Assassin's Creed Shadows, the 2024 franchise entry set in Japan, is around the same size as 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins, Ubisoft has said.
Speaking to IGN in an exclusive interview, creative director Jonathan Dumont said Shadows is on a similar scale to the Egypt-set game but Ubisoft emphasises "real life scale" so the environment feels authentic. Fans got a first look at this open world Japan in Shadows' cinematic trailer.
"It's in-line with the latest Assassin's Creeds that we've done," Dumont said, referring to the larger scale, role-playing game entries that also include Odyssey and Valhalla. "On a scale level, maybe we can compare it a little bit more to the size of Assassin's Creed Origins."
This suggests the size of Shadows' map is smaller than Odyssey and Valhalla, but much bigger than the classic Assassin's Creed map sizes from the original trilogy, Brotherhood, Unity, and so on (with the exception of Black Flag's colossal Caribbean ocean map).
Dumont said the map is entirely authentic, however, as Ubisoft looked to make its myriad elements as lifelike as possible.
"We did want to have a much closer to real life scale ratio. So because castles took a lot of space, and we really wanted the mountains to feel like mountains, [we've made] the environments feel wider in the game," Dumont contined. "But I would say around the same size as Origins."
Ubisoft is otherwise looking to up the authenticity by letting players take on the role of a real historical figure, and by adding a dynamic light system and even a season cycle that sees the open-world shift from spring to summer, to fall, and to winter. You can read about all this and more in our extensive interview with the development team.
And if that's not enough, check out our analysis and explanation of where and when Shadows is set and 40 key details we've learned about the game. You can also watch our full breakdown of the cinematic trailer to discover all its hidden details, Easter eggs, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
