Before I even started Assassin's Creed Shadows, I knew I'd be playing on Expert difficulty. It wasn't an inflated ego or a sense of masochism that brought me to the decision. It wasn't even confidence with the series' combat – the last Assassin's Creed I played was Black Flag. Instead, it was Expert Mode's promise to dial up Shadows' stealth gameplay.
Expert Mode does make fights a little harder, but its biggest selling point is that it improves enemy detection and pathfinding, giving your enemies the ability to detect your presence when you're on the roof. For Naoe in particular, this is an absolute gamechanger. A parkour expert – unlike the somewhat clumsier Yasuke – she's supposed to spend most of her time freerunning atop buildings rather than charging around at ground level. At normal difficulties, being on a rooftop acts almost like an invisibility cloak, a safe place for Naoe to retreat to if stealth goes wrong. But in Expert Mode, you're forced to play a lot smarter.
