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Finding Your Flow:
The Psychology of Travel and Comfort in the RPG Era
Written by Adam
Yasuke on horseback with Oda Nobunaga in Assassin's Creed Shadows - Ubisoft
Since its inception, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has served as the industry standard for 3D movement. What began in the first game as a grounded, layered system focused on navigating dense urban environments later evolved through distinct phases. In phase 1, the emphasis was on using rooftops to a player's advantage. With the advent of the RPG era, the series has entered a new phase, favouring vast, sparse wilderness over claustrophobic city streets—a shift that redefines player exploration and engagement with the world.
Each subsequent entry had to switch it up to make the movement different from that which came before, and I find that this was achieved primarily through the use of different settings. From Assassin’s Creed’s small, flat rooftops to the more grandiose and taller buildings of Assassin’s Creed II, each game’s setting brought with it a different way to move for better or worse. And while I enjoyed parkouring around the cities, being able to plan my route in advance while on the move, this was dependent on the game and its setting.
Parkour in 18th Century Paris - Assassin's Creed Unity - Ubisoft
For instance, I could not stand parkouring around Assassin’s Creed Unity’s 18th-century Paris. The parkour is slow, clunky, inconsistent, and Arno has a mind of his own. This was compounded by, in my opinion, Paris being incredibly boring with too many architectural elements. This made jumping from building to building a laborious, frustrating chore. With the newer games adapting to exploring the wilderness with sparse urban centres, I can tell you, as a whole, I much prefer this paradigm shift.
The Paradigm Shift
There are ways in which the RPG games are built, which meant this paradigm shift had to happen. First off, the RPGs are more geared towards being immersive than the older games, meaning the camera is more intimate and closer to the character. This makes parkour a more difficult prospect as, unlike the older games, the player has less opportunity to plan their route while on the move.
Second, buildings are 1:1 in the RPG games. Coupled with the close-in camera, this contributes to the RPGs giving players less time to plan and react to environmental changes when using parkour. Granted, the buildings were this scale in Unity and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, but the zoomed-out camera made the parkour feel slow in Unity, considering the architecture of Paris, and the unnecessary animations added to the system. Even so, the RPG games’ setting is less focused on moving through an urban environment and more about immersing yourself in the world. It’s a trade-off.
Nature Always Wins
Speaking of this trade-off, if you’re anything like me, you’ll refuse to use fast travel and spend most of your time traversing the wilds. This is just one aspect of why I prefer the RPG era overall. While I'm not a nature nut, studies have shown that nature can have a positive, even healing effect on us. Being close to nature can foster stress reduction, promote relaxation, improve mood, cognitive function, and emotional well-being. This is a main aspect of Biophilia - humans are predisposed to seek connection with nature.
A biophilic learning space
In fact, studies conducted on hospital patients have shown that incorporating plants and nature into the hospital's overall design has had a small positive effect on a patient’s recovery time. This is known as Biophilia Design, and uses direct nature, such as plants, water features, and natural light. For example, large windows provide views of nature while the hospital can be built of materials, colours, and patterns that mimic nature, such as stone, wood, or earth tones.
The strength of these effects varies from game to game in the RPG era of Assassin’s Creed, depending on the setting. For instance, in Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, you are immersed in the wilderness, yes, but the environments are mostly wide, open areas with sparse elements of nature dotted around the landscape. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla shares more DNA with Assassin’s Creed Shadows in this respect. The environment is lush, green, and England has its fair share of forests, although much of it is sparsely populated with trees when compared with Shadow's densely packed forests.
The landscape of Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Ubisoft
Speaking of Shadows, the player is constantly surrounded by nature, helped by the fact that Japanese culture and way of living emphasise respecting, living, and connecting with nature. The roads are often lined with dense forests, and players can stumble upon hidden bamboo groves and abandoned, dilapidated temples. The world of Shadows is authentic almost to a fault and has much in common with biophilia - being in harmony with nature instead of the built-up cities of Assassin’s Creed's past.
Concept art of Assassin's Creed Shadows showcasing an abandoned, overgrown Temple - Ubisoft
Much of Shadows’ travel is restricted to roads, and while that may be bothersome for some, it achieves something that I’ve never seen in an open-world game. It allows the player to build a mental mind map of the world and become familiar with it to the point where it becomes comforting to travel within that world. Humans ultimately find the familiar relaxing, as there’s no unpredictability present, and this provides a nice segue into my next topic.
Naoe in the darkness surrounded by nature - Assassin's Creed Shadows - Ubisoft
The Psychology of Comfort
Now, I wouldn’t call Assassin’s Creed cosy by any stretch of the imagination, but I do feel that the RPG games borrow many psychological elements that embody the genre of “cosy games.”
By shifting the focus toward satisfying gameplay loops and low-risk activities, these massive worlds allow players to enter a "flow state"—a meditative state of immersion where the outside world melts away. This transition, particularly evident in Shadows, marks a shift from parkouring through urban environments to rewarding exploration. The trick to achieving this is in repetitive, yet satisfying gameplay loops. Studies in cognitive psychology have shown that engaging in low-risk, repetitive activities can trigger the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivational responses.
All the RPG games have this in one form or another, but I believe that Shadows emphasises this the most. Shadows’ Animus Anomalies aren’t challenging, which prevents frustration, but they require enough focus to hold our attention. This allows players to quiet the anxious parts of their brain. Furthermore, they offer achievable goals, and completing these offers tangible rewards in the form of items from the battle-pass and/or keys to purchase premium items from the exchange. This gives the player a small boost of self-esteem that real life doesn’t always provide.
Yasuke taking on a Corrupted Daisho - Assassin's Creed Shadows - Ubisoft
The Stardew Connection
Developing your Hideout in Shadows mirrors activities seen in notable cosy games such as Stardew Valley, where the gameplay loop involves managing a farm and speaking to NPCs, which in turn mirror real-life activities without the stress of potential failure. Conversations with NPCs allow those who struggle with high-pressure social dynamics to foster relationships without inducing social anxiety. Social psychology studies have shown that engaging in low-pressure social interactions, such as those aforementioned friendly conversations with NPCs, can trigger the release of oxytocin, the hormone associated with trust and bonding.
Shadows also goes further by giving players the ability to design the hideout, more than any previous Assassin’s Creed game, allowing players to express themselves through it. This makes use of the psychological theory known as Intrinsic Motivation. This is defined as the drive to perform a task or activity because it is inherently enjoyable and fulfilling. This theory’s key components are: Autonomy, Purpose, and Mastery, with the first two being of particular importance in this case.
Autonomy - By allowing players to have full creative control over the Hideout, this increases commitment and engagement.
Purpose - Levelling/developing the hideout gives the player purpose, as it’s another way to increase Naoe and Yasuke’s capabilities. pl
Mastery - The Hideout provides additional stat boosts and abilities for both Yasuke and Naoe, feeding into the main gameplay loop of Shadows, and helping players master the game.
Intrinsic Motivation also fosters creativity, and in the case of the Hideout, it’s a repeating cycle. The more the player develops the hideout, the more encouraged they will be to keep engaging with it. Granted, the Hideout provides both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, but I find that the intrinsic aspect is leaned upon more heavily in this instance.
Ultimately, this paradigm shift does more than just offer prettier landscapes; it utilises nature and low-pressure gameplay loops to foster flow states and emotional well-being. Through the dense forests and customisable hideout in Shadows, the franchises’ gameplay has transitioned from reaching point A to B in the most efficient way possible to one about cultivating a mental and emotional connection with the world.
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