Title – Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Platforms – PS5//Xbox Series X/PC
Release Date – March 20th, 2025
Developer – Ubisoft
Publisher – Ubisoft
MSRP – $69.99
ESRB – M for Mature
Purchase – Amazon
Disclaimer – Assassin’s Creed Shadows was reviewed on the PC. Thanks to Ubisoft for providing a digital review code. Gaming Instincts is an Amazon Affiliate and does gain financial benefits if you choose to purchase this product on this page.
Introduction
For nearly two decades, fans have been begging Ubisoft to create an Assassin’s Creed game set in this period—and now, that time has finally come with Assassin’s Creed Shadow. But the real question is: is this everything fans have been dreaming of in a Japanese-themed Assassin’s Creed? Let’s find out!
First, let’s talk a bit about the storyline and characters in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Don’t worry—I won’t be discussing any major plot points in this review. This will just be a short, spoiler-free overview to give you a sense of what to expect from the story before you dive in yourself. Plot has always been a key pillar of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so it’s important that I cover it to some extent.
The Storyline
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in 16th-century Japan, toward the end of the Sengoku period. And just like every Assassin’s Creed game, it focuses on the ongoing conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order. It’s the same song and dance the franchise has followed since day one—but honestly, that’s perfectly fine. It’s what fans expect and want from an Assassin’s Creed game.
For the past few years, it’s become a trend for Ubisoft to introduce multiple protagonists in Assassin’s Creed games, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows is no exception. This time, there are two main characters who take center stage: Fujibayashi Naoe, who is a kunoichi—a female shinobi. In other words, a shinobi is essentially what most people would recognize as a ninja.
Then there’s Yasuke, an African samurai inspired by the real historical figure of the same name. Both characters play key roles in the storyline of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. One thing worth noting is that, for roughly the first 12 hours, you primarily play as Naoe. During this time, the game focuses heavily on her backstory, her personality, and her goals. Later, you’ll learn more about Yasuke, how their paths cross, and how they eventually become allies. From that point on, both characters become fully playable, and you can switch between them on the fly. It’s a noticeably different approach to dual protagonists compared to previous titles in the series.
In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which was released in 2017 and set in ancient Greece, you could choose to play as either Kassandra or Alexios, and that choice locked in your character and gender for the entire game. However, they played exactly the same—aside from some minor dialogue differences and, of course, their gender, there wasn’t much that set them apart.
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Yasuke and Naoe offer completely different playstyles when it comes to both traversal and combat. I’ll go into much greater detail on how they differ later in the review when we get to the gameplay section. This particular Assassin’s Creed game leans heavily into cutscenes and storytelling. If you’re into games like The Witcher 3 and don’t mind a slower start, this will be right up your alley. However, if you’re hoping to jump straight into action and start assassinating Templars within the first hour, that won’t be the case—unless you decide to skip cutscenes, which I strongly advise against. Doing so would ruin the buildup, excitement, and anticipation that the plot delivers.
One thing I want to mention about the cutscenes is that they are locked at 30 frames per second, no matter how powerful your PC is. You’ll also notice black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Ubisoft chose this approach to emulate a cinematic feel, similar to how movies and TV shows are typically presented. This might turn off some players, as the shift from 30 FPS cutscenes to 60 FPS gameplay—or vice versa—can feel a bit jarring. That said, it doesn’t impact the gameplay itself, so personally, it didn’t bother me. Still, I thought it was worth pointing out.
Throughout your journey in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you’ll encounter a wide variety of characters. Some are side characters who offer their own quests, while others might seem harmless and innocent—only to turn out to be something else entirely. I won’t spoil who they are, but just know that the game is packed with twists and turns around nearly every corner. Some will be predictable, others might catch you off guard—it really depends on your intuition and how you read each character, especially when they say certain things or speak with suspicious tones.
To be honest, this is where Assassin’s Creed Shadows shines the most for me in terms of its storyline. There are plenty of moments where you’ll find yourself saying things like, “I knew this was the asshole behind all of this,” or, on the flip side, “Well… I guess this person was innocent after all.” It honestly feels like there’s a bit of Among Us energy in the game, and for me, that’s a lot of fun—finally piecing things together and figuring out who’s really who. Before we dive into the gameplay section, I want to quickly touch on Naoe’s and Yasuke’s storylines.
