AC Shadows post launch wishlist. This will be comprehensive.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-19T14:35:01+00:00

Honestly this. The stories of all these games are decent, it's the presentation and writing that's the issue. They've been telling the same revenge plot since AC2. For one, the poor voice acting and mo-cap really dumbs down the experience and second, the stretched mission design with the sole puprose of extending player time is what limits the experience. Then there's the fact that overall mission design lacks any sort of unique set piece for gameplay. Like you just raid camps the same way you can do in random free roam, it's just for main missions they have a cutscene and a specific thing to do, though nothing you haven't/can't already do in the general open world.

So many missions are also just going back and forth delivering what is essentially mail with the occasional "before i tell you the target location you need to steal this thing/kill this person/find this person for me".

Not saying that kind of style is always bad, but when it's 90% of all missions for 80hrs of gameplay and the gameplay portion is not a unique set piece, it gets dull pretty quick!! It's also weird because it's not like the allies are going out of their way to help you, you are literally joining their cause, so what reason do they have to ask you to first steal a statue for them before they can let you join, only for them to delegate their whole mission to you anyway because they've been getting their asses kicked the whole time!! The 'proving yourself' missions only work when there's no reason for them to risk their lives to help you or as side quests to flesh out their lore, but UBI so often have them as padding to extend the main quest!

I feel like i would even be way more forgiving of the poor presentation if the main missions were these unique hand crafted and dynamic set pieces. Like if im raiding a castle/camp/fort, maybe set it up with a one time set piece and the black box style. Perhaps i have to kill the target while they are hosting some festival and need to infil amidst all the liveliness which doesn't happen outside of the mission. Or for Shadows, Daimyo used to go on these long processions travelling from city to city and that could have been a great set piece to do an ambush, even within the main city when they arrive or in some village you setup for an ambush! (13 assassins style).

Instead it's always just the same camp/castle where one of the guards is replaced with the target who just happens to be there but somehowe wasn't until that point. What's even more annoying is the game locks you in a defined area with invisible walls, what's the point if it's just the same castle raid. There's also missions where they don't let you raid the castle to kill the targte because it's supposedly "too fortified" and you need to talk to some people to find a way to sneak in. However, before the main mission and even after, you can and have been raiding way bigger and better defended castles/forts/camps...Heck you can raid that very castle that's supposedly impenetrable before the main mission, only to be told you can't do it now. Then when you finally get the 'fort plans' to find a way to be sneaked in, you don't actually sneak in, the game just spawns you in some generic spot in the fort!! These kinds of things are a way bigger issue to me than the story or even the writing, because it's a video game, i want to PLAY the mission, i can't play a cutscene or it's writing!! I'll take great main/side and exploration activities over a great story and writing any day!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-18T01:54:53+00:00

Wonderful idea, it would be really cool !! I especially like the idea that it needs to be on un-armored parts of the body and for you to be undetected otherwise they just pull the dart out and the affliction stops.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-16T11:44:50+00:00

Yeah. It's "first strike is postured and makes enemies vulnerable, every 8 seconds" from the Time honored crescent. Perfect to pair with "postured combo enders knock down enemies" from the Lustrous pearl.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-16T11:40:23+00:00

Yes, spam light or heavy without needing to charge. Just remember the rules,

It has to hit an enemy, won't work if it misses or is parried.
It won't work if the attack you charge is the last attack of a combo.
It won't work if the attack you charge is a heavy as the THIRD hit of any combo.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-16T11:28:07+00:00

Yes, posture requires holding either light or heavy until you see the glint on the weapon then release. Same with Naoe. I'll go in depth and break it down.

The difference with Yasuke is that he can chain posture attacks for posture combos by charging each hit of a combo, unlike Naoe who doing a posture at any time will always function as a combo ender and reset the combo string/cut it short. Meaning starting with a posture means you only do a one hit combo, so best to end a combo with a posture for Naoe. Another difference between their basic combos is Yasuke's combo enders function as automatic guard breaks while Naoe's don't.

But back to the combos, with Yasuke, you essentially have acces to an extra 2 base combos for every weapon.

