Assassin's Creed Shadows Was Influenced By AC Mirage In One Big Way

Assassin's Creed Shadowsis taking a very different direction overall than what Assassin's Creed Mirage did, but there's at least one area where the newest title received direct inspiration during development. The two games were handled by separate studios at Ubisoft, so while the development cycles had a lot of overlap, most of the work for each game was done independently. When it comes to the quest log structure, however, Mirage's influence on Shadows is evident.

In an interview with Screen Rant, game director Charles Benoit explained that the teams for Shadows and Mirage arrived at some of the same ideas regarding the structure of the quest log independently, but ultimately ended up converging on the subject.

Charles Benoit: It’s funny because Mirage and Shadows were in production in quite the same time frame in a way. And we didn't know what Mirage was doing, and at some point when we started talking between each other, we realized that we were aiming at the same type of pillar with the menu that looked quite similar in the aspect of more visualization of a quest log.
So we kind of learned from them, and also from playing Mirage, to adjust some of our concept. Yeah, it's just funny how the two games converged without knowing that.

Unlike traditional quest logs, which tend to list various objectives in descending menus, Mirage and Shadows both opt to represent the tasks that lead up to major objectives in a more web-like structure. Identifying and assassinating a target, for example, might hinge on tasks like talking to various NPCs and scouting out areas, and those are represented as linked objectives in the quest log.

How Assassin's Creed's Objective Board Works

Positive Influence From Mirage

The most obvious upside to the quest log approach in Assassin's Creed Shadows and Mirage is how intuitive it is. Jumping between objectives is a lot easier when it isn't as focused on scrolling, especially in open-world games with a surplus of content.

Perhaps more important, however, is the way that it synchronizes with the game design. Mirage used the quest log to put more impetus on the player's sense of discovery, highlighting multiple ways to scrounge up information.Shadows might not end up leaning as much into a complex tapestry of quests and a focus on investigation as Mirage did, but any step in that direction could be to its benefit.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Is Making Smart Changes

Iteration That Makes Sense

Naoe from Assassins Creed Shadows head and shoulders portait

The quest log was one of my favorite aspects of Assassin's Creed Mirage, so I'm happy to see something similar return in Assassin's Creed Shadows. I'm also reassured by the way the game seems to be highlighting player intuition, an area where other recent Ubisoft games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws have made similar strides compared to the company's previous titles.

Forward progress hasn't always been fast in Assassin's Creed, and even with sweeping changes like the ultimately controversial move to larger open worlds, some design elements from the earliest games have been expanded over the years rather than truly re-thought. Going back to the drawing board on the quest log is a great example of what the series can gain from taking those leaps, and I'm hoping that new ideas end up playing a central role in Assassin's Creed Shadowsas a whole.