In my humble opinion, Naoe is a fantastic character. I won’t go into what happens to her at the start or at any specific point in the game, but I will say that I quickly became attached to her and found myself genuinely curious about what would happen to her next. Ubisoft did a great job making her the driving force of the story. The deeper I got into the game, the more answers I uncovered—but at the same time, new questions kept popping up. That’s what makes Naoe such an engaging and well-rounded protagonist.
As for Yasuke, I’m afraid I can’t say the same. If I’m being brutally honest, I kind of wish Naoe had been the sole protagonist in this game. But it feels like Ubisoft wanted to be “overly ambitious” with their storytelling by introducing a second figure—one that you don’t even get to know much about until after the first 12 hours.
At first, I was curious about Yasuke, but as the story progressed, his inclusion started to feel “forced.” And let’s be real, we all know why he was included—but I won’t get into that in this review. Let’s be real here—we all know he wasn’t included for the sake of the storyline. His cutscenes felt dull, and honestly, I just wanted to skip them. After Ubisoft set up such an amazing arc with Naoe, I couldn’t bring myself to care about this guy at all. I’m sorry, but that’s just how I felt.
I’m pretty confident that, deep down, Ubisoft always intended for Naoe to be the true protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Shadows—the one who actually matters from start to finish. You’ll probably see this for yourself when you play through the story.
My issue with Yasuke is that I just didn’t find him interesting at all. He’s just kind of… there, doing his own thing with his own agenda. Honestly, it would’ve been much better if Yasuke had his own dedicated story in a future standalone DLC, a season pass, or even his own game entirely. His introduction—right after those first 12 fantastic hours with Naoe—completely disrupted the pacing for me. Now, instead of staying focused on Naoe, who I actually cared about, I also had to juggle Yasuke’s storyline, and it felt like a chore.
Another issue I had is that some main questline missions force you to play as Yasuke because they’re tied directly to his story. This means you don’t have the option to stick with Naoe, and as I mentioned earlier, they play completely differently. Yasuke’s gameplay is the polar opposite of what Assassin’s Creed is traditionally known for, and that’s a major problem for me. But enough about the story—I’ve told you more than enough about what to expect without spoiling anything. Let’s shift gears and dive into the gameplay.
Gameplay
The overall gameplay flow of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is mostly positive—at least when you aren’t being forced to play as Yasuke, but I’ll get into that more later. When it comes to stealth and exploration, I think it’s a big improvement over what Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey offered. The stealth mechanics and exploration here feel far more refined and satisfying.
One of the biggest complaints fans had with the previous entries was how bloated and overwhelming they felt—especially when trying to explore every nook and cranny on the world map and complete everything the game threw at you. I’m happy to say that, for the most part, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has eliminated that bloat. The game world still feels sizable, but it’s far more focused and meaningful this time around.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is still a large game, but it feels more contained and much better balanced in terms of content. The world map doesn’t feel nearly as overwhelming as it did in past entries. Honestly, my favorite part of this game is the exploration—it just feels more fun and natural compared to previous titles. For example, one activity has you hunting down Samurai Doshai hidden within castles.
Once you find and slay all of them, you’ll unlock a chest that usually contains valuable gear for your characters. And, of course, the classic viewpoints return—you’ll climb to a high vantage point, survey the area, and then leap into a bale of hay or a body of water. Speaking of treasures and gear, they’re much more meaningful this time around compared to previous games.
You no longer have to run around the entire world map collecting pointless hidden treasures just to complete a checklist—that’s been removed. You’ll still come across regular chests, but they mostly contain things like resources for your hideout or cosmetics. Thankfully, there aren’t nearly as many of them this time around, and most are found naturally through regular exploration, rather than relying on a map to track them all down. I really appreciate that change.
There were also times when I stumbled across random NPCs who attacked me, and after taking them out, I discovered they were actually tied to a major side quest I hadn’t even found or accepted yet. Turns out, they were part of some kind of unknown organization within the game. It completely caught me off guard, but in a good way. I always appreciate emergent and surprising gameplay like this—it’s a big plus in my book.
