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Will Assassin's Creed Shadows save the franchise?- The Cutting Board
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Aug 28, 2024
Join us today as we give our thoughts on the upcoming title Assassin's Creed Shadows and if this game has what it takes to live up to it's lofty expectations on a brand new episode of the cutting board!! Follow us and let's talk about video games, their stories, and the people that make them! 📱Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@game.sandwich.official ✖️Socials: https://twitter.com/TheGameSandwich 🎮Join our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/6GrQYXYdSf #assassinscreed #assassinscreedvalhalla #assassinscreedshadows
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0:00
What's up, guys. This is Kelo, and I'm here to give you the lowdown and all things gaming
0:04
And welcome back to another episode of the Cutting Board. And today, I am joined by John Hansen
0:10
Why don't you say, what's up? What's up? So, we have important business
0:15
But before we get into that, you've got to do the YouTube things. If you want to leave a like on this video, share it with people, and subscribe to Game Sandwich for more content just like this
0:25
Now I got that out of the way. We got some business to attend
0:29
tend to. Of course, Assassin's Creed Shadows was just shown off a while back, code name red
0:36
for those of you who don't know. And I want to first ask you, this is an important question
0:43
it's kind of like a personality meter here. Who is your favorite assassin in this whole series
0:49
Who is it? Cassandra. Cassandra, really? Okay. Cassandra fan, followed closely by Etsio, of course. But, uh
1:00
Yeah, Cassandra is my girl. I respect that. That's, it's Etsio and then Cassandra for me
1:07
And I was a big detractor of Odyssey for a long time
1:11
And then I actually played it, did it with female Cassandra. And yeah, she rose up the ranks pretty quick
1:19
But we're going to talk about Odyssey in a little bit. I want to first talk about this Shadow's gameplay reveal
1:26
What are your thoughts on this game in general? Is there any standout features, any critiques
1:31
I want to know. So I'm pretty excited for it. I think it looks good
1:36
I like the two protagonists. There's Yastika and no... What's her name
1:44
I want to say Noway? Noway. I'm horrible with the pronunciation. We'll go with Noway
1:52
Yeah, I like that they have two very different play styles. One is the traditional stealth
1:58
while the other is just, he's just pretty much a bowl. It looks like he just runs in and does what he wants to the enemy
2:07
I do wonder, though, like, how much will the two be able to, like, translate to the
2:14
others play style? Because that's the one thing we've always had in Assassin's Creed
2:18
Like, even in syndicate, where we had kind of the same situation with Jacob and Evie
2:23
where one was more stealth-oriented while the other was more of a brawler, they still could
2:27
swap places. Like, they could do what the other one wanted to
2:32
So my thing is, they never showed Yasekai flying or anything. Like, they never showed him, like, running along walls or anything
2:42
So I wonder if he can even do that. I don't know if they've confirmed this, but I don't think he's an actual assassin
2:50
I think he's just teaming up with Nowe, right? I believe so
2:54
I think Noway is, like, the tried and true assassin. and he's just there
2:58
They have like a similar goal at the end, I think. Very loose on story details so far
3:04
But yeah, I think that's the case. Yeah. So if we're going with that assumption
3:10
we could guess that, yeah, maybe Yaskay doesn't do assassinations. Like maybe his assassinations are just coming in
3:19
and like batting someone over the head with that spiky bat thing
3:25
Yeah. I'm curious to see that, but I'm a fan of Assassin's Creed
3:31
I totally get the arguments that it's very samey. There was a lot of fatigue in it a while ago
3:39
but I think now that we've had a few years since Valhalla, I'm ready for another one
3:43
I played Mirage recently, or not recently, but last year. And I do still enjoy that old style
3:50
but I also really like the open world RPG style, as long as it's not as
3:55
not as overdone as Valhalla was. Valhalla was very exhausting the play through
4:04
Shadows, I'm pretty optimistic about, though. Now, I think it goes without saying
4:10
this is the Assassin's Creed game many long-time fans have been waiting for
4:15
Feudal Japan, samurai, the whole deal. Everyone's been asking, I mean, since Assassin's Creed 2
4:22
I would argue even before, that. But, um, Ubisoft as bad as they've been
4:27
they've been picking up on this idea that, yeah, like, Valhalla's world was cool
4:34
But again, like you were alluding to, it was big, too big at times
4:39
You know, this started with, I want to say, origins. Yeah, origins
4:44
Obviously, then Valhalla, they've adapted more of this open world RPG stuff
4:49
And I like that aspect of the game too But at the same time The scaling only went up and you look at Valhalla map and I liked Valhalla but there was just so much like bloat so much things you didn need
5:04
in it. And I did like the story, though. I really liked that brother story there. Now
5:11
I'm looking back at Mirage real quick. This game kind of is the crux of, all right, we're transitioning
5:19
from this honestly too big of an RPG, linear game, and now we're getting the blend of the both
5:26
At least that's what it looks like here for Shadows. Now, I don't think all of these games need to be this big RPG
5:34
I think, yes, we have that smaller, similar priced with Mirage, but this game, I have a feeling with two characters here now
5:46
two different stories. Is this going to work like a G. T.A. 5 where you have the wheel. You can kind of go to this person when they're there, this person for that
5:55
And I never really thought about that with Ysuke. I never thought about the fact that, yeah
6:02
is he going to be able to climb? Is he going to be able to do all this acrobatic stuff? Or is this more of
6:08
hey, this mission's coming up. You're going to raid a castle. You can either go the Valhalla-esque
6:13
brawl, just fight your way through, or you can go stealth-based. That is the one thing I am
6:19
really interested now to kind of see how they handle that i want to look back to assassins creed too we love
6:26
we love etzio the character that many people gravitated towards before that we had altaiyre he didn't
6:34
really show too much of his personality and i think that's what this game needs to nail as far as characters
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go yes i did like ivor i did like cassandra she was a very well-written character
6:49
There was also a thing there where if you played the brother, his voice acting really wasn't as, you know, prominent
6:56
Eccios was not... Armelexios. I thought it was just me. I thought it was just me
7:03
