Assassin’s Creed Shadows will only cover central Japan

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the next game from the team at Ubisoft Quebec. In recent years, the trend for the series has been towards a “bigger is better” approach. Assassin’s Creed Origins was huge, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was even bigger, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was arguably the biggest. But with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the studio decided not to follow the trend, but to take a step back.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will only cover central Japan

In a recent Video Games Chronicle interview with Ubisoft Quebec’s Simon Lemay-Comtois, it was said that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is returning to a map “about the same size as Origins.” Let’s remember that AC Origins had an impressive world with an area of ​​80 square kilometers.

Lemay-Comtois also clarified which part of Japan the game is focused on. Ubisoft isn’t trying to recreate all of Japan, despite the country’s relatively compact size.

The story we’re focusing on is mostly set in central Japan, so we’re not expanding into the entire country. Places like Kyoto, Osaka, Azuchi were important to us – we need these places. It is important that we accurately convey the atmosphere of these castles, as they are very interesting and they occupy a large area.

We then wonder how much space is needed between these castles to make the journey seem believable and exciting without taking up the actual four days of riding between them. It’s a challenge, but in the end we find a balance between the types of cities and castles we want to represent, and it justifies the size of our world map.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will release on PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 on November 15th.

You can watch 13 minutes of gameplay here .