As you prepare to start a playthrough of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the game will ask you to make a few important choices. This includes a Canon Mode that removes choices from dialog exchanges and an Immersive Mode that makes everyone speak Japanese or Portuguese rather than English. One of the things players can toggle on or off here will have a massive impact on the gameplay experience: Guided Exploration Mode.
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While Assassin’s Creed Shadows tends to be vaguer regarding the location of objectives, turning on Guided Exploration Mode gives the player a clearer indication of where they should head. Although I tried sticking it out and not using Guided Exploration Mode at first, I had a way better time exploring Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ open world once I turned it on. While using Guided Exploration Mode might become a contentious topic, I’m glad Ubisoft included it for those of us who want to get straight to the action.
The in-game description for Guided Exploration Mode explains that it “disables the pathfinding experience and replaces it with simplified objectives markers, streamlining exploration at the cost of removing and modifying intended gameplay element.” While Ubisoft games have historically gotten flack for being open-world games that laden the player’s map with many icons and objectives, Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t typically function like that.
Instead, players will get a vaguer direction toward a person’s location or place relevant to the mission. For example, one quest had me search for a messenger, but by default, the game would only tell me vague location information like “he is in Yamashiro” and “he is southeast of Arashiyama,” so I could generalize the location on the map. From there, Assassin’s Creed Shadows urges the player to use a Scout on that general area within the game’s map menu.
Doing so will reveal points of interest on the map. Then, I could go to that location near those general points of interest, find a high-up vantage point, and look around, focusing until I see a blue dot. Once I walk up to the character in question, I can then start that mission. This kind of nonlinear mission design feature is meant to make a game more immersive. Ubisoft doesn’t want players hopping in and out of menus as much, so Assassin’s Creed Shadows encourages players to walk around and explore by default.
I don’t love this gameplay loop. The world design of Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t as strong as games with similar systems, like Red Dead Redemption 2. That means I’d find myself more frustrated and lost than feeling like a skilled detective as I search for a mission objective. While the intention is likely to make the player feel like an assassin stalking a target, I often found this to be busy work to increase playtime. As soon as that reality settled in, I toggled on Guided Exploration Mode and had a much better time with the game as it pointed me directly where I needed to go.
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My enthusiasm for Guided Exploration Mode may come from how I was playing the game. I juggled playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows with other games and work, so I’m less inclined to embrace a gameplay system that vastly increases my playtime for little gain. I also don’t care about being locked out of certain achievements because of using this mode, and I wanted to progress through the game to see how its story unfolds more than anything else.
For players who get more of a kick out of exploration and enjoy games that make nailing down where to go and what to do a bit more difficult, the default way to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows might be more enjoyable. Still, I appreciate that Ubisoft included Guided Exploration Mode for players like myself. Through that mode and features like Memory Shards in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft has committed to wanting players to see its games through and not be put off by obtuse mission or world design.
There’s an argument to be made that this approach to design makes its game a little too smooth and easy to play. That’s why I respect Guided Exploration Mode being an optional toggle, not the default. Regardless, if you’re a player like me who wants a little more direction to enjoy the game more, don’t be afraid to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows with Guided Exploration Mode toggled on.
