Hi everyone and Happy New Year!
Assassin's Creed Shadows drops on February 14, 2025, and we're excited to provide more information on parkour. We will be joined by Simon, Shadows' Associate Game Director.
In case you missed them, check out our previous posts focusing on stealth and combat .
All footage is from a work in progress build. Please note that some of the videos in this article may be compressed, which could affect their quality. Make sure to watch in 4K for the best quality. HUD setting may vary from one clip to another to showcase examples of customizable options.
In Assassin's Creed Shadows, players can expect to reconnect with the staple experience of being an Assassin, leaping effortlessly across rooftops, surfing the high ground of the crowded streets of Kyoto, and scaling the towering Tenshu of Osaka Castle... In short, Naoe is a true parkour master, possessing unmatched speed and agility that adapts to the various landscapes of Feudal Japan.
Beyond city exploration, players can also infiltrate Japanese castles - incredibly dangerous fortresses filled with challenges and opportunities for parkour. Dominating with their towering Tenshu and protected by a network of intimidating concentric stone walls, castle grounds host many climbable and well-guarded buildings such as warehouses, barracks, and watchtowers.
In contrast, the game also features hidden parkour paths in nature that offer a different kind of experience. These narrow paths in beautiful landscapes will include tree and rock climbing and, of course, extra grappling hook swinging.
In this article, we will focus on highlighting some of the new moves and mechanics developed to enhance parkour.
During development of AC Shadows, the team implemented a variety of enhancements for parkour, including new animations, prone movement, and a physics-based grappling hook. Numerous refinements were also brought to existing mechanics, such as the updated input mappings and the revamped parkour down system.
Let's dive in!
CONTROL BASICS
NEW INPUT MAPPING
Returning players will notice adjustments made to the control scheme compared to the most recent Assassin Creed entries, as the crouch and the dodge button have traded places. This simple-yet-crucial change marks an important iteration: the addition of the prone stance and the inclusion of dodge mechanics that lead directly into parkour.
"In Shadows, dodge has been merged with parkour down mechanics, which unlocks a whole bunch of new parkour moves," says Simon. "This new mapping also disconnects stance-switch (e.g. standing, crouching, prone) from parkour, ensuring you can use any stances without accidentally going down a rooftop when you don't want to."
Some of these new moves performed with the dodge button include acrobatic dodges over railings, out-of-windows jumps, or new silent drop-downs.
PARKOUR ESSENTIALS
PARKOUR UP
Parkour up has been a staple of the series for a long time, and Shadows is no exception. Holding the parkour up button while moving will make either Naoe or Yasuke reach for the highest / furthest point they can. This can mean running up a wall to grab a handhold, jumping across a large gap between two rooftops, or leaping as far as they can into the void, hoping for the best.
Each character has their own capabilities in parkour, although Naoe can always jump further and reach higher than Yasuke, who is generally slower when navigating rooftops.
More tactical planning comes into play as well, as parkour up is considered high-profile and generates a fair amount of sound when climbing, jumping, and landing. Stealthy shinobis should use it carefully in guarded areas, or else they will be spotted much faster.
Parkour Deep Dive: Parkour Up & Recovery Roll
"In our game, holding down the parkour up button like it's a gas pedal is not the optimal way to do parkour." says Simon. "Discerning which button does what is necessary to maximize a great parkour flow and keep your momentum."
RECOVERY ROLL
To compensate for any high-profile jumps that would put you in danger, you can trigger the Igan Recovery Roll by pressing the dodge / parkour down button when landing from great heights. This allows Naoe to execute a landing maneuver that softens impact and reduces noise from a harder landing - as seen in the clip above.
PARKOUR DOWN
Now that dodge mechanics have been incorporated into the parkour flow, players are able to dodge near a ledge to smoothly transition into parkour down traversal, allowing for Naoe's signature acrobatic descents or Yasuke's heavier drops.
Holding the dodge / parkour down button while moving ensures that your character is dropping to the lowest, safest point below them, and avoids dangerous leaps into the void. Parkour down also allows for low-profile landings, generating minimal sound for a stealthy approach.
Parkour Deep Dive: Parkour Up & Recovery Roll
DROP VS CLIMB DOWN
"There are two main ways to parkour down" explains Simon, "The classic way is to press the dodge / parkour down button near a ledge without directional input: your character will climb down and hold that ledge in climbing position. The second - and flashier way - is to perform a directional dodge over that ledge, which launches a variety of acrobatic transitions. "
As seen in the clip above, using directional dodges to initiate a descent results in impressive acrobatics as well as stealthier landings.
SPRINT MECHANICS
Naoe is our fastest assassin to date on her feet. Sprinting allows her to gain distance from (or catch up with) just about anybody, whereas Yasuke needs a little more runway to get to cruise speed. Sprint opens different possibilities for both characters:
SPRINT DODGE
Unique to Naoe is the ability to perform a sprint dodge (by pressing the dodge button while sprinting). This triggers an extended dive-roll that allows her to clear objects that are slightly smaller than her (agricultural fences, wooden crates, guardrails, windowsills, etc) while avoiding incoming damage. The sprint dodge is particularly useful when escaping ranged enemies' projectiles, as well as executing replay-worthy escapes.