I didn't like it either. He was like a super villain, but like turned up to 11
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And ever since Etsio, I could be wrong. Maybe this is just me not playing these games for a long while
7:15
That character that we could all gravitate towards... I haven't really felt it with anybody
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Connor, all right. Yeah, even then, I'm trying to stretch it. But, you know, I just think what makes games in general
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not just Assassin's Creed, you need those characters you can gravitate towards
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And I think here they have that ability. I mean, you've seen in the trailer, the first cinematic one
7:43
the village reacting to Yasuke kind of walking through. they're like, wow, we've never seen this person
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That is a story you can tell and you can execute it so well
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Like, there's so much there. And I want to get your thoughts on just this overall dynamic of these characters
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So I don't necessarily agree that you need it in every single game
8:07
I give you look at Doom. Yeah. What do you care about the Doom guy, really
8:11
Like, he's just there. But I will say in a game like Assassin's Grade where it is trying to be in
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open world RPG. Yeah, that is a very important aspect of it. If we can nail down, like
8:24
the important backstory of Yossike and, uh, like, what really drives him? And is he, like, a genuinely
8:32
good person that these people not only, uh, can, like, like, like, at first, they may be, like
8:38
scared of him, like, oh, this giant samurai is coming through and he's just destroying all the guards here
8:44
But he did it for good reasons. And he, like, he, like, he. Save my child, stuff like that
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Like, if we can get into that kind of stuff, like, like building up his backstory
8:56
like what do we need to know about the real Yass Fleet? If we can like incorporate all of that into this game, that would be awesome
9:05
With Noway, I mean, you can just kind of have the basic assassin story
9:10
We know nothing about her because she's not a real person like Yassou K was
9:15
so who knows where they're going with that. But hopefully they do it good
9:22
She looks mysterious and interesting, which is just to kind of show my cards here of it
9:30
the kind of girl I like, you know? There you go. You need a little mystery in life and games too
9:36
Might as well. Absolutely. Now, I think, and I'm looking to speak of mystery here
9:43
Bassam in Valhalla was an assassin from the past and I guess spoilers for a game that how many years old now um somehow some way he came to the future
9:58
Yeah, that, right? That's how we're classifying this. No, he's, he doesn't age
10:05
He doesn't age. Okay. There's that. So, I think the, this idea of, you know
10:15
with this story, where are we going? with all of this because there were times in Assassin's Creed where the story just got like they
10:26
jumped the shark there is this futuristic society and I'm not going to try to describe it because
10:32
me as a fan of the series very confusing stuff here but long story short there's this futuristic
10:39
society they're governing a lot of things the Apple of Eden the whole nine I want to know where
10:45
this story goes like how do the Templars if they're going to fact into this, I assume, like, this is Assassin's Creed, you're going to need a Templar
10:53
How is this all going to factor out? So, the funny thing is that while those beings were futuristic, or they looked futuristic
11:02
they were actually from the past, mostly all the time. Are they just precursors, I think, is what they refer to them as
11:10
I think so. I might be thinking of something else. But, yeah, they, I have never liked the modern day storyline
11:17
I've always hated it. I've been hoping for more than a decade that they would just take it out
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and just give me secluded stories that are 100% based in that timeline
11:29
Like when I look in the shadows, I don't care about whatever person is looking in the past
11:36
and reliving these characters. Like, I just want a story about Yasukei and Nowe
11:42
Layla, who was the like present time person in Valhalla and in Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, I think, right
11:53
Yeah, she was fine. But like, you're taking me out of that world
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to put me into a story that I have never cared about. I didn't care about Desmond
12:03
I don't care about Lela. I don't really care about Basim in the current day
12:08
Like, yeah, Basim and Barrage is awesome. And in Valhalla, he's interesting
12:14
But I don't want to see him in the current day. I just want to see these time secluded things
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So whatever they do outside of the actual, like, feudal Japan storyline, I don't care
12:25
I just, I'm just going to sit there and be like, okay, is this over yet? Can I move on
12:29
Can I get back into the game that I came to play? That's kind of been my opinion the entire time
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Now, I think they're prime to release the game we want and we've been waiting for
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but I look back on Odyssey and I look back on Valhalla
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Both are Assassin's Creed titles by every metric of the word They're branded that way
12:54
But both games Both kind of felt like All right, this is an ancient Greece game
13:01
This is a Viking game Like the aspect of the assassins Outside of Bassam
13:08
Cassandra, there were artifacts And stuff like that that did play into it
13:12
But those stories kind of just said, all right, we're going off the path of the assassins. This is what it is
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I think that is where the gripe for this all, like the fan angst for the series is starting to fester a
13:28
little bit. Like, Bassum, his story in Mirage, that's, you're getting back to the assassins. That's
13:36
what it is. But those two games, I felt as if, if you just removed Assassin's Creed, they would have
13:42
been fine games on their own. They could have just done a whole series based off those two alone
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kind of just doing their own thing in history. But, yeah, like Cassandra never wore the cow
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At least, did she? Well, the assassins weren't around in her time. They weren't created yet
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Look at that. кур was more of a story, like, going into where the Templars came from
