Step into the shadows of 16th century Japan like never before with Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Immersive Mode-a game changer that ditches English voiceovers for authentic Japanese and Portuguese dialogue, plunging you deeper into the Sengoku era’s rich cultural tapestry. But is this language-locked experience worth the challenge of reading subtitles mid-combat, or should you stick to the familiar English dub? Here’s what you need to know before deciding if Immersive Mode is your path to true immersion or just a subtitle struggle.
Below, we’ll explain the details of immersive mode, and get into whether it’s the ideal way to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
What is immersive mode in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
Immersive Mode in Assassin’s Creed Shadows enhances the authenticity of the game by having characters speak in their native languages-primarily Japanese and Portuguese-reflecting the historical setting of 16th-century Japan. When this mode is activated, all voiceovers are locked to these languages, with Japanese used for most characters and Portuguese for the Jesuit missionaries and related figures. Subtitles remain available in the player’s chosen language to ensure understanding. Unlike Canon Mode, Immersive Mode can be toggled on or off at any time during gameplay, allowing players to experience a more culturally accurate and immersive atmosphere without being locked into the setting for the entire playthrough.
As a megabudget global production, Assassin’s Creed Shadows ships with fully voiced dialogue in numerous languages: English, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. But there’s an additional option that delivers a combination of languages to more fully immerse you in the game’s setting of late-16th-century Japan: immersive mode.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place around 1579, during the campaign by the warlord Oda Nobunaga to unify Japan by force. This was a few decades after Portuguese explorers arrived in the country, becoming the first Europeans to interact with the Japanese. The Portuguese introduced, among other things, firearms (in the form of the matchlock arquebus) and Christianity (through Jesuit missionaries) to Japan.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows features Japanese characters and Portuguese characters, and some of them are bilingual – including one of the game’s two protagonists, Yasuke, a warrior from Africa who is brought to Japan as an enslaved person by Portuguese Jesuits at the beginning of the story. The game’s immersive mode allows you to play with characters speaking in their native tongue. Turning it on locks the language options, setting the voice-over to Japanese as the primary language (with Portuguese characters speaking their own language).
If you happen to be fluent in both Japanese and Portuguese, you’re good to go from there. Everyone else will surely want to pair immersive mode with subtitles in the language of their choosing (the available options are English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Arabic). This setting is actually called Text Language, and it lives in the Interface tab of the System menu.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will ask if you want to enable immersive mode (and/or canon mode or guided exploration) when you start a new game. After that point, you’ll find the option in the Audio tab of the menu, underneath the General category. Note that it’s an on-or-off checkbox that’s a separate setting from Voice Language right above it – if you’re looking for the immersive experience, you don’t want to simply change the audio to Japanese (unless you’re looking to play entirely in that language).
For one thing, the game’s opening is narrated by a character known as the Guide, who is the voice of the Animus, the sci-fi framing device of the Assassin’s Creed series. The Guide’s native language is English, so that’s what you’ll hear if you’re playing in immersive mode – but I initially heard her in Japanese, since I had made the mistake of adjusting the Voice Language setting rather than ticking the immersive mode checkbox. (Had I continued playing that way, even the story’s Portuguese characters would’ve been speaking Japanese.)
Should you play Assassin’s Creed Shadows in immersive mode?
Immersive Mode in Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers a unique experience by having characters speak in their native languages-primarily Japanese and Portuguese-reflecting the historical setting of late 16th-century Japan during the Sengoku period. This mode enhances authenticity and cultural immersion, allowing players to hear dialogue as it would have naturally occurred, with Japanese characters speaking Japanese and Portuguese characters speaking Portuguese. Subtitles are provided to ensure understanding, but the mode may require players to keep up with reading while engaging in gameplay. It can be toggled on or off at any time during the playthrough, offering flexibility for those who want to switch between a more authentic or conventional narrative experience. Immersive Mode is highly recommended for players who appreciate historical accuracy and enjoy original language voice acting, while it may be less suitable for those who find reading subtitles during action sequences challenging.
