Assassins Creed Shadowsis almost upon us, and anticipation surrounding the action RPG is continuing to mount. A new entry in a massive franchise likeAssassins Creedis of course expected to turn its fair share of heads, but beyond that, theres still no shortage of reasons to be looking forward toShadowsin particular- for longtime fans of the franchise especially. Here are five reasons for veteranAssassins Creedfans to be excited aboutShadows.FEUDAL JAPAN, AT LASTFor about as long as the series has been around,Assassins Creedfans have been hoping to see one of its games set in feudal Japan, and finally, were getting one. Virtual historical tourism and immersive open worlds have long beenAssassins Creedsbiggest strengths, so naturally, the idea of a 16th century Japan setting is one that many find more than a little appealing. FromOriginsAncient Egypt toAssassins Creed 2sRenaissance Italy to Syndicateslate Industrial London and more, time and again, theAssassins Creedfranchise has succeeded in bringing some truly fascinating locations and time periods to life in magnificent ways, so hopes are high thatShadowswill follow in the footsteps of its predecessors and accomplish similar things with its Sengoku-era Japan setting.And of course, we have had clear and ample evidence of how compelling a period Japanese setting can be in a video game. Five years ago,Ghost of Tsushimaendeared itself to the masses for precisely that reason (to the extent that many might feel it took the wind out ofAssassins Creedssales, in fact), while to a lesser extent,last year,Rise of the Roninalso did some interesting things with its setting. Based on what weve seen ofShadowsin the lead up to its release, theres reason to be optimistic that itll do well in this department. Whether its the dense cities scattered throughout the map with their wonderful architecture of the gorgeous countryside Japanese locales outside their walls, what weve seen ofShadowsmap so far has looked promising.THE LEADING DUOAssassins Creedgames are no strangers to having multiple protagonists from the Frye twins inSyndicateto Kassandra and Alexios inOdyssey butShadowsis going to be the first game in the series to place equal emphasis on both leading characters simultaneously, with players being allowed to swap back and forth between them as and when they please (barring some exclusive quests for both). And so far, Naoe and Yasuke are both shaping up to be captivating leads, to say the least.Theres plenty of reasons for that, from Yasuke being the firstAssassins Creedprotagonist ever to be based on a real historical figure, to Naoes role as a classic, shadowy assassin with a tragic backstory of her own. Just as interesting, meanwhile, is how the two are different from each other, with Yasuke the samurai being an out-and-out combat specialist, and Naoe the shinobi being more focused on stealth and agility. Giving players the freedom to play as either of the two characters for the vast majority of the experience when the two characters offer such different gameplay styles is certainly an interesting choice, and one that were quite excited by.RENEWED EMPHASIS ON STEALTHSince day 1,Assassins Creedhas been a stealth franchise, though it seems to have forgotten that in recent years. Sure,Miragebrought it back much closer to its classic formula in 2023, but all three of the series action RPG entries so far have been significantly more focused on action than proper stealth.Thankfully, however,Assassins Creed Shadowsdoesnt seem to be making that choice. In fact, if anything, its swinging in the exact opposite direction, with greater emphasis being placed on stealth gameplay than weve seen from the franchise since before it reinvented itself withOrigins.Naoe touts an expanded moveset thatll allow her to go prone, crawl around, squeeze through gaps, hide in tiny spaces, or even hide underwater. Shell also have access to a variety of tools in her capacity as a trained shinobi, including smoke bombs, shuriken to throw at enemies from a distance, and bells to distract them with. She will, of course, also have access to the iconic Hidden Blade, while on top of that, the game is also adding a new dynamic light and shadow system to create new stealth gameplay opportunities. How well all of that will come together remains to be seen, but its safe to say were getting our hopes up.CLASSIC PARKOUR RETURNSAlongside stealth, parkour is the one thing thatAssassins Creedgames have always been known for, and though it wouldnt be entirely accurate to say the likes ofOrigins, Odyssey,andValhallahave moved away from that, theres no doubting that the trios parkour mechanics are a big departure from pastAssassins Creedtitles. Once again, however, just asMiragedid in 2023,Assassins Creed Shadowsis promising a return to classicAssassins Creedsensibilities in this area.Specifically, the climb anywhere philosophy of theOriginstrilogy isnotreturning forShadows,which means things such as handholds and precise climbing spots will be an actual consideration once again. Once again having environments be designed around parkour mechanics is an exciting prospect for any fan of the franchise, especially withShadowspromise of an expanded moveset that includes purportedly the series most nimble protagonist ever in Naoe (who, incidentally, is also equipped with a grappling hook- and no game is evernotimmediately better with the addition of a grappling hook, so yay!).NEW APPROACH TO EXPLORATIONIts fair to say thatAssassins Creed Valhallasworld design style and how it handled exploration divided the player base. On one hand, its sheer ambition and scale and the ridiculous amount of content it stuffs its world with have to be lauded, if purely on a fundamental level. Then again, that excessive bloat and that size for the sake of it mentality are exactly what many feel were that games biggest problems- problems that a significant portion of theAssassins Creedfanbase has been hoping will be addressed with its next outing. As luck would have it, as perShadowsdevelopers, that is very much on the agenda.On numerous occasions, the upcoming open world titles developers have stressed thatAssassins CreedShadowsisnotgoing to be as large as its 2020 predecessor was. With a world more comparable in size toAssassins Creed OriginsAncient Egypt and a runtime of 30-40 hours (or way, way longer depending on how much side content youre tackling),Shadowsis obviously not going to be a teeny tiny little game by any stretch of the imagination- but itisgoing to be manageably large, at the very least, which is more than you could say forValhalla.But size isnt the end of it, of course, becauseShadowsis also promising a different approach to exploration. In a nutshell, Ubisoft has touted a much more organic world that will naturally encourage players to follow their curiosity and be distracted by the things that they see in the world. That is obviously easier said than done, but were hopingShadowscan make god on its promise, because itd be a real shame if the JapaneseAssassins Creedgame weve been waiting for for so long ended up wasting its setting.