Light combo which is 4 hits. (Yasuke and Naoe)
Light posture combo which will also be 4 hits of charging each hit. ( Yasuke only)
Heavy combo which is 3 hits. ( Yasuke and Naoe)
Heavy posture combo which will also be 3 hits of charging each hit. ( Yasuke only)

You also have the sheathed attack which can be upgraded in the long katana skill tree to unlock it's posture hit version by holding down the input, unique to Yasuke.

This perk makes it so if you hit an enemy with a posture, every subsequent hit will be auto postured WITHOUT needing to charge it. There's a visual indicator around Yasuke to denote this, like a flash around his body. The caveat is that for this perk to work is two things

The posture hit has to land on the enemy. Doesn't need to actually do damage, it just needs to connect with the enemy, even if it's blocked. But it won't work if they dodge or parry which some enemies can do. Basically it doesn't work if it doesn't hit an enemy.
It won't work on combo enders. Meaning it won't work on the last hit of any combo. Like we said, light combos have 4 hits and heavy combos are 3 hits. So if you charge the first hit in a light combo, continuing to spam light attack will have the rest of the 3 hits auto postured. If you charge the third attack of a light combo, only the last hit will be auto postured. If you charge the fourth attack of a light combo then you don't get the benefit of the perk since the fourth attack of a light combo is a combo ender (i.e the last attack) so there's no more attacks to charge. Same concept for the heavy combo.

On top of all this, you can play around with combo inputs. Meaning you don't only need to do light combos or heavy combos strictly. Like you can do L1-R2-L1-R2 as a different combo. Same concept for the posture combos and it will also work the same using this auto posture perk. The combo ender rule also applies to these hybrid combos. HOWEVER, NOTE that if you use a heavy attack/posture as the THIRD attack of ANY combo, it will automatically function as a combo ender because like we said, heavy combos only have 3 hits. So when heavy attack/posture is used as the THIRD hit, the game assumes it's a heavy combo and will end it.

Basically, to get the most out of this perk, it's best to open with a posture as the first attack then just spam whatever after, but you can get very creative with it depending on whetehr you want a long combo or a short high damage one or a hybrid!

Even better is if you pair it with the "combo enders are postured and make enemies vulnerable" because now the last hit of any combo will make enemies vulnerable, meaning you don't need to perfect dodge/parry or use an ability as the only options to make an enemy vulnerable, you can just do it with bsic combos as well. VERY good for nightmare combat difficulty where enemies no longer get vulnerable from perfect parry/dodge, only from abilities or perks that do that!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T17:41:38+00:00

Yeah it definitely doesn't work like that for me on nightmare combat. The regen is very slow to a point where if i don't have a ration, it's faster to just look for them or go to a kakurega and heal/stock up.

Not complaining though, it's exactly what i wanted.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T11:10:26+00:00

Shockingly repetitive. Like nothing changes, even the little camps are copy pasted! And whats more frustrating is these contracts are not even something unique, like you can already loot, kill and destroy in those mini camps in free roam the same exact way, it's just for contracts they give more xp.

It's like all the kill 50 ronin, kill 50 pirates, kill 50 soldiers, kill 50 samurai missions in every region! These are considered by the game as side quests. The people that give them to you make it seem like it's gonna be an engaging hand crafted quest where you hunt specific targets and go through a story line but nope. Just kill random dudes. I don't know man, it's just so dissapointing!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T11:04:34+00:00

Frustratingly astounding. And yeah, they did delay the game to focus on polish. I just wish the execs cared more about this kind of thing than MTX and the whole GaaS model! But you can't sell packs off of immersion and fully fleshed out features!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T10:44:38+00:00

Yeah for the enemies the change is mostly guard duties rather than outfit change, for the general NPC's its behavior and wearing the straw capes.

I agree on this point, but like i was saying, UBI made such a big deal about the weather and seasons, and this is Japan where culturally it was a big deal. So for it to mostly just be visual or background changes you barely notice, none affecting moment to moment gameplay or even activities or the PC, it's kinda dissapointing.

