledge she’s hanging onto a higher ledge to either side.
The vertical ledge jump is perhaps the least exciting to look at, but it has great potential to makeShadows' parkour more fluid. This ability allows Naoe tojump onto low-hanging ledgeswhere wall-running and grappling aren’t available. That means no more going around to find alternate routes upward; Naoe will be able to climb far more structures from every angle. It’ll make it a lot easier to get started on what could eventually become legendary parkour runs.
Back & Side Ejects Make Assassin’s Creed Parkour Great
Classic-Style Parkour
These may seem like fairly minor changes, but they actually have a lot of potential for changing howAC Shadowsis played.Assassin’s Creedparkour has changed quite a bit over the years, butit’s at its best when players have options. It’s definitely trended towards automation over the years; there’s a lot less emphasis on choosing your own path across buildings, and a lot more on simply holding a button and letting the game figure out a path for you.
That can be satisfying, but paradoxically,it can also make accurate parkour more difficult. Having to travel along the game’s predetermined parkour paths, without many options to choose the direction you’re going in, can easily put you in a disadvantaged position, well within enemy sightlines. And considering how quickly enemies can notice you during certain weather conditions, and how hardAC Shadowspunishes your stealth failures, that can spell disaster in a matter of moments.
But even having these two simple options will takeShadows' parkour in the right direction. It’s worth noting that two of the three new parkour features being introduced areejects-methods of getting you off the parkour path you’re currently on. That’ll help you break out ofShadows' predetermined routes. What’s more, it’ll give you new options for stealth, allowing you to quickly switch between two different sides of cover to avoid changing enemy sightlines.
The new ledge climb willhelp avoid parkour monotony, too. For the most part, I like the grappling hook mechanic inShadows- I like using the rope to swing across large gaps, and with how tall certain buildings can be, and how mountainous the map is in general, a direct vertical climb is arguably necessary. But the fact of the matter is that using the grappling hook to climb straight up isn’t fun. There’s no challenge to it, it’s not interesting to watch, and the targeting system is awkward.
Ledge climbs aim to fix this by making the process instant, and avoiding the monotony of ascending a rope. There’s no more need to target ledges, or to risk being spotted while slowly climbing out in the open.
AC Shadows Parkour Has A Long Way To Go
The Heyday of AC Parkour Is Long Gone
Maybe I’m just blinded by nostalgia, but even with these changes, I thinkAC Shadows' parkour will still be far from perfect. For me,Assassin’s Creedparkour peaked early, during the Ezio trilogy. The needless simplification of parkour controls from that point on didn’t help, but the older games' better parkour is also just a result of their settings.
OlderAssassin’s Creedgames take place entirely within dense, cosmopolitan cities - that meanslots of tall buildings to climb up on and jump between. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t translate to other settings where most people live in one-story houses.Shadowsdoes a better job of it than Valhalla, which only had the occasional church spire. Most of the castles in feudal Japan are pretty massive, with several multi-story buildings surrounding a tiered, central tenshu. But these are rare bright spots in an otherwise pretty parkourless world.
But inAssassin’s Creed 2, for example, almost every structure is multiple stories tall. you’re able to run between them using laundry lines, or quickly ascend them using pulleys. Parkour isn’t just a tool of stealth;it’s a genuine traversal mechanic, and it’s often the quickest way to get from one end of the map to the other.
I do have to admit, though, thatShadowsdoes a much better job with parkour than mostACgames in recent memory. Still, I think its parkour leaves a little bit to be desired. At the very least, I’m glad to see the latest updates are takingAssassin’s Creed Shadows' parkour in the right direction.
