updates to best games in the Assassin's Creed series.
But it's taking big steps toward a solution. to Naoe's acrobatic toolbox. They're not totally revolutionary, but they are a step in the right direction, and could go a long way towards making Shadows' parkour feel as fluid, flexible, and free as some of the best Assassin's Creed games.
Assassin's Creed Shadows Is Adding New Parkour Mechanics
What's Coming In The Parkour Update
According to the new roap, Assassin's Creed Shadows will be getting three new parkour features in an update coming late this May. Those are height-gaining back ejects, height-gaining side ejects, and a new vertical ledge jump. You can see all three new mechanics in action in the video above.
Still, for a brief explanation of the more technical terminology: the "height-gaining ejects" referred to here are moves that propel Naoe away from the surfaces she's currently climbing. The back eject has her pushing herself backwards and upwards off a wall. If you string these together between two walls in proximity, you can even do a Mario 64-style wall jump. The side eject lets Naoe jump from a ledge she's hanging onto a higher ledge to either side.
Next Assassin's Creed Shadows Update Could Easily Fix My Biggest Frustration
Assassin's Creed Shadows is missing one key feature that wouldn't require complex programming or game design overhauls to add in the future.
The vertical ledge jump is perhaps the least exciting to look at, but it has great potential to make Shadows' parkour more fluid. This ability allows Naoe to jump onto low-hanging ledges where wall-running and grappling aren't available. That means no more going around to find alternate routes upward; Naoe will be able to climb far more structures from every angle. It'll make it a lot easier to get started on what could eventually become legendary parkour runs.
Back & Side Ejects Make Assassin's Creed Parkour Great
Classic-Style Parkour
These may seem like fairly minor changes, but they actually have a lot of potential for changing how AC Shadows is played. Assassin's Creed parkour has changed quite a bit over the years, but it's at its best when players have options. It's definitely trended towards automation over the years; there's a lot less emphasis on choosing your own path across buildings, and a lot more on simply holding a button and letting the game figure out a path for you.
That can be satisfying, but paradoxically, it can also make accurate parkour more difficult. Having to travel along the game's predetermined parkour paths, without many options to choose the direction you're going in, can easily put you in a disadvantaged position, well within enemy sightlines. And considering how quickly enemies can notice you during certain weather conditions, and how hard AC Shadows punishes your stealth failures, that can spell disaster in a matter of moments.
But even having these two simple options will take Shadows' parkour in the right direction. It's worth noting that two of the three new parkour features being introduced are ejects - methods of getting you off the parkour path you're currently on. That'll help you break out of Shadows' predetermined routes. What's more, it'll give you new options for stealth, allowing you to quickly switch between two different sides of cover to avoid changing enemy sightlines.
Assassin's Creed Shadows Boss Fights Highlight The Game's Biggest Weakness
Assassin's Creed Shadows can be fun as both Yasuke and Naoe, but things don't work out quite the same in the game's main story boss fights.
The new ledge climb will help avoid parkour monotony, too. For the most part, I like the grappling hook mechanic in Shadows - I like using the rope to swing across large gaps, and with how tall certain buildings can be, and how mountainous the map is in general, a direct vertical climb is arguably necessary. But the fact of the matter is that using the grappling hook to climb straight up isn't fun. There's no challenge to it, it's not interesting to watch, and the targeting system is awkward.
Ledge climbs aim to fix this by making the process instant, and avoiding the monotony of ascending a rope. There's no more need to target ledges, or to risk being spotted while slowly climbing out in the open.
AC Shadows Parkour Has A Long Way To Go
The Heyday of AC Parkour Is Long Gone
Maybe I'm just blinded by nostalgia, but even with these changes, I think AC Shadows' parkour will still be far from perfect. For me, Assassin's Creed parkour peaked early, during the Ezio trilogy. The needless simplification of parkour controls from that point on didn't help, but the older games' better parkour is also just a result of their settings.
Older Assassin's Creed games take place entirely within dense, cosmopolitan cities - that means lots of tall buildings to climb up on and jump between. Unfortunately, that just doesn't translate to other settings where most people live in one-story houses. Shadows does a better job of it than Valhalla, which only had the occasional church spire. Most of the castles in feudal Japan are pretty massive, with several multi-story buildings surrounding a tiered, central tenshu. But these are rare bright spots in an otherwise pretty parkourless world.
I'm Annoyed Assassin's Creed Shadows Doesn't Make Better Use Of Its Best Feature
One of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ most crucial and heavily d features goes largely underused throughout the entire game, and it’s a shame.
But in Assassin's Creed 2, for example, almost every structure is multiple stories tall. You can run between them using laundry lines, or quickly ascend them using pulleys. Parkour isn't just a tool of stealth; it's a genuine traversal mechanic, and it's often the quickest way to get from one end of the map to the other.
I do have to it, though, that Shadows does a much better job with parkour than most AC games in recent memory. Still, I think its parkour leaves a little bit to be desired. At the very least, I'm glad to see the latest updates are taking Assassin's Creed Shadows' parkour in the right direction.
Source: Ubisoft/YouTube
Assassin's Creed Shadows
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- Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- March 20, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Quebec
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- AnvilNext
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