This move can also be performed to manually jump from a higher spot... with more risks of getting heavy damage when landing without a recovery roll.
Parkour Deep Dive: Sprint Dodge to Escape
AUTOMATED PASSOVER
While sprinting, Naoe gains the ability to perform automated passovers - quick acrobatic moves allowing her to literally pass over the same small objects listed above - without the use of any other inputs. Note that automated passovers, while very stylish, do not offer the same damage protection as Naoe's sprint dodge.
AUTOMATED SHOULDER TACKLE
Never to be outdone, a sprinting Yasuke has the ability to automatically shoulder bash his way through any destructible objects, which would normally block Naoe. For low, non-destructible objects, Yasuke will also perform automated passovers without requiring any other inputs, albeit a bit less elegantly than Naoe.
SPRINT VS STANCES
Both characters can change stances while in full sprint: switching to crouch stance will cause the character to perform a knee slide and settle in crouch navigation, while switching to prone stance while in full sprint will cause both characters to dive to the ground in prone position, coming to a full stop.
Note that sprint will kick you out of both crouch and prone, forcing the character into a standing stance - an excellent shortcut to use in a pinch.
THE GRAPPLING HOOK
"Any proper shinobi game needs its grappling hook." says Simon. "We worked hard to ensure that the physics of our grappling hook make it a natural part extension of Naoe's overall parkour flow, allowing her to climb and swing with grace and ease."
Naoe's grappling hook is a worthy addition to the Assassin arsenal, and all players should learn to use it for maximum efficiency.
VERTICAL ASCENT
Naoe can hook onto any horizontal rooftop ledge and ascend along the rope to climb over that ledge. Vertical ascend allows players to climb up, descend, or pivot around the rope according to their directional input.
Parkour Deep Dive: Grappling Hook Ascend
HOOK SWING
Numerous grapple points can be found across Shadows' Japan. These points allow Naoe to hook-swing across large gaps and reach the other side. Some advanced setups even require that she string multiple hook-swings together without touching the ground.
Hook swing allows players to add or reduce momentum (like a playground swing) and adjust their swing direction according to their directional input. This, by extension, gives players control over the velocity of their jumps.
Parkour Deep Dive: Grappling Hook Swing
MODE SWITCHING
While dangling from a grapple point, players can toggle between vertical ascend mode and hook swing modes by tapping the grappling hook button: Naoe will change her position on the rope to reflect the switch.
WALL RUN GRAPPLING HOOK
Naoe can run up an unclimbable wall and launch her grappling hook at the apex of that wall run to attach to a ledge that would otherwise be out of her reach, effectively extending her vertical ascent reach capabilities.
Parkour Deep Dive: Wall Run to Grappling Hook
Your grappling hook skills will shine particularly bright when infiltrating a castle, or when following the secret parkour routes hidden in the countryside of Japan.
ADVANCED PARKOUR MOVES
Shadows introduces a few new parkour subtleties that advanced players will want to know about. Here are a few of them:
STANCE DODGES
Both Yasuke and Naoe can perform directional dodges while moving around in crouch stance, covering more terrain faster and avoiding potential attacks. However, only Naoe has access to prone directional dodges, allowing her to roll forward, side-to-side or slide backwards, extending her evasive abilities. You may have seen a glimpse of that in our post on stealth, where Naoe performed an assassination after rolling out of a bush using prone directional dodge.
Stealth Deep Dive: Prone Assassination
WALL RUN EJECT
Naoe can wall run fairly high up walls, and she can perform a very cool wall eject by tapping the parkour up button at the apex of a wall run. This wall eject can also be performed when climbing, while both her hands and feet are touching the surface.
PARKOUR DOWN: BACKWARD DODGE
When standing near the edge of a structure, with the character's back towards the edge, tapping parkour down only (without directional input) will cause the character to perform a backward dodge which could take her right to or over the edge of the structure. When that happens, Naoe will effortlessly roll down over the edge and land on the ground with a muffled landing, both when crouching or standing up.
Parkour Deep Dive: Backward Drop Assassination
PARKOUR DOWN: HIGH STRUCTURE SAFETY
Performing any of the above parkour down transitions from a very high structure (where fall damage could occur) will result in the character holding on to that ledge and hanging there. Additional input will be needed to drop down or climb back up.
Parkour Deep Dive: Backward Roll and Safety Drop
UNCLIMBABLE SURFACES
Finally, it is important to note that Naoe and Yasuke will not be able to climb on surfaces that do not have physical handholds for them to grab onto.
"This is a pretty big deal for us." says Simon. "This means we had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and afforded us more control about where Naoe can go, and where Yasuke can't, making our two playstyles even more contrasted."
Rest assured that most of what you'll see in Assassin's Creed Shadows is still very much climbable - especially with the grappling hook - but players will have to look for valid entry points from time to time.
We hope you enjoyed this deeper look at some of the improvements made to the parkour system in Assassin's Creed Shadows. We can't wait for you to get your hands on the game on February 14th to explore Japan with our dual protagonists. Until then, we will see you next time for our last overview post in this series, dedicated to exploration.
Read the article online here: https://ubi.li/nIRL6