Assassin's Creed Shadows Parkour Delay

You may recall that Assassin's Creed Shadows was going to launch on the 14th February before its second and most recent delay, which pushed it back to the 20th March.

But why was the open world title hit with such a sudden delay in the first place? Well, according to director Charles Benoit, it boiled down to the game's parkour system.

Benoit told IGN: "The Japanese architecture, the roofs [are] super complex — probably the most complex thing that I ever worked with if we compared to Odyssey and Syndicate. We needed specific codes and specific animations to support something super fluid, changing the transition of the parkour to make it even more fluid."

The director's explanation continues: "So that's one of the specific feedback that we heard that we wanted to address, and it really improved since the last few months." Hey, sounds good to us!

Indeed, the most recent RPG-leaning Assassin's Creed games — Origins, Odyssey, and especially Valhalla — have really strayed from the series' once trademark parkour systems, much to the despair of some fans who have been playing since the days of Ezio.

It's promising, then, to hear that Shadows is revisiting the franchise's roots — at least when it comes to dashing across architecture. Clearly, parkour is one aspect that the development team wanted to get right, so here's hoping that the delay helped them achieve their goals.

Having recently played a few hours of Assassin's Creed Shadows at a preview event, we're certainly looking forward to seeing how the finished product fares. Naoe — the game's shinobi protagonist — is kitted out with all kinds of new climbing, running, and leaping animations, backing up Benoit's comments.

Are you happy to hear of parkour's (hopefully triumphant) return in Assassin's Creed Shadows? Watch your footing in the comments section below.

How important is parkour to an Assassin's Creed game? (638 votes)

  1. Parkour should always be the focus of Assassin's Creed%
  2. It should be an important part of the overall game%
  3. Eh, it's a part of AC, but I've never cared about it that much%
  4. Honestly, I prefer less focus on parkour in Assassin's Creed%

[source ign.com]