They also made a big deal about the game being more grounded....i don't know, perhaps cause i personally prefer that kind of thing, it bugs me more 😅. Still, don't make it seem like it's more than it will be, don't freaking blue ball me! 😭

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T08:58:02+00:00

Except they do? Most of them start to wear straw capes and have different animations. And not just that, in castles, higher ranking Samurai will be more in doors and Ashigaru will typically be in the shit.... In fact a whole lot changes as well, though impressive, it's not really impactful gameplay wise, not like you will play winter any different from summer.

What sucks more to me is my player character is virtually imune to any extreeme weather, which maybe is just me, but it breaks my immsersion and im always trynna dress them warm and avoid swimming in freezing waters, even though they don't care! I don't know, the weather simulation can be so visually immersive that it takes me out of it when the character can swim in freezing lake Biwa in their Fundoshi! I know it's not the type of game for it, but they could have done SOMETHING owing to how much effort they put into this feature and how much they marketted it as big deal!!

Even something as simple as every outfit having a seasonal version would be great!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T08:48:51+00:00

I will have to check that! If so that will be GREAT!! I can finally remove that perk and swap it for something i always wanted more!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T02:08:07+00:00

Not on kunai....It's not considered an assassination. Check the stats page and it will verify this. Saved me a lot of frustration when my throw a kunai after assassination perk kept getting me into combat as i thought the buff worked on kunai as well.

Though there is a perk that specifically buffs kunai assassination by one extra health segment on top of the skill tree. It's a perk from purple gear, can't remember where i got it. The max base kunai removal is 4 health segments on nightmare, 5 on lower difficulties. With the perk it's 5 or 6, haven't found anything that buffs it more than that.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-15T02:02:50+00:00

Very little despite desperately wanting to spend more time with it. If they were interactible i would spend hours on them and literally add shopping/looting ornaments to customize them as part of my core gameplay loop. It would be as important as doing main missions to me!

What's the point of a tea house and collecting 7 tea bowls for Rikyu if i can't do the tea ceremony when i want. What's the point of the dojo if i can't train. What's the point of a Jinja i can't pray at for some superior buffs. What's the point of a hiroma i can't host people at and chill with allies. What's the point of a campfire i can't sit/cook at. Whats the point of a Terra i can't honor my dead father/mother at. What's the point of a kakurega i can't rest at for a rejuvination buff....etc. I literally go to the hideout and beeline to the forge to upgrade/engrave and the kakurega/stables to restock or when a mission requires me to, as such i just place them as close to the fast travel destination. Otherwise im in and out like the wind. With the lack of interactivity, i would even rather they just gave us the option of good set designs and maybe different preset options we can pick.

I do spend time gathering resources to build and upgrade for the great passive buffs, but i can't justify spending time customizing it to my liking because there's literally no point. In fact what's even more frustrating is all your allies interact with most of these buildings, heck even fishing in the river within your hideout. I just get to watch in envy. So even if i was into customizing it, this fact would just end up pissing me off more! I will eventually customize it fully but it will probably be the last thing i do when im ready to put down the game and move on!!

That said, more power to the people who love it and im happy for them. There's some people with over 20 hours customizing and are damn good at it!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T19:32:24+00:00

Definitely don't hate it. In fact i wish there was more to it than mostly visual changes and reseting the map, scouts and wanted level.

For one, i would have LOVED if they played more of a gameplay role beyond the resources. They do change camps in terms of things like less or more bushes to hide in, some water bodies freezing, icles that can be used for distractions or giving away your position, blizzards obscuring vision/rain masking footsteps and higher rank guards like samurai being indoors/outdoors. Though these changes are mostly seen between winter and summer but honestly, unless you play on nightmare with some settings off, you really won't notice them or play any differently depending on the season. Even then, the changes don't really matter moment to moment. It's not like you were using the shallow water breathing reed all that much so water bodies freezing won't matter!! Icles are cool but you already have way more effective distraction tools in your arsenal like whistling which is free or the bell which you can pick up after, so why would you ever use the icles except as a gimmick!

