I find that there really is a lot to love about Assassin's Creed Shadows. For all of Ubisoft's many faults - and there really are many - and the series' somewhat lackluster output as of late, Shadows manages to get a lot right. From its vast and beautiful setting to its interesting narrative and strong character work, Shadows may not always deliver on its promise of a riveting stealth sandbox in Feudal Japan, but when it gets it right, it really shines.

Naturally, Shadows has so many issues, too. It wouldn't be a Ubisoft game if there weren't a disappointingly half-baked mechanic or two. As much as I hate rubbishing games, even if that sometimes feels like half of my job, there is a benefit to doing so, at least constructively. I would love for the next AC game to be great, and games of a similar ilk, too, which is why I feel like it's important to recognize that Ubisoft missed a great opportunity to fix Shadows' most underutilized mechanic.

AC Shadows Had The Perfect Way Of Improving Naoe & Yasuke's Relationship

They Could Have Spoken On The Road

One of the best and most integral parts of Assassin's Creed Shadows is its two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, and their unbreakable bond that develops across the course of the game's narrative. However, as phenomenal as it is, and as well-written as it can be, Naoe and Yasuke's relationship also remains one of Shadows' most underutilized features. They do get plenty of screen time together, which is great, and occasionally interact, but it is a shame that we never get to see much of them in action outside of cutscenes and major story moments.

The pair work exceptionally well together when they're on-screen, likely thanks to their real-world voice actors' chemistry, but whenever they're apart, it is really felt. Much of Assassin's Creed Shadows is spent with the two of them not together, something that is occasionally explained away during narrative segments, but otherwise feels like a hugely missed opportunity, especially considering the fact that the entire game is built around it having dual protagonists. This isn't a first for Ubisoft, as Syndicate suffers from a similar issue, but it hurts more here.

What makes it particularly frustrating in Assassin's Creed Shadows is how easily it could have been avoided. Ubisoft had the perfect opportunity to implement more meaningful, gameplay-driven interactions between the two of them, and it simply didn't. I'm not even referring to Shadows' rumored co-op mechanics, which are meant to be added at a later date, as I don't think this would fix the narrative issues caused by their on-screen rift. Instead, Ubisoft should have leveraged Assassin's Creed Shadows' most boring element to better improve their relationship.

AC Shadows Wasted Its Exploration

It Doesn't Make The Time Between Point A And B Interesting

One of Assassin's Creed Shadows' biggest weaknesses is its exploration. That isn't to say that its world is boring or that there isn't enough to do, as that simply isn't true. While I do believe that more could have been done to flesh out the world of Shadows, Ubisoft did a relatively commendable job of making the things you eventually discover at least moderately interesting. Rather, the journey from point A to B in Shadows is rarely interesting thanks to not just a lack of unique movement options, but also because there's simply nothing to do.

Shadows may have a lot of pretty scenery, but even that grows stale after a while, especially when you're on your umpteenth several-thousand-mile-long trek from one end of the map to the other. Naturally, the solution would be to fast-travel, as it cuts out all the travel and gets you straight into the action. However, I feel a better use of players' time would be to give you something to look forward to while you travel, rather than making it a redundant feature. One way of doing that would be to integrate Naoe and Yasuke's relationship into your travel time.

I always found it odd how either Naoe or Yasuke would appear from the shadows the moment you arrived at a key destination, as if they'd been traveling alongside you the whole time or had been waiting at the destination without you. It doesn't happen all the time, but it was enough to quickly become an annoying Assassin's Creed Shadows quirk that I quickly grew frustrated with. Instead of having them pop up out of nowhere, I feel it would have made more sense for Ubisoft to have had them traveling alongside you and even chatting with you.

I'm not even advocating for Naoe or Yasuke to be made AI-controlled companions for your entire adventure, although that would have been incredible. Rather, I feel that Ubisoft could have used the downtime while you're traveling to have Naoe and Yasuke talk about their lives and flesh out their characters more, like you see in other open-world titles like Red Dead Redemption 2. That way, we would have seen more of them, felt their connection was more tangible, and fixed AC Shadows' bad exploration all in one fell swoop.

Video Games Need To Do More With Exploration

It Should Be Used For More Than Just Wandering

To be clear, this isn't just a problem with Assassin's Creed Shadows or even the entire AC series, although it does feel exacerbated in those games thanks to the sheer size of their worlds. Making exploration interesting, specifically the act of moving from one point to another, has always proven a difficult challenge for developers. Many have decided to simply distract the player enough times on their journey that they forget pushing a joystick forward for five minutes is a little boring. That can work, and has proven effective in titles like Breath of the Wild and Ghost of Tsushima.

However, eventually it no longer suffices, especially once players have cycled through all the expected scenarios and events that can possibly occur in the open world. BOTW's Yiga Clan encounters, for example, become all too predictable and dull after the tenth time you experience them. That's why I strongly believe, especially in more narrative-driven open-world games with a larger cast of characters, that utilizing these moments of moving from one point of the map to another to flesh out the narrative is a more efficient use of everyone's time.

Having multiple characters converse while traveling not only makes the journey more exciting, but it also helps make it feel like a journey made with real friends.

Not only does it discourage fast travel, but it also gives you something tangible to look forward to. It absolutely would have benefited Assassin's Creed Shadows, and I can see it easily working well in other titles. There are variations of this idea, such as Death Stranding's implementation of music while exploring, but, for most open world titles, including Assassin's Creed Shadows, having multiple characters converse while traveling not only makes the journey more exciting, but it also helps make it feel like a journey made with real friends.