For your travels, you’ll have a trusty steed to help you get from place to place. However, I did run into some issues with the horse, mostly related to its handling. There were times when it would randomly bump into objects, even when I was following a straight road, and turning around sometimes felt clunky and unintuitive. It didn’t happen all the time, but when it did, it was pretty frustrating. Honestly, if my destination wasn’t too far, I usually just chose to run there on foot instead. I only really used the horse for longer distances—around 1,000 meters or so.
There are also character-specific side activities you’ll come across. For example, if you’re playing as Naoe, you might find special locations where she performs a meditative activity known as Kuji-kiri. It’s essentially a mini-game where she sits down to meditate, and you need to follow the rhythm by pressing the buttons that appear on the screen in time with the beats.
The longer you meditate, the harder it gets, as the buttons and circles eventually disappear from the screen. Surprisingly, it’s a pretty relaxing mini-game, and if you complete it successfully, you’ll earn a Knowledge Point, which can be used to unlock new abilities in Naoe’s mastery tree.
Some Kuji-kiri sessions will even unlock side quests that dive into Naoe’s past, including her relationship with her father. In my opinion, this is a great implementation of side content. It rewards you on multiple levels, is genuinely fun, and adds meaningful backstory to a character you’re already invested in.
You’ll also come across temples during your exploration, where you’ll need to find hidden pages. Collect all the pages, and you’ll be rewarded with Knowledge Points. On top of that, there are shrines scattered throughout the world where you can stop and pray to pay your respects—and yes, these also grant Knowledge Points. The point I’m making here is simple: exploration is key to progressing your character, and honestly, I really like that.
The Kuji-kiri activity is exclusive to Naoe, while Yasuke has his own unique side activities, such as Kata and Horse Archery. In Kata, Yasuke practices and learns combat moves by following button prompts. In Horse Archery, you’ll eliminate targets while your horse moves automatically on a set path. These activities are a nice way to break up the pace and give you something different to do outside of the main storyline while also granting knowledge points so you can progress your character
If you want to max out your characters as quickly as possible, make sure to complete all the side activities you come across. Thankfully, they’re relatively short and don’t overstay their welcome, so they never feel like a chore. Now let’s talk about masteries—they’re essentially the skill trees or specs for your characters. Naoe has a total of six: Katana, Kusarigama, Tanto, Tools, Shinobi, and Assassin. As Naoe, you’ll have access to three different weapons.
First, there’s the Katana—your standard, traditional Japanese blade. Then there’s the Kusarigama, a sickle-and-chain weapon that can slash, cut, disarm, pull enemies, and even knock them unconscious. It can be used both up close and from a distance. Finally, there’s the Tanto—a dual-wield weapon best used from behind for stealth kills. It’s probably the closest thing to a classic ninja weapon, and yes, it comes with the iconic Hidden Blade attachment that fans of the Assassin’s Creed series will recognize immediately.
The variety of weapons here is quite nice, and as you progress through the game, you’ll eventually unlock all the abilities tied to each of your weapon masteries. The Tools mastery focuses on items like kunai, smoke bombs, and other gadgets. The Shinobi tree leans into your ninja abilities, such as vaulting, using a grappling hook, deflecting attacks, and performing kicks. And then, of course, there’s the Assassin tree, which is centered around stealth and boosting your assassination damage.
If you’re aiming for the classic Assassin’s Creed experience and want to play purely stealthy from start to finish, this is the mastery I’d recommend investing in right away. That said, many of the masteries complement each other really well. For example, combining points into Tanto and Assassin makes for a great synergy, since they naturally go hand in hand.
As for Yasuke, he also has six different masteries, along with access to five distinct weapons: the Long Katana, Naginata, Kanabo, and Teppo. The Long Katana is simply a longer Japanese blade. The Naginata is a two-handed, spear-like weapon—more like a halberd—that excels at area-of-effect attacks, making it ideal when you’re surrounded by multiple enemies due to its wide attack range.
