Summary

  • Assassin's Creed Shadows had a troubled development cycle, likely resulting in cut content.
  • Players have theories about missing features like factions, unique assassinations, and purposeless collectibles.
  • The hideout in Shadows feels like an afterthought, leading players to believe cut content may be saved for DLC.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is the franchise's most successful entry in some time. It certainly has its frustrations, and its pre-launch cycle was rough, with the game facing numerous delays, but Ubisoft will likely be happy with how it performed compared to some of the company's other titles.

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With such a troubled development cycle, though, it's likely certain parts of the game were chopped in order to get it to market. Given that Shadows has been out for a month now, players have been discussing what they feel was cut from the game, and there's a lot of content that makes sense.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Players Are Figuring Out The Game's Cut Content

A new thread on the Assassin's Creed subreddit has seen players discuss plot holes or content they feel is missing from Shadows, and there are some stellar theories.

The post's creator, AndyJBailey, had four of their own theories, including the wandering merchant, and the game's gamefied signs and banners, which they believe indicate that factions should have played a more prominent role in Shadows. Given how, when the season changes, it says that "factions have been reset", you have to believe this initially played a bigger part in the game.

Andy's best point, though, is arguably the fact that Naoe can stand up on her horse. Supposedly, there is a unique assassination tied to this, but neither they nor I have seen it yet. It feels like there was meant to be more tied to this mechanic.

I've yet to initiate an attack or assassination while doing it.

Another user, hkf999, also presented some exceptional theories of content cut from the game.

They suggested that, following Naoe's initial meditation sequences, which featured playable flashbacks, the following ones offer nothing, potentially because content was cut (or saved for the DLC). They also feel that the Lost Pages are missing some major details — why are we collecting them? We're not given a purpose, and we're just expected to climb temples to find these lost pages that don't really mean anything in the context of the game.

Arguably, the biggest potential piece of cut content in HKF's eyes, though, was the hideout. In Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, the base system felt alive, with plenty to do. In Shadows, it feels like an afterthought, with the only reason to return being to upgrade your equipment.

The prevailing theory is that much of Shadow's cut content is likely being saved for its DLC, which is set to be announced in the near future. Here's hoping it includes the co-op mode that was rumored long before the game was released.

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Assassin's Creed Shadows

Action Stealth RPG Systems 14 8.5/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 81% Released March 20, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language Developer(s) Ubisoft Quebec Publisher(s) Ubisoft Engine AnvilNext
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