Assassin’s Creed Shadows ‘Dual Paths: Naoe and Yasuke Walkthrough’ video; PS5 Pro enhancements detailed

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Ubisoft, both as the publisher and developer (specifically, Ubisoft Quebec), have unveiled a fresh, 20-minute video demonstration of ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’. This preview takes us on a tour of Nijo Palace, revealing multiple entry points using our dual protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke. Additionally, they’ve shared details about the game’s performance enhancements when played on PlayStation 5 Pro.

Get the details below, via PlayStation Blog.

As a gamer in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I find that castles are formidable fortresses teeming with hostile guards, precious resources, and one valuable loot chest. Capturing a tenshu involves taking down any Samurai Daisho patrolling the area, which grants access to the loot chest, filled with powerful gear. When I hover over the castle icon on the map, I can catch a glimpse of the treasures waiting inside.

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In the game Assassin’s Creed Shadows, castles serve as one of numerous tasks that you can finish to boost your Knowledge Rank. This rank allows you access to advanced abilities and enhancements. Accomplishing these tasks will also reward you with experience points and mastery points, which can be utilized immediately to improve Naoe and Yasuke’s skills directly. Furthermore, castles are rich in resources that you can collect for your secret base. Smaller quantities of resources can be gathered personally, while larger hoards can be marked by Naoe and Yasuke to be picked up and transported to your hideout by scouts during the change of seasons.

■ Naoe Stealth Approach

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The adventure commences as Naoe sneaks her way forward under the cover of darkness. Once she silently dispatches a sentry with her concealed weapon, she swiftly ascends the rooftops utilizing her grappling hook and starts surveilling nearby guards. In contrast to previous games in the franchise, within Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you won’t be able to enlist a feathered friend for aerial reconnaissance. Instead, pressing L2 will activate the Observation mechanism, allowing Naoe or Yasuke to hone their vision on an adversary, objective, or valuable item, marking it.

Whilst exploring, Naoe discovers a formidable Samurai Daisho, an elite guard whose defeat is necessary to seize control of the tenshu and win its top prize. Equipped with her tanto blade, Naoe can perform a double assassination, but the Samurai Daisho’s robust health makes it impossible for her to kill him in one strike… for now. The gear provided by Shadows not only provides specific stat boosts, but also possesses unique engravings capable of altering your approach at any given moment. In this instance, Naoe exchanges her headgear for one that grants increased damage during air assassinations—enough to eliminate the Samurai Daisho with a single strike.

Deeper within the castle, Naoe summons Gennojo, one of her enlisted allies, for assistance. He manages to stun a couple of nearby adversaries, which enables Naoe to move in and eliminate them both. Gennojo is merely one of several recruitable allies who can be summoned in the expansive world to lend a hand (an interesting tidbit: each ally is summoned with a unique bird whistle). After dispatching those guards, Naoe employs Eagle Vision to survey the interior of a nearby structure.

In this game, hostile opponents show up as red figures when viewed through eagle eyesight, whereas civilians display an orange outline. However, be mindful: even though civilians won’t attack you, they can alert others if they spot you. Fortunately, Naoe possesses a range of stealth abilities to remain unnoticed. She initiates by putting out a nearby torch, shrouding herself in darkness. Then, she employs her grappling hook to ascend the ceiling and dodge a patrol, eventually dropping down to silently take out a second Samurai Daisho with her katana through a shoji door.

■ Yasuke Stealth Approach

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As we shift focus to Yasuke, he stealthily makes his way towards the palace. Although he’s a formidable warrior in Shadows, he knows how to move unnoticed. Lacking a grappling hook, he utilizes a low-lying tree branch to access the rooftops. From there, he draws his bow and eliminates a guard from afar without causing any noise. Later, he creeps up on another guard, executing him quietly with his long katana while keeping a low profile. It’s not as subtle as a Hidden Blade, but it effectively completes the task without drawing attention from others in the vicinity.

During daylight, Yasuke’s stealth operation lacks the cover of darkness that Naoe had, but by moving across rooftops and utilizing the sloped roof structures, he remains concealed while crawling on his stomach. In this situation, Yasuke summons another ally, Oni-Yuri – an expert in poison who can render multiple adversaries unconscious with her skills.

Approaching the next courtyard, Yasuke notices a bell tower that could potentially alert everyone in the tenshu if he’s spotted. However, with his bow (or Naoe’s shuriken or kunai), he can disable the bell tower. Now, it’s time for a grand entrance, loud and clear, to eliminate the final Samurai Daisho. Yasuke initiates by firing an arrow into a gunpowder barrel, eliminating a nearby guard. Then, swapping his bow for a massive kanabo club, he delivers powerful blows that overpower the Samurai Daisho, gaining him another mastery point.

