When you dive into the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you can almost feel the breeze on your skin. Leaves flutter around, grass sways gently, and Naoe’s hair moves gracefully with the wind. These elements bring a vibrancy to the game’s dynamic weather and seasonal transitions that is simply breathtaking. But here’s a fun fact: what seems to be the wind in the game is, in reality, a clever simulation of invisible fluid, as revealed by Digital Foundry in a conversation with some of the game’s rendering experts.
Yes, you heard it right. The realistic wind effects we see are the result of a fluid simulation sweeping across the landscape. It’s a technique that’s been successfully implemented in various games, from God of War to Dwarf Fortress, and it shines brilliantly here too.
The brains behind Ubisoft refer to this evolving weather system as Atmos, designed to complement the game’s seasonal themes. As you follow Naoe through her journey of retribution, you’ll notice how the seasons mirror her story’s timeline. One moment, you’re trudging through Japan’s snow-covered countryside, and the next, you find yourself running through lush, green fields as the snow melts away. Eventually, you’ll even gain the ability to switch seasons at will.
Thanks to its cutting-edge ray-traced lighting, Assassin’s Creed Shadows stands out as one of the most visually stunning games I’ve encountered. It’s the first time ray tracing has felt crucial to shaping the mood and atmosphere of a game, enhancing its narrative depth. Digital Foundry has delved into the details, explaining how the game melds ray tracing with older tech to illuminate scenes with more accuracy. Think of how shoji screens glow inside buildings, offset by deep shadows where sunlight fails to reach in the vast open world. Take away ray tracing, and you lose the contrast that makes the game feel so vivid. Digital Foundry describes this enhanced lighting as a “generational divide in lighting fidelity.”
For gamers, Assassin’s Creed Shadows provides a compelling reason to invest in a PlayStation 5 Pro or a high-end gaming PC equipped with the latest Nvidia graphics cards. On the PS5 Pro, you can enjoy smooth gameplay at 60 frames per second with ray tracing turned on, and it will soon support Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology with an upcoming update. On the PC front, DLSS and Frame Generation ensure you hit that 60 fps sweet spot with an RTX 4070 or newer.
The power of these systems is put to good use, not just in lighting but also in the game’s interactive elements. The way the wind rustles the leaves or how slicing through bamboo feels tactile and immersive is reminiscent of the experience in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t just chase hyper-realism; it builds a lively, immersive world that invites you to lose yourself in its beauty.