Then there’s the Kanabo, a massive two-handed blunt weapon. It’s extremely slow, but if you land a hit, it’s devastating—it can knock enemies back and even slow them down. Next up is the Teppo, a front-loaded flintlock rifle with a much longer range than the bow. It’s a fun weapon to use, but it’s loud and feels like the complete opposite of what you’d expect in an Assassin’s Creed game. And finally, you have the bow, which can serve as a long-range assassination tool. You can even spec it to apply poison buildup, which I thought was a nice touch.
In conclusion, there’s a ton of variety here when it comes to combat, and I do commend Ubisoft for that. However, this is where my issues start to kick in. Yasuke is so overpowered it’s honestly ridiculous—and not in a good way. His gameplay is what I’d call “loud and dumb.” After spending around 12 hours sneaking around as Naoe, the moment you unlock Yasuke, the game shifts into a full-on melee brawler—and in my opinion, it’s just silly. His arsenal is so versatile and powerful that, if you’re just trying to power through the story, there’s barely a reason to go back to playing as Naoe. Even boss fights become much easier when you’re using Yasuke.
He has a much larger health pool, and taking over castles becomes a complete joke—especially if you spec into his lifesteal ability, which lets him regain health after every enemy kill. His kicks are ridiculously powerful and can send enemies flying—and yes, you can even spec his kicks to launch larger enemies too, which is just comical. On top of that, if you see a door, you can simply charge into it and break it down like a bull.
While some players might find Yasuke’s superhuman abilities and brawler playstyle fun, I honestly find it insulting to the Assassin’s Creed fanbase that Ubisoft allowed something like this into the game.
There is nothing “Assassin” about Yasuke at all. Playing as him feels like stepping into an entirely different game, where the character is just a nonstop violent barbarian. And yes, I know some people will say, “Well, just play as Naoe instead.” And guess what? That’s exactly what I did for the majority of the game—aside from the missions that force you to play as Yasuke due to story requirements. To me, Yasuke is a complete detriment to this game, both from a narrative and gameplay perspective. Like I said earlier, he should’ve had his own spotlight, maybe as part of a future DLC, a season pass, or even his own standalone game. Or better yet, he should’ve been part of a completely different IP, because he has none of the core traits of an Assassin. And yes, I get it—Ubisoft wanted to deliver the power fantasy of playing as a Samurai instead of an Assassin, and that’s exactly what they did with Yasuke.
The funny thing is, Ubisoft already delivered this kind of fantasy years ago with For Honor, which still gets plenty of support and updates to this day. For those who don’t know, For Honor is another Ubisoft title where you can play as different types of warriors from a variety of cultures—including Samurai. So, I’m not sure why they felt the need to shoehorn Samurai gameplay into an Assassin’s Creed game. Regardless, I feel Yasuke was a waste of resources and development time. That energy could’ve been better spent focusing on other aspects of the game. One last thing I’ll mention about Yasuke is that exploring the world while playing as him is virtually impossible. For example, he doesn’t have a grappling hook like Naoe, and he can’t even climb towers to reach viewpoints.
In reality, the entire exploration system becomes unplayable if you stick with Yasuke. Naoe is the only one who can fully explore the world—she’s lighter, smaller, much more agile, and has the necessary tools for climbing and navigating the environment. This makes Yasuke useful for one thing: storming castles and killing guards to complete objectives—or breaking down a few doors, if that’s your thing.
Playing as Naoe just feels so much more true to the identity of Assassin’s Creed. Her weapons are a blast to use, especially the Tanto. The Kusarigama is great too, but it requires more patience and a bit of practice to master—it’s trickier, but not in a bad way. When it comes to stealth, I think it’s very well done here. You can even equip gear that boosts your damage at night, which I thought was a cool passive perk.
One more gameplay element I want to quickly mention is the Hideout system, which serves as this game’s version of real estate. Ubisoft has played around with this concept before, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows is no exception. You get a fully customizable space where you can place a variety of buildings, set pieces, and decorations for your hideout. As you progress through the game, you’ll also find cosmetics hidden in chests that can be used to personalize your base. Some buildings even serve gameplay functions—like the Forge, which allows you to upgrade your gear.
