When you step into the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the impact of the wind is immediately breathtaking. It’s not just a visual effect; it feels real. Leaves swirl in the air, grass sways gently, and even Naoe’s hair is caught in the breeze. These details bring the game’s seasons and weather to life in a remarkable way. In a fascinating twist revealed by Digital Foundry in an interview with the game’s rendering engineers, what feels like the wind is actually an invisible fluid simulation.
This clever trick uses fluid simulation to mimic wind, a technique that’s become quite prevalent across various games, from the epic battles of God of War to the intricate world-building of Dwarf Fortress. It’s a testament to how advanced game design has become, so it makes perfect sense for it to be employed here as well.
Ubisoft’s developers have named this dynamic weather system "Atmos." It seamlessly aligns with the game’s seasonal themes, mirroring Naoe’s evolving journey. One moment, you might be struggling through the deep snows of a Japanese winter; the next, you’re running across lush, green fields as everything thaws. What’s remarkable is that you can eventually control these seasonal changes yourself.
Adding to its visual splendor, Assassin’s Creed Shadows incorporates new ray-traced lighting effects, potentially making it one of the most visually stunning games to date. For many, this is the first time ray tracing feels essential, enhancing the story’s atmosphere and mood. Digital Foundry goes deep into the details, explaining how these advanced techniques breathe life into older technologies to improve the lighting of scenes. For instance, shoji screens seem to glow when you’re indoors, and shadows darken where sunlight doesn’t reach, creating a striking contrast. Switch off ray tracing, and the world loses much of its vibrancy, a contrast which experts describe as a “generational divide in lighting fidelity.”
Such an immersive experience makes Assassin’s Creed Shadows a compelling reason to upgrade to a PlayStation 5 Pro or invest in a high-end gaming PC equipped with a 50-series Nvidia graphics card. On the Pro, the game achieves a buttery-smooth 60 frames per second with ray tracing on, and it’s set to support Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology in upcoming updates. On the PC front, DLSS and Frame Generation effortlessly maintain that performance on an RTX 4070 or newer.
This isn’t just about stunning visuals; it’s how these dynamic features, like interactive wind or slicing through bamboo, elevate the gaming experience to a tactile one. It’s reminiscent of the breakthrough interactivity of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft has utilized modern computing power not merely for hyper-realism, but to craft a world that’s vividly alive.
