- Mar 6
- 7 min read
Hideout Deep Dive -Assassin's Creed Shadows
Written by Adam
With the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadow fast approaching, Ubisoft has released the final gameplay overview article, focusing on the Hideout. This article features comments from Dany, the associate director of the game. With that said, let’s get into it.
The Secret Valley of Izumi Settsu
The Hideout is nestled in a secluded valley hidden away in Izumi Settsu province. Much like Iga, the hideout is surrounded by steep hills on all sides and is accessible only by a narrow path. Its location is forgotten by most and only known by a select few. Early on in your journey, Naoe and Yasuke will become acquainted with Miss Tomiko, the caretaker of the hideout and friend of Iga. Hardworking and diligent, she has done her best to keep things running smoothly, but with Naoee and Yasuke’s help, the hideout can become “coolest, most intricate Hideout in the history of the Brotherhood.’
"It's pretty ambitious," says Dany. "After fortresses, villas, homesteads, pirate coves, café-theatres, moving trains, ships, settlements, assassin bureaus... We knew that if we wanted to make anything new on that front, we had to take a bold step forward. That meant giving players the option to build their homebase with complete freedom."
An Acre of Land
With some infrastructure already in place, the valley offers a completely customisable hideout - the first in the franchise’s history. With just over one acre of land, players will be able to place a cornucopia of items ranging from buildings, trees and ponds to local flora and fauna.
"We really want players to make the Hideout their own", says Dany. "Throughout your adventure, most of the content for customisation keeps unlocking as you progress, so your customisation options will truly reflect your journey." The building tools are simple enough for everyone to draw up a quick and easy layout, but there's enough depth to sink hours into crafting your vision."
The Hideout will be available to players after they complete the prologue and meet Tomiko. It will become increasingly important as you journey across Feudal Japan. It will be a hub of activity - meeting and interacting with allies, improving your equipment and making it your own.
Beginnings
To start adding to your hideout, players will need to gather three different materials found throughout Japan: wood, minerals and crops. Each new building or upgrade will have a set cost and a set cost of mons, the in-game currency. As mentioned in the exploration article, players can find resource bundles that can be directly looted in the open world and mark larger resource caches to be smuggled out by scouts throughout a season.
"It was important for us that players would feel the passage of time with seasons", says Dany. "Linking smuggling with seasons was a natural choice: it gives players a rhythm to return to the Hideout, review all they gathered and catch up with the inhabitants."
Customisation Basics
Various decorative elements can be obtained by completing quests, contracts or other activities. Other items can be obtained by purchasing them from merchant stalls or when slinking through enemy territory. Various animals make your hideout their home when you complete sumi-e paintings out in the wild.
Exterior Elements
Exterior Elements (items that can only be placed outside) are organised into sub-categories like Paths, light sources, fences and more. Each object comes with its own tile footprint, which can be placed and rotated anywhere you choose as long as the tiles are free.
"There are many cosmetics to find," says Dany. "From humble garden rocks to large and complex set pieces. Seeing these pop up always gets me wondering how I'll use them in my next visit - you never know what might inspire your next renovation."
All elements placed by players can be moved and/or removed. When a sudden wave of architectural inspiration hits you, you can overhaul the hideout layout to suit your needs. There are a variety of rooms that facilitate Naoe and Yasuke’s progression and can be upgraded over time to increase their efficacy.
Main Rooms
Tomiko’s Hiroma
Tomika’s abode and gathering hall is the cornerstone of the hideout and is available once players gain access to the hideout. It offers quick access to most of the functions of the hideout. It can be modified cosmetically but can’t be removed.
Stables
Perhaps the most important building in your hideout, the stables, unlocks the ability to use your scouts to smuggle stockpiles, allowing you to gain extra resources at the end of a season.
Forge
Personally, the forge will be the most important element in my hideout. It unlocks the ability to upgrade your weapons and gear to higher tiers and allows you to dismantle unwanted items into raw materials. Furthermore, you can engrave perks onto your gear and unlock transmog to customise the look of your weapons and gear.