It’s a neat addition if you ask me, but to be honest, I kind of forgot it even existed. I was only reminded of it whenever I unlocked new cosmetics while exploring castles and opening treasure chests. It’s not a major part of the gameplay—it’s more of a side customization feature than anything else. I had no problem progressing through the game without upgrading my gear or even using the Forge in the hideout.
You’ll find plenty of gear naturally as you level up.
That said, if you enjoy customization features or player housing systems, there’s definitely some fun to be had here. But for me personally, I’d rather just keep exploring the world map and seeing what’s out there. After all, no one’s going to see my hideout unless I take screenshots and post them on social media.
Overall, I enjoyed the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed Shadows—but I really wish Yasuke wasn’t part of it at all. He completely ruins the pacing and feels like he was shoehorned in. To be fair, Ubisoft at least gives you the option to choose who to play for most of the game, which helps. Without that choice, it could’ve been much worse. But at the same time, it could’ve been much better if they had focused all their resources and development time on other gameplay aspects and just let Naoe be the sole protagonist.
They could’ve created more activities centered around Naoe or added more interesting side characters to enrich the world and its lore. Yasuke doesn’t make the world feel deeper—if anything, he detracts from gameplay that was already solid in the first 12 hours. Sorry Ubisoft, but this was a major misstep. With the storyline and gameplay out of the way, let’s talk about the presentation of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, including its visuals, audio, and performance.
Visuals, Performance and Audio
First and foremost, this game is absolutely stunning when running at maximum settings. From what I understand, Ubisoft built this on their updated Anvil engine, and they’ve done a fantastic job making Feudal Japan look and feel alive. I loved running through the lush green landscapes, just taking in the trees and the scenery. There are so many gorgeous vistas and small details to admire. And don’t even get me started on the weather effects—they’re so well done that I could practically feel the breeze on my face. The rain looks incredible too, especially with ray tracing enabled, creating beautiful reflections all around you.
What really blew me away, though, was the passage of time and how the seasons dynamically change as you play. I was pleasantly surprised that you can experience the entire world map during winter, complete with snowfall—it really adds another layer of immersion to the game. I think my favorite seasons, though, are spring and summer; the world just looks absolutely stunning during those times. And yes, there’s also a full day and night cycle, which even affects gameplay. You can now create your own shadows by turning off lights, both outside and inside buildings, making stealth more dynamic than ever.
After everything I’ve experienced visually, I have to say this is the best-looking Assassin’s Creed game to date—if you’re able to run it on max settings. However, all that beauty comes at a steep cost. I reviewed the game on a high-end PC running a 4090 RTX GPU paired with a Ryzen 9 7950X CPU, and I couldn’t maintain a smooth framerate at native 4K resolution unless I enabled DLSS with frame generation, which I think is pretty unacceptable. Ubisoft did provide an in-game benchmark tool, so let’s check that out real quick.
Honestly, I shouldn’t have to rely on frame generation to hit high framerates with a top-tier GPU. And yes, I know the 5090 RTX is the latest card on the market, but there’s not a massive leap in raw power between it and the 4090. From where I’m standing, this feels like poor optimization on Ubisoft’s part. Maybe there’s some CPU bottlenecking going on, but I’m not entirely sure. Regardless, I was disappointed with the game’s raw performance on a 4090 RTX, especially when all my other modern games run fine at native 4K without DLSS, with everything maxed out—including ray tracing. And honestly, I don’t even want to imagine how poorly this will run on consoles if my high-end PC is already struggling without the help of upscaling and frame generation.
That wraps up performance and visuals, but there’s one more thing I want to mention about the game’s presentation—the main menu. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now part of a new platform called the Animus Hub, formerly known as the Assassin’s Creed Infinity Hub. Its first iteration makes its debut right here in this title. The brand-new main menu now acts as a platform for all Assassin’s Creed titles. You can actually jump into a “memory” of your choice, and in this case, a memory is just Ubisoft’s way of referring to an Assassin’s Creed game. For example, you can launch Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Origins, Odyssey, Mirage, and of course Shadows, all directly through the Animus Hub.