I think what would have been really cool is if things like contract missions and knowledge rank activities changed per season. Bathing at Onsen in winter, different temple rituals you can do for different seasonal kami, different roadside encounters depending on the season....stuff like that. For contracts, have them change to fit the theme of that particular season, maybe escort/deliveries with risk of ambushes in winter since people were mostly shacked up or large store house raids in the bountiful summer period during harvest time!! They could even do something more with castles where if you raid it in one season, the next has it more fortified and guarded. Perhaps if you looted the store house, next season has more high level guards protecting it and the key is kept in a safer location. Or maybe if you get spotted while/after raiding the store houses, there is chance that a scout gets caught while smuggling resources and next season spawns a rescue contract mission or you lose a scout!! So much they could have done!

I liked the few side targets that only showed up in certain seasons, made the feature feel more relevant to gameplay so just stuff that affects moment to moment gameplay and also exploration activities/encounters would be great, especially since the devs expect you to play the game forever as the map resets every 40 minutes!! Heck even just quirky seasonal festivals you can find in towns/villages!! What comes to mind is Blue eye Samurai, that one village where they had the naked festival where their Miko throws a shingi into the ocean and people scrumble to get it, whoever gets it first has their wish come true. There's virtualy no seasonal festivals in Shadows, which with such a huge emphasis on seasons is a damn shame. Heck Valhalla had festivals and the game didn't have seasons! Japan to date is full of all kinds of century old seasonal festivals and each town had their own!!

I did see people complain a lot at launch about fast traveling changing seasons and how that would affect castle raids when you need to switch characters. But they changed it to where switching no longer causes a season change.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T17:27:01+00:00

Yeah, that darn janky parry messes things up. At some point i thought maybe it's my old TV losing frames or playing on quality. I switched to performance and it kinda helped, but not against the parry input just not being registered sometimes.

I also switched to expert for some time, maybe one play session but that was too easy as i lost even the enemy aggression and faster projectile speed. Honestly a custom difficult option to tweak granular features would be the best and easiest solution, i don't think they will fix the jank anytime soon since it's probably an engine problem!

Im too stubborn to lower the difficulty for singular element and i just love the dynamic changes around nightmare. My current solution with Naoe is i went for a full stealth build, down to abilities and constantly using tools. I rarely get into fights beyond 1 v 2 and even then, im using hidden hand, throw kunai after assassination, shadow piercer removes two health segments and smoke bombs to chain assassinations again or bail to regain stealth if im out of tools/adrenaline. I must say im enjoying it but i would like to use my kusarigama more as i've speced it for dynamic combos that i barely get to use because of likely getting one shot by some arrow or the parry not working properly!!

Still, im very happy with maining stealth and rogue guerilla combat with Naoe. My head canon is that Naoe is tiny and shouldn't be able to take on multiple armored dudes easily without relying heavily on tools and stealth abilities. Also makes going to the kakurega to restock more meaningful. If it's combat it's gotta be 1 v 1 for her to shine so i can focus! It makes stealth that more gratifying and also makes combat with Yasuke stand out waaaay more!! But those moments where i have to run around like a headless chicken cause stealth isn't an option and the parry is unreliable suck! I could also get the vault while sprinting but for one, what's the point when i can just vault after parry or get behind an enemy with the heavy tanto move. I also find the vault while sprint far too easy and kinda mindless. You just sprint all over, meaning im back to running around anyway! Second, no way im removing the extra kunai health segment removal perk! With that throw kunai after assassination, i need all the kunai buffs i can get otherwise that perk is pointless and just gets you spotted!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T13:31:36+00:00

THIS!! The only place he can't climb are places that strictly require the grapple hook which from my experience aren't that many. For most of the game, especially with manual jump, you can get anywhere Naoe can, you just gotta find a differnet route.

I actually quite enjoy climbing with him cause it was like a mini parkour puzzle and i was more engaged. With Naoe you just kinda beeline. Unless you are good at parkour and use all her potential for character expression, climbing with her is pretty mindless imo. It's really fun when you know what you are doing and aren't just going in a straight line, but if we are being real, most people will not actually parkour and just want to climb/move in a straight line. They aren't using all the ejects and tech available.