Kakurega
This unlocks the ability to purchase and make claims to safehouses around Japan. These safehouses extend the functions of the hideout to the open world and unlock fast travel points outside of enemy territory. Some features, like the regional contracts, can be accessed here as well. As mentioned in the exploration article, kakuregas are a great place to refill your tools, replenish your scouts or manage your allies.
Study
The study increases the maximum number of scouts and further refines the search zone when scouts locate an objective on the world map, leading to more optimised investigative work.
Dojo
The Dojo allows the training of Naoe and Yasuke’s allies that can be recruited and called upon in combat, elevating their ranks and making their unique skills more effective.
Themed Rooms
Other than offering a personal touch, themed rooms augment a few key elements.
Tera
Adding a tera (altar) to your hideout boosts the amount of XP gains and effectively acts as a permanent XP booster.
Jinja
Shinto shrines around the world allow players to obtain a small stat boost - called a boon - for a few minutes. By building the Jinja in your hideout, you boost the boon’s effect.
Nando
The Nando - barracks used for sleeping and storing personal items - makes replenishing your scouts less costly. Furthermore, this effect extends to the many Kakuregas across Japan.
Zashiki
For the alcohol lovers out there, the Zashiki increases ration efficiency for both Naoe and Yasuke.
Tea Room
A staple of Japanese culture, the Tea Room further compounds the ration efficiency from the Zashiki.
Gallery
A room where players can proudly display their many armour sets and weapons they’ve acquired, unlocking different loadouts.
Miscellaneous Rooms
Players will have access to rooms where they can hang their wall art, outfits and more that they’ve collected.
Joining Rooms Together
Owning to the unique Japanese architecture, various rooms and pavilions can be joined together by placing them next to each other or by adding pathways. Players will be free to join or separate rooms, creating courtyards and complex compounds of any shape and size.
"The time period's architecture made it possible for buildings to be joined in this way," says Dany. "This brings a lot more possibilities in layout diversity as we can use the space more efficiently and make groupings that better suit our tastes."
Interior Customisation
When it comes to interior decorating, players will be able to select a variety of different architectural styles to suit their taste. You can choose the type of wall and floor you want, the choice is yours. You can also display elements that you have earned or collected, allowing for an in-depth personal styling of each room.
Building the Hideout’s Population
Along your travels, you’ll come across various breeds of cats and dogs. Petting them will unlock the ability to place them in your hideout. And yes, this includes puppies and kittens! If cats and dogs aren’t your thing, completing the Sumi-e activities will unlock a wide variety of Japan’s wildlife, like foxes, tanukis and baby shika deer. Most of these can be petted as well.
"We had all these endearing critters all over the world already," says Dany, "and everyone's instant reaction is to drop everything they're doing and stare at them for a minute. It made sense for us to make them available inside of the Hideout."
A League of Their Own
As you gain access to the hideout, there will be few inhabitants, but continue your journey; the hideout will begin to populate with blacksmiths, scouts, duellists and everyone in between will come and join Naoe and Yasuke’s cause. Like with Assassin’s Creed III, each inhabitant will have their own stories and personal troubles that need resolving.
Hideout Life
Once recruited, allies will spend much of their time at the hideout, working, training, and resting; as you build new facilities, their activities will diversify. Allies with a penchant for martial prowess might spend more time in the Dojo, while those partial to alcohol will spend more time in the Zashiki.
Adding and expanding on the Hideout will provide opportunities for conversation between allies. These little moments provide character depth and some much-needed downtime for Naoe and Yasuke.
"Having our allies in one place creates opportunities for character development," says Dany. "We gathered the writers (from 4 different studios all over the world) in a meeting and had them create interactions inspired by questions like, 'What would happen if these two characters suddenly became roommates?' I really love all the cool little moments they came up with. It makes the Hideout feel like the beating heart of the league".
And that’s a wrap on the hideout breakdown! Personally, from all that I’ve seen and read, the Hideout seems to be the ultimate evolution of this mechanic. We’ve had Monterggioni and The Davenport Homestead, and Shadows’ hideout is an amalgamation of the two, blending the character of the Homestead with the function of Monterggioni.
If you enjoyed this article and love Assassin’s Creed, head to the Scholars of the Creed website. We have tons of articles covering the history, art and science of Assassin’s Creed.