Assassin’s Creed Shadows – All Three Game Modes Explained

When you launch Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the first thing to do is go through the setup screen and adjust options like subtitles and difficulty level to your preferences. There you’ll also find three unique game modes, each with their own toggle settings.

Let’s explore each mode and how it affects your gameplay experience in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

1. Assassin’s Creed Shadows Game Modes Explained

Assassin’s Creed Shadows features three game modes that cater to different playstyles.

Guided Exploration Mode provides markers for objectives and items. Canon Mode locks the game in its intended storyline, removing player choices and dialogue options. Immersive Mode sets the voiceover to Japanese, for players to experience the game’s authenticity and atmosphere.

Let’s understand the three game modes in detail so you can choose the one that best fits your playstyle.

i. Canon Mode

As the name suggests, Canon mode locks players in the storyline originally intended by the writers. This means players do not get to influence the events that unfold in the story, either through dialogue options or by choosing whether they want to play as Naoe or Yasuke.

Allowing players to choose from multiple dialogue options first appeared in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and later in Valhalla. Similarly, Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers the Canon mode to give players two options.

• With Canon mode off, players get to make dialogue choices that slightly alter the narrative.
• On the other hand, turning it on removes these choices, presenting a more linear, canonical storyline.

However, Canon mode cannot be toggled mid-game, so if you want to switch modes you will have to start a new game save.

ii. Guided Exploration Mode

Guided Exploration mode simply provides precise markers for mission objectives and items, so it doesn’t affect the story as much as the gameplay. However, enabling this mode does disable certain achievements and trophies, so it’s best to keep it off if you’re an achievement hunter.

Without the guide mode, you’ll only receive general area markers and will have to explore by yourself, interact with NPCs, and figure out how to complete objectives. If you find it too difficult, you can always enable Guided Exploration mode from the settings.

iii. Immersive Mode

In Immersive Mode, players get to experience the game’s authentic feel by locking voiceovers to Japanese and Portuguese dialogue.

Even with Immersive Mode disabled, some characters may still speak Japanese or Portuguese, but captions will be displayed in the selected game language nonetheless.

This mode does not impact achievements or trophies and is purely for aesthetic purposes so you can dive into the game’s narrative without losing out on any content. Immersive Mode can be easily toggled on or off in the Audio Settings.

2. Which game mode should you choose in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

As far as the Guided Exploration Mode and Immersive Mode are concerned, they do not alter the game’s narrative and only affect your gameplay experience.

• If you prefer to have a beacon to guide you to the right place for quests and the like, turn on the Guided Exploration mode. if you want to explore and figure things out by yourself, keep it off (plus you won’t miss out on any achievements this way).
• If you want to experience the rich culture and language of the game’s world, keep the immersive mode on. But since it doesn’t change or affect the story in any way, you can keep it off and play the game in your preferred language.

Both these modes have accessible settings to turn them on or off whenever you want during your playthrough, and in these two modes, you don’t need to worry about missing out on any lore content. However, to experience the narrative as the writers envisioned, play with the canon mode on.

This mode, once chosen, cannot be undone. Unlike previous installments in the franchise, this game freely allows you to choose whether you want dialogue options or not.

The game thankfully does not steer too far from the original storyline irrespective of the choices you can make with Canon mode off, so the choice is up to the type of experience you want from the game.

If you enjoy selecting the dialogues for your characters and influencing the story in your own way, you might want to avoid Canon mode. But for a traditional, story-driven experience similar to earlier AC games, Canon mode is the way to go.

3. About Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft, set to release in November 15, 2024. The game is the fourteenth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series and the successor to 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage, as well as the first title to be included in the Assassin’s Creed: Infinity platform.

Set in 16th-century Japan towards the end of the Sengoku period, the game will focus on the millennia-old struggle of the Assassin Brotherhood, who fight for peace and liberty, and the Templar Order, who desire peace through control, from the perspective of two protagonists: Naoe, a female shinobi, and Yasuke, an African samurai inspired by the historical figure of the same name.