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Because Cassandra origins with, I forget his name, Bayek. he was the one that made the assassins or the hidden ones
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but his time comes after Cassandra so yeah she never had a chance to wear the call
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because it wasn't there yet but history lesson history lesson you do uh you do
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see the uh the templars or what was the templars in the beginning so
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that's actually one thing that I love about Odyssey is yeah it
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it says assassins creation He's not an assassin. There's no assassins in that game
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Origins they made the Assassin Creed in Valhalla Ivor was visited by a couple of assassins but he kind of became an assassin
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but not really and this isn't like new to the series like back in the day
15:02
about a decade ago the Assassin's Creed I felt that there were a lot of games that felt more like you were trying to play
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as a Templar than an assassin I felt that way in Blackflats
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Black Flag, especially, where it's like, yeah, no, I don't, like, Kenway repeatedly says stuff
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like, I don't care about the assassins. I'm just here to do my thing. And if I have to double cross the assassins, I will
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So, yeah, there was a lot of, like, oh, you can't really trust the assassins and the Templars you can't trust
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but you might have to be on their side a little. Yeah, it's this weird thing that Ubisoft goes through
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And it's part of why I just don't care about the present-day story or that kind of stuff
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I care more about the main characters and their relation with the people that they work with
15:55
Was it three were you played as the father who turned out to be a Templar at first
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You spent like two hours playing as a... Is it Hatham? I think it's Hatham
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That name rings a bell. Yeah, you like play two hours I remember playing him
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I'm like, who is this guy? I don't care. And then it's like, ooh, you're a Templar
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It's like, okay. It's like, cool, thanks for that. All right, cool, glad I lost two hours of my life on that
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And just getting back to shadows and everything, I'm really looking forward to this game
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because I looked at this gameplay, I saw the stealth, I saw the different mechanics of you throw the, I must say the dart, but it's a throwing knife, and you knock out the light
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You're using the environment. Assassins do that. We're not asking for much here, and the bar is set low for what we want
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And seeing those mechanics also in the gameplay reveal, you can pet a dog
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Instant points for me. Chalk it a game of the year for me
17:11
We appreciate our Shivas. Exactly. And, you know, I'm just looking forward to this game because what they're showing off is checking my boxes
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The cinematic at the start when they first showed off this game, great stuff. I like the story. I think it's, it has legs
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But at the time where I wrote my notes for this episode, they were yet to show the gameplay
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And the one gripe I had with Ubisoft at that moment in time, before you show the collector's edition
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And for however much dollars you want to sell it for, show us gameplay
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Ubisoft for the next game, just take notes here. Show gameplay, then be like you can get the collector's edition here
17:55
It was just a little funny thing. I was like, oh, okay, this is what Ubisoft is doing now
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Ubisoft's gonna Ubisoft. That is, I should put that out of a shirt
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But any closing remarks here on Assassin's Creed Shadows? I'm optimistic for the game
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I think it can be pretty dang good. Odyssey is my favorite of the series
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I don't... It's going to be tough for this to be two in Brotherhood
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which are right below that for me. But it can definitely easily contend for a top five
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if it's as good as it looks. If we can get Naua and Aske
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that be good characters in both of their play styles to be genuinely fun
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and like really engaging and everything, we're gonna have a very good game on our hands
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That's the thing and it applies to any and all games. I guess Ubisoft games more often than not
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Execution, no pun intended, is key here. How you handle this game at launch and then moving forward
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which we assume DLC and all that stuff will be coming no doubt
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But yeah, it's very important to stick the landing and then continue
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I think for the most part, we hit every note here. And that about does it here for this episode of the cutting board
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If you want to talk more Assassin's Creed, if you want to talk more video games in general
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join our Discord server. Links to that will be in the video description down below
19:29
But as of right now, we're going to fade back into the shadows. I've been Kalo, joined by John Hansen
19:35
and we'll see you guys next time. If you enjoyed today's video and want more content just like this
19:40
consider subscribing the game sandwich for all your news, rumors, and reviews. And we'll see you guys next time
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