I actually like how Ubisoft handled this. You no longer need to exit out of one game just to boot up another through the Ubisoft launcher or your console. I’m not sure if they plan to add the much older titles, but going forward, I’d expect new memories to show up here as more games are released. It’s a very convenient feature, and in my opinion, a step in the right direction
One last thing I want to cover is the sound design in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. For me, voice acting is crucial in a game that leans heavily on its story and characters, and I’m happy to say I’m pretty satisfied with what’s offered here. Naoe sounds great—her voice is fitting, not annoying, and comes with an authentic accent. The same goes for Yasuke; both actors did a solid job bringing their characters to life, and thankfully, the rest of the cast—whether it’s villains, side characters, or allies—also delivers strong performances.
That said, I think the real standout here is the soundtrack. I love the Japanese motif, paired with mysterious, ambient tones that fit Assassin’s Creed’s vibe perfectly and help make the soundtrack truly memorable. The only odd thing I noticed in terms of sound design is that, in certain sequences, some strange licensed Japanese pop music kicks in. I’m not exactly sure why Ubisoft chose to include this, but it completely kills the vibe and feels totally unnecessary. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about once you play the game.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a good game—but it could’ve been much better. The foundation is strong, and there are plenty of good ideas here. Visually, the game is stunning, the stealth mechanics are well-executed, and the exploration is genuinely enjoyable. However, after that 12-hour mark, when Yasuke was fully introduced and unlocked, the game started to lose its charm for me. I was really enjoying the focus on Naoe, and then Yasuke gets thrown into the mix for the rest of the story and gameplay. I just didn’t care about his character or his storyline, and being forced into main quest missions where you have no choice but to play as him became a frustrating disruption to the otherwise solid pacing.
On top of that, his gameplay doesn’t feel like it belongs in an Assassin’s Creed game at all as I previously said. Honestly, this could have been close to a masterpiece if Ubisoft had stuck with Naoe as the sole focus. To be fair, the game still has more good than bad—but the rough spots, like the poor optimization, definitely drag it down.
Then, Ubisoft continues its trend of greed by adding microtransactions, allowing you to buy some really badass-looking armor—complete with insane stats that actually affect gameplay. And since there are two playable characters, that means double the armor and weapons to tempt you into spending even more money. Oh, and yes, you can even unlock the entire map by paying real cash. In previous titles, you could unlock maps using in-game currency, but now we’re in an era where you either explore it yourself or pay up.
I get it—game development is expensive these days—but this is a full-priced $70 game, and older entries in the series never had this level of monetization. These microtransactions make it feel like a cheap mobile game knock-off, and it’s honestly disappointing. This is also a single-player game, where you can’t even show off your gear to other players online—so I don’t see the point of it, other than Ubisoft trying to squeeze more money out of their player base. Normally, I’m fine with spending money on skins, but not in a single-player game where it actively makes the gameplay easier. That level of greed is just ridiculous and honestly pretty pathetic. I’m only okay with buying extras in live-service games, where other players can actually see your cosmetics—and where they stay purely cosmetic. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
With all that said, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is getting a final score of 7 out of 10. It’s a good game, and as someone who’s been a fan of the series since the very first release back in 2007, there’s definitely a lot here to appreciate and enjoy. However, the negatives were too much for me to ignore, and I had to dock quite a few points because of them. I really wanted to like Yasuke, but I just couldn’t—he felt completely forced into the story and gameplay. Add in the poor PC optimization and the ever-present Ubisoft greed, and, well… here we are.
However, everything else in this game is fantastic and I hope there is more of that coming in future titles assuming that Ubisoft doesn’t fall apart with how bad the company is doing right now in terms of their stock. This game would have received an easy 9/10 if Yasuke never existed to begin with and it would be a 10/10 if Ubisoft was not so greedy with their goofy silly store items in a single player game and poor PC optimization.
If I were you, I’d wait a week or so for the game to go on sale to get it at a cheaper price. Ubisoft titles usually fall in value rather quickly and you can find them much cheaper. The game will take you a while to finish, probably upwards of 30 to 50 hours, maybe more depending on your pace and how much of the game you want to complete. Ubisoft had the potential for a standout game, but their greed and baffling choices—chief among them the forced inclusion of Yasuke—undermined the pacing and shattered what could have been a cohesive narrative and fluid gameplay experience.
