Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Kuji-Kiri Seamlessly Blends Story and Gameplay

Every main installment of Assassin’s Creed, along with most of its spin-offs, has harnessed an open-world design, endeavoring to cram these expansive worlds with content. Yet, this substantial amount of content hasn’t always translated into fulfilling experiences. For every naval fort and Templar Hunt in Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, there were endless feathers to find in Assassin’s Creed 2. In keeping with tradition, Assassin’s Creed Shadows also offers a variety of open-world activities.

Echoing the vast expanses and rich landscapes seen in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Shadows features an immense open world teeming with opportunities for exploration and adventure. Whether you’re synchronizing with one of the 109 Viewpoints scattered across the map or delving into 36 temples each harboring hidden scrolls, there’s always something new to uncover as players tackle their lengthy to-do lists. However, one activity that stands out is the Kuji-kiri quests, which cleverly blend gameplay mechanics with storytelling.

Kuji-Kiri, known also as the “Nine Hand Seals,” involves meditative techniques combined with specific hand movements, stemming from Taoist traditions. The practice of Kuji-kiri expands on this by replacing these gestures with nine distinct “cutting” movements, made either in the air with one’s hands or on paper with a brush.

In the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the protagonist Naoe embraces Kuji-kiri as a method to concentrate and clear her mind, casting aside the distractions of her thoughts and past recollections. Each cut she makes mutes the surrounding world slightly more, and the sound of the bell corresponding with each movement increases in clarity, until everything else fades away, allowing her to temporarily sidestep her anxieties and immerse herself in memories.

The gameplay of Kuji-kiri in Assassin’s Creed Shadows parallels this internal journey, prompting players to engage with Naoe’s introspections. During the accompanying minigame, players must synchronize button presses with the bells, fostering a quiet focus. As players proceed, the prompts guiding these inputs vanish, challenging them to rely on their memory and rhythm, aligning the player’s concentration with Naoe’s in these immersive segments.

Completing these sequences not only rewards the player with insight into Naoe’s past through vivid flashbacks, enhancing narrative depth and character understanding, but also grants practical in-game benefits. Players earn a Knowledge Point and valuable experience, opening up new abilities for Naoe, making each Kuji-kiri session both a narrative and gameplay reward, underpinning one of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ standout side activities.