I’ve simply completed writing PC Gamer’s Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Lower assessment and the expertise has confirmed one factor very clearly—proper now, I could not be much less excited for Murderer’s Creed Shadows.
If Ubisoft had dropped Shadows 10 years in the past, when avid gamers first began asking for a Land of the Rising Solar outing for the sequence, it may need set my coronary heart ablaze, however in 2024? Not taking place.
The issue? Ghost of Tsushima, as my replay of the sport has pushed residence, already did an Murderer’s Creed-style sport set in Japan 4 years in the past. And it set the bar so excessive, bettering on so most of the typical flaws discovered within the long-running Ubisoft sequence and delivering a sport of such immense class, that I can not see Shadows even approaching it, not to mention bettering on it.
Ghost of Tsushima provides every little thing good that an Murderer’s Creed sport set in Japan can hope to, and feels prefer it’s already executed it higher. From the deep and brutally satisfying sword play, the slick and dynamic choices for assassinations and ranged fight, by way of to the varied collectibles and exquisite open world setting, and onto the cinematic historic narrative: Ghost of Tsushima is an exhilarating, mature gaming expertise that, from what we have seen, I simply cannot think about Shadows matching.
PC avid gamers additionally get the whole expertise with the Director’s Lower, which in addition to the principle sport consists of the Iki Island DLC, alongside a smorgasbord of latest graphical choices equivalent to unlocked framerates, extremely widescreen help, DLSS3 and FSR3 compatibility. This was all the time an exquisite sport however, free of the console, the outdated samurai is trying and working higher than ever, and the PC model is inarguably the definitive gaming expertise.
The apprentice has turn into the grasp
It needs to be stated that Ghost of Tsushima is blatantly indebted to the Murderer’s Creed sequence, reappropriating massive swathes of its open world third-person motion journey expertise, tower climbing and all, however that is sort of the issue. It did not simply take big inspiration, however minimize out lots of the cruft atop it. Why would I need ‘Murderer’s Creed Japan’, however with all the standard Murderer’s Creed sequence nonsense then thrown again on prime? As a result of that is what Shadows seems like, and 17 years of Murderer’s Creed video games have proven that Ubisoft merely can not break freed from this explicit system.
what I imply by nonsense. The overly lengthy, filler-stuffed runtime that appears to prize amount over high quality, the multitudinous staid fetch-this go-there sidequests, the cavalier remedy of historic narrative, the two-dimensional NPCs, the persistently boring Animus Undertaking sections, the MacGuffin-packed conspiracy plot that by no means truly goes anyplace, the lurching writing high quality and voice performing, the microtransactions. It is all so drearily predictable.
May Murderer’s Creed Shadows launch with none of those points? There’s an opportunity, certain. And will it additionally outdo Ghost of Tsushima with jaw-dropping swordplay and shinobi energy fantasy assassinations? Once more, not inconceivable. However come on: look me within the eye. That is moonshot degree unbelievable, and why I am struggling to get excited. Is not Shadows simply going to be a barely worse model of what we have had already with Ghost of Tsushima?
The place Murderer’s Creed Shadows can get the drop on Ghost of Tsushima
Replaying Sucker Punch’s Japanese epic has nonetheless proven there are areas the place Shadows has an opportunity to finest it, although. Ghost of Tsushima was a looker when it initially launched again in 2020 however now, regardless of the bevy of additional visible choices PC avid gamers have entry to within the Director’s Lower, there is not any doubting that it has limitations. From character fashions to textures, NPC density to panorama draw distances, Shadows might definitely be the best-looking action-adventure sport set in Japan so far, one with actual time ray-traced lakes and lovely atmospheric particle results.
Murderer’s Creed Shadows might additionally enhance on Ghost of Tsushima’s gradual pacing, and particularly the opening of the sport. Everybody loves a well-written story that is not afraid to go at its personal tempo, however equally I need to get to the meat of the gameplay as quick as doable. Video games that take 10-20 hours to unlock their core moveset can actually drag, and Ghost of Tsushima does undergo from that. While you’ve unlocked a number of blade stances, bought a bow and the power to assassinate and particular strikes, then Tsushima’s fight begins to open up: however earlier than this, you are in dullsville. Ghost of Tsushima railroads the participant at a gradual tempo, and Shadows might undoubtedly enhance on that.
Shadows provides two protagonists, which is one other story alternative, although I am skeptical that we’ll get one thing markedly faraway from the standard Templar vs Assassins hokum. The strongest storytelling within the Murderer’s Creed sequence thus far has been in components of Valhalla, so hopefully Shadows can construct on that with narratives that make us really feel for the 2 leads, and talk plausible motivations for his or her actions past some garbage like “the Holy Grail is in Tokyo!”
The ultimate minimize
On the finish of the day, Murderer’s Creed Shadows will promote loads of copies and be a hit: from some, it is going to even be their first Murderer’s Creed sport, and there is not any denying that coming to the sequence contemporary goes to be lots of enjoyable. However as for me, I’ve performed nearly all of the Murderer’s Creed video games because the unique, which today simply seems like a tech demo.
Nevertheless, I performed these video games as a result of for a very long time there was nothing just like what they delivered, and positively nothing actively higher. However Sucker Punch lived as much as the identify and landed one with Ghost of Tsushima, doing an ‘Murderer’s Creed Japan’ years earlier than Ubisoft and delivering a real samurai epic which has now been elevated within the PC Director’s Lower. It ate Ubisoft’s lunch, to the extent that replaying that is extra thrilling than the prospect of taking part in Shadows.
I am certain Shadows shall be slick, lovely, and have its personal surprises. It simply feels prefer it’s just a little late to the celebration, and arriving lengthy after one other studio made the identical concept, however higher. Murderer’s Creed has all the time been, to place it politely, an iterative sequence. However Ghost of Tsushima has already leaped past the Ubisoft mannequin, and proven one other means that these open world motion video games can work. Shadows might be the setting that Murderer’s Creed followers have wished for a while: however it should face a direct comparability with among the best video games on this type of the final decade. Maybe Ubisoft will shock us all. However proper now Shadows looks like too little, and much too late.
