In an alternate timeline, Assassin's Creed Shadows would have been released last month, but thanks to a delay, we now have to wait until next February. It sounds like the devs at Ubisoft have been making the most of the extra time, though, according to creative director Jonathan Dumont.
During an 'ask me anything' session on Reddit yesterday, the Assassin's Creed Shadows team was asked how the focus of development on the game has shifted since the decision was made to move its launch to next year. Based on Dumont's reply, it sounds like there's been a solid mix of bug-squashing and fine-tuning to gameplay mechanics to make sure they're the best they can be.
Comment from r/assassinscreed
"The delay has helped focus on polish, debug and balancing," Dumont says. "It honestly has been great to be able to tweak the game and push the overall quality. We've been able to make changes and tweaks on parkour for example, or touch up parry mechanics or work on cinematic transitions. For example, we felt there was a stickiness in the parkour, the delay allowed us to accelerate the responsiveness of inputs and fix rooftop behaviors that were impeding on Naoe's fluidity. The team is making something we are all proud of with this extra time."
With all that in mind, it definitely sounds like Shadows will be better off for its delay. Awkward-feeling parkour wouldn't have gone down well, so it's a relief that it's apparently been ironed out ahead of the game's updated February 14 release.
This same Reddit AMA has revealed loads of interesting tidbits of information about Shadows, including the inclusion of a 'canon mode,' which sounds perfect for anyone particularly indecisive as it makes all the choices for you. It's also been claimed that the length of the main story is "comparable to Origins/Odyssey and Valhalla," which suggests it could be anywhere between 30 and 60 hours long, so you might want to prepare yourself for a lengthy adventure.
