Can You Play Assassin’s Creed Shadows Without Playing Other AC Games?

The Assassin’s Creed timeline has traversed across continents and time periods, with a collection of titles sprawling across centuries. Most Assassin’s Creed games have been fairly standalone in their story and setting, especially since after Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in 16th-century Japan. The closest an Assassin’s Creed title has been set to that time is when Brotherhood and Revelations explored Italy and Constantinople respectively in the first dozen years of the 1500s. Due to Shadows’ distance from these games in both space and time, there are no connections.

Does Assassin’s Creed Shadows Have a Modern-Day Story? Answered

In the early days of the Assassin’s Creed saga in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 generation, the franchise had a storyline set in the modern day that ran as a through line between titles. From that era, fans may well remember Nolan North’s character Desmond Miles. However, in the years since his prominence, the modern-day stories in Assassin’s Creed games have struggled to find their footing.

As a result, Assassin’s Creed Shadows establishes an all-new, modern-day storyline in hopes of getting fans hooked once again. Therefore, you won’t need to worry about the storylines set in the modern era that have previously taken place in the franchise.

With that being said, the modern-day story elements in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are mysterious and few and far between.

Related: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Trophy List (All 55 Trophies)

Is Assassin’s Creed Shadows Connected to the Series and Does it Matter If You’ve Played It Before?

While not a direct sequel or followup to any particular Assassin’s Creed game, Ubisoft hasn’t fully forgotten the past. Seemingly, they don’t want fans to either. There are some fun Easter eggs as well as nods, imagery, and iconography from the franchise that are likely to delight fans. However, these past connections won’t be enough to overwhelm anyone new.

While Assassin’s Creed Shadows is certainly able to be played as a standalone adventure, important factions and elements from the series like the Animus, the Brotherhood, and the Templar are present and involved in Shadows. Yet again, we won’t spoil how. Many of these connections don’t reveal themselves for some time, however. As a result, new and old fans alike will have plenty of time to acclimate themselves in Feudal Japan without worrying about what came before.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.