When you’re diving into Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you’ll immediately notice how the world comes to life when the wind sweeps through. Those swirling leaves, the swaying grass, and how Naoe’s hair flows with the breeze create a stunning effect that deeply breathes life into the game’s seasonal and weather mechanics. Interestingly, as revealed in a Digital Foundry interview with some of the rendering engineers, what we perceive as wind is actually an invisible fluid simulation.
Yes, you heard that right! The highly realistic wind effects are born from fluid simulations enveloping the virtual world. Quite the fascinating technique—and it’s not unique to this game alone. We’ve seen this mathematical wizardry in action across diverse titles like God of War and Dwarf Fortress, and it’s being put to great use here too.
Developers at Ubisoft have named Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ dynamic weather engine “Atmos,” tailored to complement its seasonal narrative. Naoe’s journey for revenge doesn’t just ride the waves of her personal timeline but also navigates through changing seasons. One moment, snow blankets the Japanese landscape as she trudges through, and the next, it’s lush and full of life as the cold retreats. You’ll even find yourself with the power to change the seasons at will as you progress.
Pairing this with the latest ray-traced lighting effects, Assassin’s Creed Shadows might be among the best-looking games on the market. For me, it’s the first time ray tracing feels crucial for setting the game’s mood and enhancing its narrative depth. Digital Foundry’s breakdown dives into the technical specifics, but essentially, the game integrates ray tracing with older technology to light scenes with enhanced accuracy. It results in a world where shoji screens glow in the interiors and shadows deepen where sunlight fails to penetrate in the open landscapes. Switching off ray tracing flattens these contrasts, stripping away some of the world’s vibrancy. As Digital Foundry puts it, it’s a “generational divide in lighting fidelity.”
For those contemplating whether to upgrade to a PlayStation 5 Pro or invest in a robust gaming PC equipped with a 50-series Nvidia graphics card, Assassin’s Creed Shadows makes quite the case. On the PS5 Pro, the game runs smoothly at 60 frames per second, even with ray tracing on, and will soon leverage Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology through an update. Meanwhile, on PC, you can easily hit 60 fps using DLSS and Frame Generation on an RTX 4070 or newer.
All that sophisticated technology is not just for visuals. Features like the dynamic wind and the ability to slice bamboo elevate the game’s interactivity, providing a tactile richness reminiscent of what players experienced in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Assassin’s Creed Shadows sets a new standard, harnessing modern computing power to craft not just stark realism, but an authentically vibrant world you won’t want to leave.
