Assassin's Creed Shadows' new floor assassinations are as hilarious as they are deadly
Stop, drop, and roll
Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the first game in the series to introduce the ability to go prone, and one of the new assassinations this enables looks hilarious.
As we recently wrote about, there are a lot of new stealth mechanics in Assassin's Creed Shadows for you to enjoy. My personal favorite is that double assassinations are back, but I now realize I'd completely overlooked the comedic potential of prone assassinations.
In a video shared on Twitter by ac_landmarks, we see Naoe barrel roll out of a patch of grass, slice a guard's leg to get them to the floor, and then deliver a swift finisher with her hidden blade before going prone again. She does all this without ever going higher than a crouch.
The PRONE feature in #AssassinsCreed Shadows will be handy.Both Naoe and Yasuke can be prone.Only Naoe though can roll with it using the dodge button. Roll sideways, back, front... whatever fits your style, Assassin.😏 pic.twitter.com/xtKvTMKUmvNovember 21, 2024
Shadows has some motion capture in it, which may be why the move looks so sleek. It's also sure to delight Ralph Ineson, who did the mocap for Black Flag's Charles Vane and will be voicing Fantastic Four villain Galactus in the upcoming movie. He recently said, "When you compare [Black Flag] to some of the later Assassin's Creeds, there may be a little bit of facial capture, but they haven't got the physical stuff, and I think you can notice that."
While both Naoe and Yasuke can go prone, only the sneaky shinobi can roll about on the floor like that. Yasuke is just too big, you see. Now I'm excited to get my hands on the game and find out what his death from below moves will look like.
When I look back on my memories of the series, there have always been funny moments among the bloodshed. Once when I was bunking off school to play Assassin's Creed 2 with a friend, we both shouted in shock as Ezio took his dagger and drove it straight through the skull of an unwary guard, causing a Tarantino-esque spurt of blood to shoot out of his head.
If you're as excited as I am, check out everything we know about Assassin's Creed Shadows so far.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.