Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature changing seasons that will affect gameplay.
In a recent interview with IGN about the arrival of Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed title, producer Karl Onnée revealed that the Shadows will feature a dynamic weather system that will change depending on the season.
As players spend time exploring the open world of 1579 Japan and progress through the campaign, the game will continue to evolve through the spring, summer, fall and winter, with each season bringing its own weather conditions that present new challenges will introduce you, while also creating a sense of realism in the environment you explore.
“We really pushed to make sure that gameplay and art are not separate, but intertwined,” Onnée said.
Onnée further explains that during the summer, players can lie on their stomachs or crawl under a body of water and hide from enemies. However, when winter arrives, the water will be frozen.
Likewise, in the spring the grass will grow tall and the bushes will leaf out, allowing players to hide from patrolling enemies, but in the winter they will become bare and wither away.
As you climb rooftops, icicles can also break and fall, revealing your position to enemies, but strong winds will conceal your movements. Guardians will also congregate in warmer areas when old, meaning players will need to adapt their paths to weather conditions.
“Players will have to constantly adapt to what the environment gives them,” says creative director Jonathan Dumont.
Art director Thierry Dansereau explains that the reason the seasons change depending on the players’ progress in the story is to ensure that the world remains “authentically possible to match historical events,” but that during side quests “It may happen that you have a quest in the fall and I will play the same quest and in the summer.”
“So it depends on the system and the way you play your game,” he adds.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on November 15 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Xbox Series S, Amazon Luna and PC.