Everything is permitted, as the Order of Assassins says, but yes: I would strongly recommend playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows in immersive mode – as long as you don’t mind reading subtitles for every minute of an approximately 40-hour main story (or an 80-plus-hour objective-a-thon).
Most Assassin’s Creed games are open-world experiences in which you spend dozens of hours roaming around a place of historical importance during a historically important time period. A big part of the fun is feeling like you’re actually traveling back through time and directly experiencing the culture of the setting in question: ancient Greece, the Viking Age, Colonial America, what have you.
If you have the option to walk among the denizens of these places and hear them speak in the language they actually spoke (or, y’know, a reasonable approximation of it), why not take that opportunity? For me, playing Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in Italian felt so right that it made the default option – everyone speaking in Italian-accented English – seem laughably silly by comparison.
It’s also worth noting something specific about Assassin’s Creed Shadows here: While I’ve only played for about four hours so far, I’ve found the Japanese voice acting to be excellent across the board, whereas the English audio occasionally leaves something to be desired (especially when it comes to dialogue from the background NPCs that populate the world). And immersive mode particularly feels like the right fit for this game, since half of it focuses on Yasuke’s stranger-in-a-strange-land story. The only issue I ran into – in rare instances – was a lip syncing mismatch: characters speaking Japanese with mouths that were clearly still animated to fit the English dialogue. But that might’ve just been a result of turning immersive mode on during a play session.
The nice thing about immersive mode is that you can enable or disable it at will. If it doesn’t work for you, just hop into the menu and uncheck the box. (Note that if you change the audio language to something other than English, you’ll be forced to restart the game – but that simply entails quitting to the main menu, not relaunching the app entirely.)
Should I prioritize immersion or gameplay clarity in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Choosing between immersion and gameplay clarity in Assassin’s Creed Shadows depends on your playstyle and preferences.
If you prioritize a deeply authentic experience, Immersive Mode is highly recommended. It replaces English voice acting with Japanese and Portuguese dialogue, enhancing cultural authenticity and emotional impact, making the story feel richer and more genuine. Many players find the voice acting superior in this mode, which can significantly boost immersion.
However, Immersive Mode requires reading subtitles constantly, including during combat, which some players find distracting or stressful, potentially detracting from gameplay clarity and fluidity. If you struggle with reading subtitles quickly or prefer focusing on action without interruption, sticking to the English voiceover may be better for gameplay clarity and enjoyment.
In summary:
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Prioritize immersion if you want a more authentic narrative experience and don’t mind reading subtitles.
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Prioritize gameplay clarity if you prefer smoother combat and less distraction from reading text.
Balancing these depends on whether you value story immersion or seamless gameplay more in your Assassin’s Creed Shadows experience.
Is immersion more important than gameplay clarity in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Immersion in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is widely regarded as more important than gameplay clarity by many players and critics, thanks to the game’s unique Immersive Mode that features native Japanese and Portuguese voice acting, enriching the historical authenticity and emotional depth of the story. This mode allows players to experience characters speaking their actual languages, such as Yasuke switching between Portuguese and Japanese, which adds significant narrative impact and realism that English voiceovers cannot replicate.
However, this immersion comes with the trade-off of reading subtitles constantly, including during combat, which some players find distracting or stressful, potentially impacting gameplay clarity and fluidity. Players who struggle with subtitle reading or prefer uninterrupted action may favor English voiceovers for clearer gameplay.
Ultimately, whether immersion is more important than gameplay clarity depends on personal preference: if you value a rich, authentic narrative experience and don’t mind subtitles, immersion is the priority; if you prefer smoother, less text-heavy gameplay, clarity should come first. The consensus leans toward embracing immersion for the full Assassin’s Creed Shadows experience, but the choice remains yours.
