Assassin's Creed Shadows' prologue is the most gripping in franchise history, but I'm fixated on the tiny details

For a game as cinematic as Assassin's Creed Shadows, the smallest details are leaving the biggest impressions on me. It's a subtle spread of immersive tweaks; while climbing snow-capped cliffs in search of a shrine, the sucking weight of each footstep has me mirroring Naoe's laboured breaths. Marvelling at the sunlight-dappled trees from atop a vantage point is a beautiful sight, but careening off it and stumbling as I find my footing is more charming still. The combined effect is a powerful one. At just three hours in, I've learned, done, and felt more than I have in any of the best Assassin's Creed games that came before.

But not only is Assassin's Creed Shadows a stunning world to experience, it's peppered with mechanical quality-of-life overhauls that I didn't know I'd been missing in past entries. Experiencing each one during the game's prologue had me almost whooping for joy – so much so, I was very nearly distracted from how explosive of an introduction it is.

Following the leader

I can't look baby Ezio in the eye while I say this, but Assassin's Creed Shadows has the best prologue and introductory sequence of any Creed game I've ever played. Brute-forcing my way through enemies as Yasuke, his violent hacking, slashing, and wanton destruction of property presented through Ghost of Tsushima-like widescreen action, only to have the perspective shifted from aggressor to aggrieved as my heart shatters during Naoe's origin story? Devastating in the best way. But two things make the quieter moments just as impactful as any action-packed stab-a-thon. Namely, auto-follow and pathfinder.

Call me lazy or impatient, but one of my biggest gripes in any video game is when you have to follow an NPC and have a nice old chat. I can't be the only one who feels they never move at the correct pace, forever running ahead of my "leader" in Assassin's Creed Odyssey or trailing far behind them. With my walking pace too slow and my jogging pace too fast, a constant battle repeatedly emerges as I fight with the game to let me just do the thing – and end up ignoring everything being said to me in the process. So, as soon as I see the "auto-follow" on-screen instruction in Assassin's Creed Shadows, it's safe to say I leap down its nonexistent throat.

Holding down the A button on my Xbox controller, something beautiful happens. Naoe falls into step, beside but slightly behind her father, and I can simply sit back and take it all in. Auto-follow is a tiny addition in the grand scheme of things, by far one of Ubisoft Quebec's more subtle tweaks to both the style and execution of a Creed game, but it's an incredibly helpful tool on multiple accounts.

Auto-follow means I'm no longer playing a stilted game of tag with NPCs, obviously. But most importantly, being able to automatically follow a character leans the game even further into its cinematic DNA. There I was, taking in Naoe's father's words undistracted, picking up on all the subtleties of the script and his deliverance of them in the process, and I found myself actively listening. It's a known thing that many Creed heroes lose someone dear to them in each opening salvo, and though many of these special someones have been love interests in past games, I don't feel I've ever formed an emotional bond with any of them quite as I did with Chichue. In a way, I owe it all to auto-follow – and my total inability to multitask making it all the more satisfying.

Horse by the nose

Later on in the Shadows prologue, the siege of Iga well underway, I'm introduced to yet another delightfully welcome fix to a pet Assassin's Creed peeve of mine: riding my damn horse.

It's true that loveable mounts and other animal companions are two things I look forward to in any game, but without a minimap to guide me, I'm pretty useless. Time and time again, after finally accepting that I can't make a horse canter vertically up a mountain like a hooved and hairy Spider-Man, I surrender myself to the idle trappings of auto-riding to marked destinations. In open world RPGs, this can take ages. Who has the patience for that? Certainly not me.

Long have I wished for a nice middle ground between fast travel, auto-riding, and simply clambering across maps on foot in my infinite stubbornness. Enter: pathfinder. Instead of taking the literal and figurate reins from my hands completely, Assassin's Creed Shadows' pathfinder carves out a visible path to follow through the underbrush that I simply must follow. I can control the horse – or myself, if no mount is present – along the journey, stopping and starting at my leisure if I see something interesting on the way. I can already foresee how useful pathfinder will be later in a huge RPG like this, no longer forced to race past imperilled civilians at my horse's unwavering behest, but instead able to simply dismount and investigate. Also, the way Naoe autonomously leaps onto her horse after summoning it, no pesky "mount" interaction needed? Smooth as silk, every time.

I'm still early on in my Assassin's Creed Shadows adventure, but I'm already getting plenty of use out of both auto-follow and pathfinder. They feel like accessibility tools that should always have been staples, fluidly merging story and exploration into one cohesive, hassle-free experience. That alone speaks volumes of how far Ubisoft Quebec is extending itself in the name of innovation – and on behalf of all ADHD sufferers out there, I offer my thanks.

Also still in those early game hours? Check out our Assassin's Creed Shadows tips and kick things off right