I've Played Most Assassin's Creed Games, & AC Shadows' Protagonists Are Exactly What I Wanted

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Keeping up with the series is a tall order, but it's one that I frequently get the urge to follow. While I haven't played all the games, I've parkoured my way through a lot, from entering the series with the iconic to trying out more sidelined titles like the PS Vita spin-off. I've started to fatigue with the scale of the modern open-world games, but after spending some time with at a hands-on preview event, I think it might just have the hook to get me excited again.

If there's any one thing I want out of an game, it's a sense of identity. While the hodgepodge additions and revisions to the series have always come together in imperfect ways, the entries that I find most memorable tend to have a big idea that the design actually commits to. In, the dual protagonists of Yasuke and Naoe feel like that big idea, and the execution isn't mired in the half-measures that lead to the franchise's biggest disappointments.

isn't the first game to feature dual protagonists. While the other open-world RPG entries have played around with male and female options, is the one that previously committed to swapping between playstyles. Even in, however, the difference isn't particularly pronounced, serving as a microcosm of a problem that's been weighing the series down for a while.

Ahead of Assassin's Creed Shadows releasing, Screen Rant sat down with Game Director Charles Benoit to discuss changes, split protagonists, and more.

Perhaps my biggest hot take is that isn't one of the weaker entries. While it introduced ideas that pulled the series away from its core strengths, it did so with thoughtfulness, launch bugs aside. I love how much is built around its protagonist, Connor, a step down from Ezio that does, at least, step somewhere. Connor acts very differently than Ezio does, but more importantly, he moves through the world differently. From his ballet of axe-based combat to weightier parkour that opens up pathways between trees, everything is rethought for the character at hand.