Assassin’s Creed: Shadows (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £69.99)
Verdict: A wealth of stealth
At last. After almost two decades of historical backstabbing — and a four-month delay for this particular entry — the Assassin’s Creed series has finally made it to feudal Japan, the land of samurai and shinobi.
In fact, it’s taken so long to get there that you can’t help but feel that other games have stolen a march on Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Take 2019’s Sekiro, or 2020’s Ghosts Of Tsushima, or last year’s Rise Of The Ronin; all of them slashed their way through Japan’s past.
But it turns out that this archipelago is big enough for another release. Or, rather, Shadows is big enough to make a stand against its rivals. This is a supreme Assassin’s Creed game. A supreme game.
Partially, this is because Shadows contains all of Assassin’s Creed — and then some. It’s got the freewheeling stealth-play of the earlier titles. It’s got the bombastic narrative and expansive open world of the more recent titles.
New here, however, is the idea of having two main protagonists with interwoven stories and individual play styles.
Naoe is a little ninja who spends most of her time in the eponymous shadows.
New here, however, is the idea of having two main protagonists. Naoe is a little ninja who spends most of her time in the eponymous shadows and Yasuke is a hulking samurai whose métier is big swords and big sticks
At last. After almost two decades of historical backstabbing — and a four-month delay for this particular entry — the Assassin’s Creed series has finally made it to feudal Japan , the land of samurai and shinobi
Shadows contains all of Assassin’s Creed — and then some. It’s got the freewheeling stealth-play of the earlier titles. It’s got the bombastic narrative and expansive open world of the more recent titles
Yasuke is a hulking samurai whose métier is big swords and big sticks.
Then there are the smaller innovations, like your ability to extinguish lights. Other games have done these things before, but here they help to freshen up a series that might otherwise go stale.
Oh, and the countryside! Between Shadows and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, this year has delivered two of the best-ever digital recreations of the great outdoors — all undulations and foliage and flying bugs.
Indeed, this Japan is so beautiful that it rather distracts from Shadows’ flaws, such as how its story is a little disjoint… cor, look, cherry blossom!
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch, £49.99)
Verdict: Planet B is A-plus
We are now officially in the dying days of the Greatest Console in History. But fear not! Within months, Nintendo’s glorious hybrid handheld-and-home device, the Switch, will be replaced by a hopefully just-as-glorious hybrid handheld-and-home device, the Switch 2.
Even so, this release of Xenoblade Chronicles X feels like a last hurrah. It will still be playable on the Switch 2, but it is the last major release of the original Switch era — and it sums up so much of what’s made that era special.
Here is another game from Nintendo’s past — X was originally released for the ill-fated Wii U in 2015 — renewed for today’s gamers.
Here is another beautiful open world to sit alongside that of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
Here is another way to occupy your every commute and lazy Sunday afternoon for the rest of the year.
If you haven’t played a Xenoblade game before, then just know that they make up one of the greatest (and perhaps most underrated) series of Japanese roleplaying games.
Even so, this release of Xenoblade Chronicles X feels like a last hurrah. It will still be playable on the Switch 2, but it is the last major release of the original Switch era
If you haven’t played a Xenoblade game before, then just know that they make up one of the greatest (and perhaps most underrated) series of Japanese roleplaying games
X is the most science-fiction-y of the lot, involving, as it does, a human community stranded on an alien planet.
It is your job to repel the space baddies who have chased you there, as well as dealing with the often-hostile local fauna.
There is a lot to get to grips with: the game’s unusual, semi-automated combat system; the balancing of your weapons, armour and companions; menu screen after menu screen. And that’s without mentioning its best gameplay feature: the flying, all-powerful mech-suits that you eventually get to pilot.
But the effort is worth it, for the privilege of exploring planet Mira. This is one of hugest, most colourful locations in all gaming, full of weird plants and weirder sky behemoths. Make it humanity’s home away from home.
