Ubisoft says Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature fewer hand-held map icons and more player-controlled exploration

Assassin’s Creed Shadows – assuming its release isn’t delayed a third time – is almost upon us, and ahead of its March release, Ubisoft is continuing its series of deep dives, highlighting some of the ways this latest entry in the series will be. break tradition. And this time it’s exploration, which promises to be a little more player-driven and less like blowing up a map marker factory.

In its latest blog post, Ubisoft says Assassin’s Creed Shadows is making “major changes and additions” to world exploration to “foster a unique sense of discovery” as players roam the world. The goal, as explained, is to move away from the overabundance of icons and markers on the map that “hold hands” and move towards an open world where information is “the key (and) a form of reward.” So, instead of being given a ton of interesting places right away, players will have to find and obtain information – either directly through their spies, or through NPCs on their travels.

For example, the world map will initially only show region names and vague illustrative hints of potential key locations, with more detailed information being revealed as players explore regions, sub-regions, and local points of interest. Notably, players will eventually gain scouts that can be sent ahead to pinpoint more precise locations of quest targets.

One of Assassin’s Creed’s most iconic exploration features is also getting an overhaul: viewpoints (also known as sync points) now behave slightly differently. In Shadow mode, sync no longer detects a clutter of map icons over a large area, instead identifying nearby key points of interest that can be manually marked and added to the compass. Ubisoft says the goal is to give players “a more focused and active way to find their next adventure.”

Likewise, the classic eagle companion is now ditched, and players will instead need to find a good vantage point to observe the surrounding area and plan their approach, manually searching for and marking valuable items, enemies, and so on.

Also new are shelters known as kakurega, which players can purchase. They provide “safe” fast travel points (detected viewpoints also unlock fast travel, but they are often in enemy danger zones), as well as other useful features. For example, players can replenish rations, tools, and ammunition; gain access to their cache of equipment; manage and accept contracts; Replenish scouts and manage allies who can be called to help.

Elsewhere in the Ubisoft update, there’s mention of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows goal board, a version of the visual quest log previously featured in Mirage that expands to show new goals and objectives as new characters and challenges are introduced. Or rather, it reveals clues that point to the location of new capabilities that players must piece together in more specific directions—unless they want their scouts to do the heavy lifting for them.

Ubisoft is also highlighting Shadows’ Pathfinder tool, which, given that more rugged terrain has been added this time around, is meant to help players avoid false shortcuts that would increase their travel time. When a quest is tracked and its location is revealed (or when players manually place a marker on the map), Pathfinder can be used while on horseback to draw an overlaid white line on the ground, showing the shortest route to the player’s destination.

A few more details of the research can be found in Ubisoft’s latest blog post – and if that intrigues you enough, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now set to release on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC on March 20th. Ubisoft recently delayed the game’s release once again (previously scheduled for February 14) as it explores potential sales options.