Essential Tips and Tricks - Assassin's Creed Shadows Guide - IGN (2025)

Assassin's Creed Shadows is such an open game with so many opportunities that it is easy to get overwhelmed. If you are new to games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and you're looking for a helping hand to guide you along with a few handy tips and tricks to get you started, you will find everything you need here in this essential tips guide.

General Tips

• Since you are unable to change the time of day in Assassin's Creed Shadows, half of your experience will be played in the dark. This, as you can imagine, makes it more difficult to see. If you are having trouble making out the shapes in a particularly dark spot, try activating Eagle Vision to increase the brightness a little and help you get around.

• A huge part of Assassin's Creed Shadows is exploration. You can find tons of incredible armor and weapons by exploring castles, kofuns, and other similar areas. If you're looking for more of these places to loot, check the map and head to the illustrated sections on parts of the map you have yet to explore. These illustrated sections represent important locations you can pillage for some great rewards.

• If you've just emerged from a particularly close battle and have used up all of your healing rations, keep an eye out for camps that dot the countryside. There, you can often find boxes to replenish your rations.

• If you happen to come across any innocent civilians being pushed around by guards while you're on your travels, stop to help them out. Not only does this provide you with XP, but the people you save often give you handy tips, points of interest, or valuables that you can sell for Mon.

• If you're running low on resources and you're not looking for a fight, keep your eyes peeled for anchor-shaped icons on the map. They represent Traders that you can buy resources from. You can also sell resources if you've got more stock than Mon!

• If you have already run out of your Scouts for the season, take a look at your map and check the compass at the top right-hand corner. If the arrow is pointing south, you can hold right on the D-Pad to 'change the season' and replenish your Scouts.

• Activating your Observe skill using L2 or LB helps you to spot points of interest from extremely far away. Gold dots indicate loot, white ones indicate collectibles like pages or Shrines you need to pray to, and the blue dots represent targets or other quest markers.

• Always make sure to check bodies for loot, as they can drop valuables to sell, cosmetics for the Hideout, and even weapons and armor!

Stealth Tips

• Combat tools like Kunai are extremely handy but sadly not infinite. These tools run out extremely quickly. Remember to walk over the bodies of the foes you have killed with Kunai to retrieve them whenever you can!

• Observe helps you see your surroundings better. If you still can't find what you're looking for, you can activate Eagle Vision at the same time. It is important to note, however, that this limits the range of your Observe skill.

• If you have a great hiding spot in a bush and you're perfectly concealed from the enemy, you don't have to reveal yourself to loot people or chests! If your loot is close enough, you can safely collect it from your hiding spot so you can remain concealed the whole time.

• If you are faced with two enemies and assassinating one means revealing yourself to the other, try knocking one out with a Kunai. This will alert the other guard, making them walk towards you to check out what's going on. Wait until they get close enough to assassinate them, too, before they can alert the other guards.

• Don't forget that you can hide bodies! The guards in Assassin's Creed Shadows are reasonably smart,
• and they will be on high alert when they spot one of their fellow guard's bodies on the ground. Drag bodies out of sight or into bushes when you can to remain unseen.

• At the same time, you may want to consider intentionally letting a body get found or even killing someone in plain view with a Kunai. This will cause enemies to spread out and search for you. This is a great way to scatter guards to new positions so you can kill them that way.

• If Naoe has a white outline around her, it means that she's currently unseen and functionally invisible to everyone. Remember, though, that Naoe can still be spotted if a guard gets too close to her.

Exploration Tips

• Naoe's hookshot can grab onto almost any roof and from a very decent distance. It is easy to miss the button prompt when you're in the zone, but don't forget to make the most of this handy exploration tool.

• Red Diamonds on the map mark guarded areas that are under patrol. Even if their Wealth is low, it's worth checking these out as they always have at least one chest, which may be Legendary and contain some good loot!

• Chests aren't just hidden on land, as some water sources such as ponds, will hide chests for you to loot beneath the water.

• The reason why all the Castles have Viewpoints is that they greatly extend Naoe's Observe range, which includes dots for loot and objectives. A Viewpoint should be the first place in a Castle you should sneak to in order to fully scope it out and find valuables and the Samurai Daisho.

• The ambient conversations (NPCs with "..." speech bubble icons above their heads) will reward you with either Scout intel, Rumors for a Merchant, Activities, or Legendary Chest locations in that Province. If your Scout slots are all filled and you've found all the Merchants, Activities, and Legendary Chests, DO NOT PARTAKE IN THESE. Naoe / Yasuke will automatically decline any reward, making the interaction a waste when you could have filled up a Scout intel slot.

• When exploring Kofun tombs, especially the more maze-like ones, light up the candles to help mark where you've been before.