You’d be entirely forgiven for thinking that the Projects screen in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is just a Battle Pass system. The gradual drip feed of rewards presented in a straight line evokes strong déjà vu of countless live service and free-to-play games like Fortnite or Genshin Impact. Additionally, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has microtransactions, so you might (reasonably) fear that Projects exist just to separate your cash from your wallet. Fortunately, while Projects are similar to Battle Passes in form, they differ a bit in function.
For starters, Projects in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are not tied to the microtransaction shop in any way as of writing. Additionally, unlike many free-to-play games, Projects don’t appear to have any time limits associated with them either. You’ll complete weekly quests to progress Projects a la an MMORPG, but that’s the most live service-y part of them. All of this is subject to change, though, especially if Ubisoft rolls out more Projects in the future.
Where to find Projects in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
To access your Projects in-game, open your main menu and press the button prompt labeled “Animus” in the top-left corner. If you’re playing with a controller, you’ll need to hold down the button so you don’t open the System menu instead. Once in the Animus menu, you’ll see your active Projects. Here, you can choose which Project you’ll want to work on, as you can’t progress multiple Projects simultaneously.
No matter which Project you select, you’ll see a similar track of rewards. You’ll earn Legendary equipment, Gold (not to be confused with Mon), Data Fragments (lore you can read in the Vault), and Keys (the currency used in the rotating Exchange menu). Project progression is tied to your account, so starting a new save file won’t reset your Project progression.
How to progress Projects
To advance your Projects, you’ll need to hunt down Anomalies. These are targets that rotate on a weekly basis, but don’t worry; they’re not that hard to complete. Anomalies seem to reset every Thursday. You can check how much time is remaining on this week’s Anomalies by selecting the “Anomalies” tab in the Animus menu.
Anomalies won’t appear until you’ve progressed far enough into the story. This is just as well, as these can involve spawns in high-level areas that a solo Naoe would likely have trouble taking on. So if you want to get started on these objectives, make sure you unlock Yasuke and slay villains in Naoe’s quest for revenge.
Once you can access Anomalies, you’ll find them listed in the Objectives tab of your main menu. Certain anomalies can also be found by accessing the Legend in your Map screen in-game.
Again, while Project progression is time gated, it’s not something you should worry too much about as you play. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is perfectly playable without paying much attention to this system, and it’s not like you’re competing against other players to get the best gear or anything. This game’s long as heck anyway, so fill your time with the content you find fun and worry about this stuff when you’re in the mood for it.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.
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