Assassin’s Creed Shadows drops with four difficulty options that you will be able to pick from before you can start with the campaign. Each of the options offers something different, allowing you to stylize the experience in whichever way you want.
If you are a veteran of the franchise or are new to the action-adventure genre, there is a difficulty setting for everyone.
Moreover, the game also offers two different narrative modes which will further let you tweak how you want to tackle the story. This is split between Cannon and Immersive where the latter will introduce a significant amount of RPG elements to Shadows.
So if you are wondering which difficulty setting and narrative option you should be picking then the guide below will help you out.
Which difficulty option should you pick in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
As mentioned, there are four difficulty settings in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the list below will go over all of them and which players they are best suited for:
| Difficulty Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Story | The Story mode is ideal for those players who are just looking to enjoy the narrative and not delve much into combat. Gameplay is going to be fairly simple and is recommended for those who are new to the franchise or even the action-adventure genre. Naoe: She will be harder to detect. Yasuke: Will have a much easier time overpowering enemies. |
| Forgiving | Forgiving is a bit more challenging than story and enemies are going to be considerably stronger. It’s still going to be a good option for new players. Naoe: Will not be as hard to detect but will tell be able to stealth through most situations. Yasuke: Can still overpower normal enemies but larger foes will be difficult to take out. |
| Normal | Normal is how the Ubisoft Developers intended the game to be played. It balances stealth and combat and you will need to use your wits to approach missions. Naoe: She will need to be stealthy more often and think of different ways to approach the objective. Yasuke: Powerful foes become much more challenging than Yasuke and you will need to be on point with his combat mechanics. |
| Expert | The Expert setting is for veterans of the franchise. The difficulty is going to be very challenging and you will need to constantly be aware of the enemy attacks and patterns. Naoe: She will need to avoid conflict and assassinate her way to key targets. Taking her enemies out without getting detected. Naoe is very squishy and one hit from the more powerful enemies in the Expert setting will 100-to-0 her. Yasuke: Yasuke gets even more powerful enemies to face off against making it harder for him to overwhelm others in combat. |
Note: Apart from the difficulty spikes changing the options will also determine how effective your weapons are. In Story and Forgiving you will not need to keep leveling your weapons to match your character or region level. However, in Normal and Expert, it’s important to keep leveling your tools or you are barely going to do any damage to the enemy once you start unlocking new regions.
How to Customize the Difficulty after starting the game in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
If you feel the game to be too difficult or too easy, you will be able to customize the difficulty setting by making your way to the Gameplay tab from the main menu. Here you will need to select the Difficulty Tuning option and you will be able to alter some of the individual preferences.
You can individually change the Combat and Stealth difficulty separately allowing you a lot of freedom to customize the gameplay experience in whichever way you want.
The tab also has an option called Guaranteed Assassination which will let you insta-kill an enemy irrespective of their health when you have this enabled.
What is guided Exploration in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
To find your targets in Assassins’ Creed Shadows, you will need to follow the clues they left behind and solve them. Alternatively, you can also send out Scouts who will check specific areas and seek out the target that you are looking for.
However, by enabling Guided Exploration, you will be able to skip this entire investigation process and find your targets right away. The option is available in the New Game Setup menu right before you start the campaign, but do keep in mind that by switching this on you will not be able to unlock certain achievements and trophies.
All narrative modes in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
There are two types of narrative modes that you will be able to pick from in Shadows:
1) Canon Mode
In Canon Mode, you play the story as was intended. Yasuke and Naoe’s dialog options will be set and you will not get any choices during cutscenes. This mode is for a more streamlined experience which lets you focus more on the story.
2) Immersive Mode
The Immersive Mode introduces some RPG elements to the story. Apart from being able to pick certain dialogues, you will also be able to hear the characters speak their own languages. It will lock the voicess to Japanese and you will find Japanese and Portuguese dialects all throughout the story.
Difficulty will also be determined by the character you pick in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
The challenges you face in Shadows will also be determined by the characters that you pick and the type of playstyle that you are going for. Naoe for example is fast and nimble, and her core playstyle revolves around staying in the shadows and picking off one target after another without being detected.
So if you like this sort of playstyle, then you are likely going to have a much easier time in progression.
Yasuke on the other hand is a brawler with barely any mobility and stealth tools in this kit. He is all about charging in and overwhelming enemies by force. His playstyle is ideal for those who want a more combat-oriented approach to the game. if you like combo-heavy characters then picking Yasuke will scale down the difficulty for you significantly.
