Seasons

Learn how seasons work in Assassin's Creed Shadows, how long they last, and how to change them for environmental and gameplay benefits. Master the changing world!

Hey there! So, you're diving into Assassin's Creed Shadows and wondering about those seasons? Let's break it down. Think of seasons as a cool environmental feature that lasts about two in-game hours each. You'll cycle through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each season changes how the world looks, with new plants and animals popping up. Summer's tall grass and ponds are great for hiding, while Winter's snow can actually muffle your footsteps, which is neat for stealth. Plus, when it rains, the rich folks tend to stay inside, making those stealth assassinations a bit easier.

The seasons do more than just change the scenery, though. They actually refresh your scouts, which you use to grab flagged stockpiles from enemy warehouses or just to help you find objectives on your map. This also conveniently gets rid of your wanted status, meaning those pesky Guardian enemies will back off for a bit. Keep in mind, though, that this also resets enemy locations, contracts, and the local factions guarding objectives like castles. So, it's a trade-off!

Some specific quest objectives, like finding legendary animals or minibosses from the Yokai board, are tied to the seasons. For instance, the Legendary Silver Fox only shows up at night during Autumn. Enemy patrols also change their routes with the seasons, so you'll always need to be aware of new surprises when you're sneaking into castles or enemy bases.

How to Change Seasons:

You can manually change the seasons once the in-game time cycle is full or half-full. This is shown by a white segmented circle on the top right of your map menu. You can trigger a transition either by fast traveling, switching between Naoe and Yasuke, or by going into the 'World' tab in the in-game menu and pressing right on the D-Pad (or 'H' on PC). This manual change option becomes available after you finish the main story quest called “An Unpayable Debt.” Just remember, you can't use this to instantly escape a wanted status – it's not quite that simple!