ASSASSIN'S CREED: SHADOWS

Ubisoft's signature series finds itself at a crossroads. After Valhalla concluded Assassin's Creed's trilogy-length RPG pivot back in 2020, it was three years - which felt like an eternity for this once-annual series - before Mirage arrived, with its promise of a return to the concept's stealthgame roots, and no pretence to the scale of its immediate predecessors.

Another change in direction, yet to be revealed, is promised by the forthcoming 'Codename Hexe, one of two vanguards of what was once known as Assassin's Creed Infinity (see 'Hub crawl').

Shadows is the other, turning its attention backwards, to the divergent paths this series has taken to this point and then trying to walk both at once.

Hence the dual protagonists. Shinobi Fujibayashi Naoe specialises in parkour and stealth and wields the Brotherhood's traditional hidden blade, nodding back to the series' origins. Meanwhile, samurai warrior Yasuke picks up the more combat-led approach AC has followed since Origins.

Indeed, the swordsman handles almost identically to Valhalla's Eivor, with the same FromSoftware-derived mix of light and heavy charged attacks, and the reflexes to parry every enemy blow except those that glow red. Once again, holding the right trigger acts as a kind of shift key for activating Adrenaline abilities with the face buttons, though this time it's joined by an equivalent system for summoning AI allies with the left trigger.

Yasuke is also armed with a teppo rifle, which can cycle between ammunition types (armour-piercing steel, explosive shrapnel, a somewhat inexplicable stun bullet), but in our time with Shadows this never quite seems to mesh with a character who specialises in engaging up close. To that end, the most consequential change is simply the removal of Valhalla's stamina bar, and thus any fear of overextending yourself. With enemies staggered by most hits, this makes it easy to barrel ahead without much concern.

In response, the game throws crowds of combatants your way, in large enough numbers that they seem to get confused about whose turn it is to attack, leading to long and awkward pauses between strikes. Often we strike out of sheer impatience, almost always at the exact moment an enemy finally decides to trigger their own attack animation.