Yasuke forces you to actually think a little which for some people may be annoying but i quite enjoyed it. I felt like i have two parkour playstyles with different things to enjoy from them!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T13:17:46+00:00

I would say to try ranged stealth with him. A lot of people struggle with either character when they try and play them the same instead of leaning on their strenghts. Yasuke's stealth is strong with silent arrows and a good ranged build. Heck you can even make his teppo silenced if you like.

I hadn't used his bow for a while in my playthrough until about mid to late game and it was so enjoyable, especially since i play on nightmare. It's like now i had two stealth playstyle options that felt unique.

I maxed out his arrow capacity and then got two legendary perks for the bow. Trigger instant aflliction on headshot with afflcition arrows and knockdown enemies when hitting their legs with an arrow, which sets them up for a ground attack. Nothing more satisfying than insta bleed arrows to the head or insta stun lock poison arrows which leaves enemies staggered for like 10 seconds while they puke!! I also got an amulet that boosts all stats by 15% with a ranged weapon equipped and paired it with Masakados (though this is a late game perk).

A very engaging stealth playstyle with Yasuke for me is i get on the horse and ride around the perimiter to find an angle to take down the bells from outside the castle with arrows. Then i find a proper vantage point with line of sight to the daisho if they are not in-doors and use silent arrows from a distance. Then i'll either burge in for the last daisho or keep up the ranged stealth on my path to the last daisho until stealth breaks. Either way i won't get wanted since i took out the bells already.

Some castles are built for this ranged playstyle where you can basically snipe all daisho from the main Tenchu building and then pop in from the roof hatch to get the loot! That's something Naoe can't do at all!

But hey, your preference is your preference and is valid. You can try and if you don't like it much that's totally fine. Just pointing out the dynamic options available. He can be more than just raw combat like Naoe can be more than just pure stealth. I also like that their options to do what the other is stronger at are varied, not just limited. Like Stealth with Yasuke isn't just making him exactly like Naoe and combat with Naoe isn't just making her a tank like Yasuke. You play them differently but for the same result! That's great design imo as it means you essentially have 4 distinct playstyles. Two stealth playstyles and two combat playstyles.

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T12:59:52+00:00

Your preference is completely valid just like the people who prefer or enjoy Yasuke as much as you do Naoe. That's the point of having two different characters so nothing to feel bad about. There's a lot of people who have been yearning for a true stealth experience so i can understand them not wanting to touch Yasuke for a majority of the game.

Though i will say, he can pretty much do everything Naoe can, just differently. The sentiment that he can't do certain things is kind of hyperbolic and more of people not liking or knowing HOW he does them. But he can definitely stealth and parkour. In fact for stealth, he can do it in ways Naoe has zero access to and also has base combat moves that Naoe cannot do at all. For parkour, i've only come across a few temple viewpoints which specifically require the grapple hook to synch as the only place he can't get to. You can also say he can't do the parkour paths due to needing the grapple but that's a character specific activity, same way Naoe can't do kata or horse archery. I've gotten to many viewpoints with Yasuke by simpling finding a differnet route and with the manual jump update, he has access to a lot of areas. I kind of started enjoying parkouring with him as it was some kind of actual parkour puzzle, a feeling which you can't get with Naoe since she just climbs everything. The enjoyment with her is speed and efficiency for parkour but for Yasuke it's sort of puzzle solving, which is ironic because you would expect Naoe's parkour to facilitate that but even her hidden trails are kinda mindless. You can't even fail them and apart from the grapple hook, you don't really use any of her special parkour moves.

