Become shinobi and samurai in Assassin's Creed Shadows, launching November 15th

As promised, Ubisoft revealed the next entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise today – Assassin’s Creed Shadows – and it’s launching November 15^th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Amazon Luna, the Ubisoft Store and Epic Games Store. Players who purchase the Gold Edition or Ultimate Edition will get three days early access to the game.

The team behind Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Ubisoft Quebec – is the lead studio behind Shadows, and they’re finally taking us to feudal Japan, a location that fans have begged to visit in the AC universe for years now. You will play as Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a samurai as they work for the brotherhood during a tumultuous time in Japan’s history.

Naoe and Yasuke’s playstyle complement each other, with Naoe favoring stealth and Yasuke open combat. Each character has their own progression, skills, and weapons, allowing you to approach situations however you choose. Of course, it wouldn’t be a modern AC game without a sprawling open world, and Shadows is no different. This rendition of 16^th century Japan has been built on the latest version of Ubisoft’s Anvil engine exclusively for current-gen consoles, which is music to this shinoburai’s ears.

Shadows will also tap into some other familiar franchise features, but in its own way. You will be able to establish a network of spies to provide you information on targets and parts of the map. Additionally, some allies can be recruited to help you execute missions. All of this is coordinated at your customizable hideout where you can alter the layout, accessories, and decorations to make it your own.

Pre-orders are available now across storefronts, and include the typical Standard, Gold, and Ultimate Editions for $69.99, $109.99, and $129.99, respectively. The latter two include the Season Pass, in addition to the three days early access to the game.

We still need to see gameplay, which is no doubt coming at Ubisoft Forward on June 10^th, but it would have to suffer a massive blunder at that event for me to not pick up Assassin’s Creed Shadows later this year.