Assassin's Creed Shadows channels the MCU with an intro that celebrates Ezio, Altair, and other heroes from the series' 17-year history

Assassin's Creed Shadows has launched at long last, and its intro animation is a full circle moment for the 17-year-old stealth-turned-open world RPG series.

As shared in various social media clips (and independently verified by GamesRadar+), if you boot up Assassin's Creed Shadows you'll be greeted with a nostalgic trip down memory lane celebrating some of the long-running series' most beloved characters, including fan-favorites like Ezio Auditore, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Edward Keway, and Arno Dorian, as well as lesser-known heroes like Aveline de Grandpré, the protagonist of the 2012 spinoff originally released for PS Vita, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, and Evie Frye, one of Assassin's Creed Syndicate's heroes.

We also see newer Assassin's Creed protagonists, including Bayek from Origins, Kassandra from Odyssey, and Eivor from Valhalla.

This technically isn't the first time we've seen this animation, as Ubisoft previously revealed it online, but it is the first time we're seeing it in an Assassin's Creed game, which is giving it some renewed attention. As Shadows is the franchise's first new mainline entry in almost five years, it's pretty darn neat to see it pay tribute to the cast of characters that built the foundation for Yasuke and Naoe to shine as the series' newest heroes.

And, in case you're wondering if Shadows is worth the long wait, why don't I point you to our Assassin's Creed Shadows review, which awarded the game a commendable 4/5 stars and called it "a titan in the same leagues as series staples Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag – and Ubisoft's best RPG to date."

For what it's worth, it's also breaking all sorts of records on Steam – in a good way.

Drop everything, because I just found out Assassin's Creed Shadows' ninja province was real.