Assassin's Creed Shadows associate director has a hot tip for the next Ubisoft studio taking on the franchise: "Pay more attention to parkour as its own pillar"

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Assassin's Creed Shadows associate director has a hot tip for the next Ubisoft studio taking on the franchise: "Pay more attention to parkour as its own pillar" News By Kaan Serin Contributions from Jasmine Gould-Wilson published 6 December 2025

Simon Lemay-Comtois has some words of advice for future AC devs

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Upcoming Assassin's Creed games are never too far off. Heck, even before Assassin's Creed Shadows came out nine months ago, Ubisoft were publicly talking about a number of other in-development titles on the horizon. But what wisdom would one of Shadows' lead developers give to the numerous other teams currently heads down on the stealthy-stabby series?

"Pay more attention to parkour in future games as its own pillar," Ubisoft Quebec's and Assassin's Creed Shadows' associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois said of the biggest lesson learned from the Japan-set game's production, per an extensive interview with GamesRadar+, this site here.

Lemay-Comtois noted that Assassin's Creed's signature parkour seemed to have fallen to the background in the series' RPG games, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. Part of that is because those massive open-worlds aren't as dense with climbable architecture as older Assassin's Creed games; instead there's miles of Ancient Greek oceans or Egyptian dunes between urban jungle gyms.

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"We're trying to rectify that in post launch with Shadows and push that narrative internally to say, parkour matters," Lemay-Comtois continued. "Let's really push parkour forward."

Up next are Assassin's Creed Jade, said to be the series' first open-world romp on mobile, and Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, which looks like a slightly spookier take on the formula from Valhalla stewards Ubisoft Montreal. There's also been unofficial rumblings about an Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake for months. We'll see if there's more of a spotlight on parkour in any of those when (and maybe if) they come out.

"Hope is not lost" for Assassin's Creed Shadows to follow Mirage's lead and add the fan-favorite manual jump in a post-launch update

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES Nintendo Switch 2 Xbox Series X PS5 PC Gaming Platforms Nintendo Xbox PlayStation Kaan SerinFreelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

With contributions from

• Jasmine Gould-WilsonStaff Writer, GamesRadar+

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