Assassin's Creed Shadows: Complete Beginner's Guide

Getting Started in AC Shadows

The prologue plays as Yasuke before introducing Naoe — both are available after the opening hours. Early game: focus on unlocking both protagonists' basic toolkit before investing heavily in either skill tree. Your hideout in Iga Province serves as the base of operations; upgrade it early for passive bonuses to assassinations and crafting material yields.

The investigation structure requires completing three to four Bureau objectives before each major target becomes accessible. Unlike Mirage's compact Baghdad, Shadows' objectives are spread across large regional areas — use your mount for cross-region travel and Eagle Vision equivalent (Naoe's Scouting capability) to mark objectives before approaching.

Naoe vs. Yasuke — When to Use Each

Use Naoe for: all stealth missions, assassination targets, indoor infiltrations, and any objective marked with a skull icon (assassination required). Use Yasuke for: combat-heavy missions, escorting objectives, open-world fort clearing, and any mission that explicitly spawns you into combat. Using the wrong protagonist for a mission type significantly increases difficulty.

Priority Upgrades

Naoe: Smoke Bomb (crowd control), Chain Assassination (kill 3 targets in sequence), Grappling Hook speed upgrades, and kunai capacity increase. Yasuke: Katana Mastery (damage), Shield Breaker (removes armored guard protection), Naginata AOE sweep, and Poise upgrade (resist stagger from heavy enemy attacks). Both: Eagle Vision range upgrades are universally useful.

Essential Tips

1. Seasonal timing matters. Rain reduces enemy hearing — ideal for Naoe infiltrations. Winter snow muffles footsteps but slows traversal speed.
2. Build the hideout's Informant Network first. It reveals all target locations on your region map automatically.
3. Dynamic patrols change with seasons. Guards who patrol outdoors in summer move inside during winter storms.
4. Fast travel requires discovered viewpoints — prioritize climbing viewpoints in each new region before attempting missions there.
5. Yasuke's heavy attacks are slow but unblockable — use them against armored targets and brutes who resist Naoe's quick attacks.
6. The wanted system (Shadows' equivalent of notoriety) resets between regions — focus heavily on one region at a time to maintain stealth viability.
7. Liberated settlements provide crafting materials passively — liberate at least two settlements per region before attempting major targets.

First Major Target: The Compass Investigation

Your first major Order of the Ancients target requires completing three investigation objectives spread across Settsu Province. Use Naoe to scout all three locations with the Eagle View ability before entering any — identify the minimum guard count and patrol pattern for each. The documents objective is best completed at night (guards are fewer and slower). After completing all three objectives, the target's location is revealed in Osaka Castle — use Yasuke for the final confrontation as it ends in open combat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long is AC Shadows?
A: Main story is 40–50 hours. Full completion across all regions and side content is 80–100 hours.

Q: Is Yasuke a real historical figure?
A: Yes — Yasuke was a historical African man who served Oda Nobunaga in 1579–1582 and was documented as the first African samurai in Japan.

Q: Do I need to play Mirage or Valhalla first?
A: No — Shadows is a standalone story set in a new time period with new characters. No prior AC knowledge required.

Q: How do seasons change gameplay?
A: Each season modifies enemy behavior, visual density of cover (more in autumn/summer, less in winter), and weather effects on detection ranges.

Q: Which protagonist is better for beginners?
A: Yasuke — his combat is more forgiving than Naoe's stealth-focused mechanics. Start with Yasuke for open-world clearing, then develop Naoe for assassination missions.