Games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows

As soon as we knew that the Assassin’s Creed series was meant to jump between different historical locations and time periods, fans immediately began calling for a game set in Japan. It just seemed like the most obvious and exciting choice for a game where you’re primarily climbing on buildings, sneaking through crowds, and assassinating targets from the rooftops before slipping away unnoticed. Even the lore of the Hidden Ones being this mysterious group of trained killers fighting another shadowy organization would fit beautifully in a number of periods in Japanese history.

It took close to twenty years, but Ubisoft is finally taking the AC games to Japan with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. But will it be too little too late? After all, plenty of other games have beaten it to the punch and made excellent samurai and ninja games even in the past few years. I’m hoping Shadows will be great, but if you just can’t wait to live your best ninja or samurai life, here are the best games I’ve played that can scratch that itch.

1 Ghost of Tsushima

The anti-Ubisoft design

Ghost of Tsushima is the game Shadows has to stack up to when it comes out. When Ghost came out, many fans who had been waiting for AC to go to Japan felt like Sucker Punch gave them everything they wanted and more. It has the combination of stealth and action gameplay, tons of ninja tools, skills, quests, and a world so beautiful you could turn any screenshot into a painting to hang on your wall. Those are all things Ubisoft could pull off too, but one thing Ghost did that felt so refreshing compared to the standard open-world design was letting the world itself guide the player. Instead of tons cluttering your screen with mini-maps, compasses, and objective markers, Ghost keeps your HUD clean and guides you to your objectives with the wind, birds, or foxes. It keeps you in the world and connected with your main character without making you feel like you’re just ticking off tasks on a checklist.

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2 Nioh 2

Loot ’em up

Who better to make an amazing samurai game than a studio called Team Ninja? Name aside, Nioh and Nioh 2 fit a more specific niche for your Japanese fantasies. AC Shadows will be a huge open world to explore, while Nioh 2 features smaller contained levels with a higher level of detail and craft put into their designs. This game cuts all the fat out of traversing and exploring a giant map to make sure you’re always a few seconds away from your next encounter. It also isn’t afraid to lean into the more mystic side of things by including tons of creatures from Japanese folklore within the historic setting. Combat is a faster version of the souls-style where you need to manage your stamina and limited health, but piles on a massive loot system overtop. You can spend hours sifting through, crafting, upgrading, and making builds from the hundreds of items you collect to fully minmax your build if you so desire.

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3 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Samurai Souls

I understand that FromSoftware games aren’t for everyone, and Sekiro is considered the hardest of the bunch by many, but if you can get into the groove with it then it will make you feel like a master samurai more than any other game. Sekiro is all about mastering the art of the duel. Instead of trying to simply slash and counter enemies, your primary strategy is to break their poise by parrying incoming attacks. Pulling off a perfect string of parries on a boss that opens them up to a devastating killing blow is a feeling you can’t get anywhere else. What makes it a step above other games in terms of difficulty is that you have no other options other than mastering the systems. You can’t grind levels to get stronger or get different weapons. It’s just you, your sword, and your skills.

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4 Rise of the Ronin

AC with a splash of Nioh

I hate to reduce a game to such a basic level, but people aren’t completely wrong when they say Rise of the Ronin is just Assassin’s Creed with Nioh combat. Unlike Nioh, Ronin features a very large open world with tons of collectibles, side quests, and distractions like you would find in any AC title. Combat is a mix of stealth and souls-style combat of managing stamina and picking your moments to be aggressive. Of all the souls-like games I’ve listed, it’s by far the easiest so don’t let that dissuade you. You can even play specific missions in online co-op and grind out loot if that strikes your fancy.

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5 For Honor

Historic PvP

This is for you PvP and fighting game fans out there. For Honor lets you pick between three main factions, one of which consists of various samurai classes, to fight against the others in a very unique style of game. Each class feels like a distinct hero, but combat is more slow-paced and feels more like a fighting game in terms of spacing and patience. There are a couple modes to check out, and tons of content added over the years, so if it hooks you then you will have plenty to keep you engaged.

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