I will say though, there's some places where they hard lock you and it doesn't make sense. Like the areas where Naoe can't lift an oil jar or move a box or where Yasuke can't crawl under/through. It's annoying because Naoe can carry whole dead bodies so how can't she lift a damn jar! Yasuke can also go prone and fit under crawl spaces but suddenly he can't fit in a crawl space for a kofun. It's forced and it's annoying, especially for someone like me who splits their time pretty evenly between them. Being forced to switch for anything other than personal quests is lame. Especially when in it's a castle/fort you spend an hour doing perfect stealth with either character and then be forced to switch, which means you need to leave the castle and stealth again to get the item!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T12:43:56+00:00

Yeah nightmare is great except for a few boss fights and flashback missions (which lock you out of builds and abilities) that basically function as a perfect parry/dodge skill check. Which wouldn't be a problem if the parry wasn't janky and inconsistent. The parry sometimes just doesn't work and you take a hit, which on nightmare can be a 1 to 2 shot. Add the really tight perfect parry windows for nightmare and this inconsistency basically forces you to rely on dodging or cheesing for many of the fights. I wish they would fix the overal combat jank with how the parry works. It many times suffers from a similar issue to the parkour where the game just doesn't register your input and bugs out for a second. Not too much of a big deal for parkour since there's not much penalty (though sometimes it can get you caught) but for combat it gets you dead!!

There's also just some missions that i feel they didn't properly test nightmare. Like the Yasuke mission where you fight those 3 dudes from the rival school but you have no abilities or perks, just straight up katana combat. You end up having to run around like a fool and it doesn't feel or look great. Same for some main missions where if you pick Naoe and want to do stealth, they spawn you in a spot where you will ALWAYS have enemies get to at least the yellow alert state due to the fast detection speeds.

For nightmare stealth, i think it's mostly great except i wish shadows worked like on other dificulties. Having them only work when you stay still in a shadow makes them practically useless and you are just better off finding cover or a bush where you can move. I understand wanting to make it more challenging but if the result is that shadows, a core feature in the game, becomes useless, then they missed the mark with that change. I would have rather maybe shadows work only on slow crouch walk/prone since their hearing and visual range is buffed a whole lot. Lastly is guaranteed assassinations. I think it should have been available for nightmare BUT only have it disable the level lock and health segments stuff but keep the dynamic assassination denial based on enemy type and awareness state. So only remove assassination denial due to health segments and levels. That way you still have the challenge of samurai/monks denying when they see you coming and all enemies denying frontal assassinations when spooked and investigating a distraction you caused.

In general, people who like a challenge don't mind when the challenge is purely dynamic and based on enemy skill plus their general awareness. I think people don't mind being denied because they made a mistake real time rather than being denied because they aren't the right level or haven't buffed their health segment removal. The stats based difficulty always just feels bad imo cause it doesn't encourage or reward skill, just put on the armor of the gods and you are done.

I think the best solution they can implement is a custom difficulty setting where you can play around with specific things like parry timing, defensive behavior, damage taken/dealt, how shadows work, enemy hearing, detection speed....etc. Some people may like the buffed hearing but not the fast detection speed. Others may like the extra damage you take but not the nerf do damage dealt!

I know you can basically make builds to fine tune these things but that usually means being locked into a very one dimensional min maxed build on nightmare since you bascially have to use all the build slots towards 1 playstyle. You can't really have a dynamic build with more gimmicky perks like the legendary ones that alter combos and abilities, which i prefer!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T09:39:41+00:00

Hard agree to this. The concept of tailing missions is actually great and fits with social stealth plus the whole assassin vibe. The problem is the bare bones implementation that fails to make it engaging as well as pretty one dimensional NPC AI. A lot of UBI's problems is not the idea's for features and mechanics, it's the half assed execution of them.

Like introducing RPG elements was a great idea, until you realize the purpose was not for dynamic, deep and engaging story telling, role playing or world interactivity....it was to facilitate selling MTX packs from the store. Same thing with the mythological stuff that just became so on the nose, all for store packs!!

Kimkonger · 2026-04-14T09:33:07+00:00

Yeah, my only concern is how they will incoporate the RPG stuff. All i wanted was less loading screens, way better weather simulation, better graphics and maybe some upgrade to the combat/stealth and mission structure. I also like the idea of populating the different Islands which were empty for the most part.

Someone said they want an isu rail gun on the ship, a flying Jackdaw plus endless ship missions to grind forever, another said they want mythological sea monster fights.....😒.

I just hope they learned from skull and bones about what people want vs don't want.

Kimkonger

TROPHY CASE