■ Naoe Combat Approach

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Returning to Naoe’s combat style, we witness her impressive fighting abilities unfold. This starts with her swapping her stealth equipment for battle-ready headgear and armor, which enables her to leap over enemies by sprinting at them and knock them down by sliding into them. Her tanto is traded for a legendary kusarigama, enhancing damage dealt to enemies from a distance of three meters or more. The kusarigama serves as Naoe’s long-range melee weapon, ideal for controlling crowds and handling multiple opponents simultaneously. Additionally, the kusarigama allows Naoe to perform a rush assassination (a passive ability that can be used whenever the kusarigama is one of her two equipped weapons without consuming adrenaline) by wrapping her target with one end of the kusarigama and using it to propel herself forward for the final strike.

When Naoe reaches a high vantage point, she notices that the servant who had seen her earlier has come back accompanied by more help. Instead of tackling them alone, she summons Yaya, a powerful fighter, to manage the situation for her. Once the additional forces are dealt with, Naoe utilizes the Observe ability to locate Takahashi Shiro, a member of The Twisted Tree family whom she’s been ordered to eliminate. This time, her air assassination attempt only inflicts partial damage on Shiro, indicating that a battle is imminent. By employing smoke bombs and her kusarigama, Naoe swiftly dispatches the lesser guards while evading Shiro, stripping off his armor piece by piece before delivering the final blow. With Shiro dead and the Samurai Daisho defeated, Naoe can ascend Nijo Tenshu to find a synchronization point and explore nearby areas of interest using the Observe mechanic.

■ Yasuke Combat Approach

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We conclude our tour focusing on Yasuke’s specialty: combat. Similar to Naoe, the battle commences with a gear swap, as his katana and kanabo are exchanged for a naginata and teppo (a single-shot rifle). Previously, his armor was perfect for stealth because it boosted ranged weapon damage by 200% while out of combat. However, this strategy will be noisy, so he needs a new armor set. Fortunately, the new set has a unique engraving that enables him to parry unblockable attacks (red-glowing attacks that are usually evaded rather than blocked). This new armor aligns perfectly with its accompanying helmet, which inflicts 50% damage upon the attacker on parry. Now, not only can Yasuke parry any attack, but he also bounces back 50% of the damage to the attacker.

As a devoted fan, I seldom get the chance to charge headlong like in an “Assassin’s Creed” game, but that’s precisely what Yasuke does – bursting through doors with brute force, swiftly dispatching the nearest guard with his teppo. With his imposing stature comes a fearless demeanor (he can handle and dish out more damage than Naoe in a one-on-one fight). He charges straight across the courtyard to confront Takahashi Shiro. Equipped with his naginata, he skillfully parries almost every attack hurled at him, swiftly eliminating all guards, and even taking down Shiro with relative ease. Though not as agile as Naoe when it comes to scaling walls, Yasuke still manages to ascend the tenshu to seize the cherished chest and conquer Nijo Palace.

In Assassin’s Creed Shadow, you’ll control two distinct characters, Naoe and Yasuke, each with unique skills, weapons, and gameplay styles. Yet, they are adaptable enough to switch tactics, enabling stealth or combat as needed. Whether you prefer a direct attack or strategic waiting, choose your path when Assassin’s Creed Shadows releases on PlayStation 5 on March 20th.

■ Enhanced for PlayStation 5 Pro

In terms of gaming, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” is the first game from the series designed exclusively for modern consoles. It can be played at a resolution of 2160p and runs at 60 frames per second on both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro when in Performance mode. Notably, only the PlayStation 5 Pro offers extended ray tracing capabilities, enhancing the game world with realistic ray-traced reflections. For a detailed look at the technical specifications, see below.

  • PlayStation 5
    • PlayStation 5 – Performance Mode
      • 2160p upscaled, 60 frames per second, Selective* Ray Tracing
    • PlayStation 5 – Fidelity Mode
      • 2160p upscaled, 30 frames per second, Standard** Ray Tracing
    • PlayStation 5 – Balanced Mode (requires 120/240hz display and HDMI 2.1)
      • 2160p upscaled, 40 frames per second, Standard Ray Tracing
  • PlayStation 5 Pro
    • PlayStation 5 Pro – Performance Mode
      • 2160p upscaled, 60 frames per second, Standard Ray Tracing
    • PlayStation 5 Pro – Fidelity Mode
      • 2160p upscaled, 30 frames per second, Extended*** Ray Tracing
    • PlayStation 5 Pro – Balanced Mode (requires 120/240hz display and HDMI 2.1)
      • 2160p upscaled, 40 frames per second, Extended Ray Tracing

*In the Hideout section of the game, a specific method called Selective Ray Tracing is employed to estimate global illumination for diffuse lighting.
Across the entire game world, we use a conventional approach known as Standard Ray Tracing to determine global illumination for diffuse lighting.
* The advanced technique of Extended Ray Tracing incorporates comprehensive support for computing global illumination not only for diffuse lighting but also reflective surfaces throughout the game world.

The action-adventure game Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set to release across various platforms including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Store), Mac (App Store), and Luna on March 20th.

Watch the trailer below.

Dual Paths: Naoe and Yasuke Walkthrough Video

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2025-03-06 20:41