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It's finally happened: Assassin's Creed Shadows is going full meta. Naoe and Yasuke's journey is still a story within a story, but this time, it's framed through the Animus Hub. You, the player, are using the Animus – not Layla, Loki, or anyone else – and that means our perception of the past could well be manipulated.
At least, that's how things are looking to me. I'm currently 21-hours deep in Ubisoft Quebec's gorgeous new RPG, and the only signs of modern day storytelling have come from the Animus itself. These moments of direct address, so far only experienced during the game's opening hours and halfway through Act 1, offer a repeated warning: the ancient memories I am experiencing are somewhat fragmented. This is pretty standard fare in any AC game, but the breath of fresh air here is that I'm no longer being asked to care about any of the other modern day protagonists introduced since Assassin's Creed 3. In a way, I am the main character – and I could really get used to it.
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Once upon a time, a modern day storyline was absolutely intrinsic to Assassin's Creed's DNA. I'm talking about the good old days of Altair and Ezio, where black box missions, tighter narrative experiences, and gripping sci-fi-meets-historical worldbuilding edified the up-and-coming Ubisoft series as home of the best stealth games of its time. But when Assassin's Creed Origins pivoted sharply into RPG territory, those days were numbered.
The reality is simple. Assassin's Creed's modern day storyline should have died with Desmond at the end of Assassin's Creed 3. Desmond was the heart of the series' 21st century narrative, the brevity and linearity of these early Creed games putting the parallel narratives on equal footing. Jumps between time periods felt fluid and intentional rather than distracting, showing the Animus' "bleeding effect" at work as Desmond adopts traits of his assassin ancestors over time. It comes to a head in Assassin's Creed 3, when a heroic Desmond uses this knowledge to sacrifice himself, save humanity from a catastrophic event, and ultimately bridge that gap between worlds past, present, and non-temporal.
This dramatic finale left Ubisoft with a weird conundrum. The story of Assassin's Creed is built upon the centuries-long adversity between the Templars and the Brotherhood, a bitter war stretching right up to the modern day – but Desmond himself connected those timelines. Was there a future to Assassin's Creed's present day without him?
I'm excited for a modern day Creed scenario that doesn't feel like an afterthought – and isn't trying to replace Desmond.
Yes, there was. Ubisoft has tried all sorts of neat tricks to try and recapture our interest in the series' modern saga, only for each attempt to fall flat. Layla's narrative arc was so unpopular that Assassin's Creed Odyssey sought to make it optional, the player able to complete Kassandra and Alexios' storylines almost completely without interruption. Later, Valhalla went to even greater lengths to do the complete opposite – it tries to tie past to present by turning Norse gods into time-hopping Isu warriors, capable of travelling from 872 AD Viking Britain to 2022 in a flash while trapping Layla in The Grey with our dearly departed Desmond.
More bizarre yet, most of that is unveiled in the game's optional true ending – totally separate from Eivor's journey, and yet key to understanding exactly why any of this matters at any point in time at all. Basim, aka Loki, proved an equally unpopular modern day "hero" in 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage – he's literally the bad guy, after all – and the whole mess left me wondering what could possibly come next. Which is why I could kiss the digitized walls of the Animus Hub for "enhancing, not overshadowing, the historical journey" in Assassin's Creed Shadows with its simple meta framing.
It might be a one-off reprieve from the time-bending confusion of the last two games, but I'm excited for a modern day Creed scenario that doesn't feel like an afterthought – and isn't trying to replace Desmond, for a change. By situating the modern storyline, whatever it may be, within the Animus itself, Ubisoft has killed two birds with one Piece of Eden. On one hand, the Animus Hub is intended as a "singular entry point" to the franchise, a platform from which past and upcoming Assassin's Creed games can be launched and played. But we also know that the hub has some level of interaction with Shadows itself.
Is this a sign that modern day Creed is going full meta, implicating the player in a new narrative surrounding sentient technology, time travel, or some other sci-fi intrigue previously touched upon? Is Juno the one addressing us through the Animus? And will we ever see Desmond and Layla ever again? Honestly, I could do without the latter - but everything else? Sign me up.
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