All of Assassin's Creed's protagonists share a sixth sense that lets them detect hidden secrets and threats - but this gift tends to vary a lot, depending on who's using it. Whether it's a mysterious second sight inherited from the forgotten First Civilization or a sharp-eyed airborne friend, Eagle Vision has always been a part of the series, and you'll be able to use its latest evolution in Assassin's Creed Shadows on November 15. Keep reading to find out how it's changed throughout the series' history, and discover it for yourself in the Assassin's Creed games included in a Ubisoft+ Classics or Premium subscription.
Assassin's Creed
The original Eagle Vision used by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad served a very straightforward purpose: It identified people as friends, foes, key mission characters, and assassination targets, highlighting them as blue, red, white, and yellow, respectively. This helped players more quickly spot patrolling guards and social hiding spots against Assassin's Creed's muted color palette, but was restrained compared to the Eagle Vision of later games. Altaïr had to be at full synchronization (read: health) to use it, and activating it switched the camera to a stationary first-person view.
Attempting to move anything but the camera would switch back to normal vision, although the glowing auras would linger for a little while after it was turned off. It also played a key role in the game's final moments, when Altaïr could use it to separate illusion from reality - and when the present-day protagonist Desmond Miles, held captive and forced to explore his ancestor's genetic memories, gained the ability and used it to see hidden arcane symbols painted on the walls of his cell.
Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood
Ezio Auditore's odyssey through Renaissance Italy improved on the first Assassin's Creed in almost every way, and Eagle Vision was no exception. Ezio could activate the ability at any time, and could walk, run, climb, and even fight while it was active. His version of Eagle Vision also cast the world into much sharper relief, creating a dark and eerie-sounding version of his surroundings where glowing enemies and other points of interest stood out clearly.
While it still identified friendly characters and threats, Eagle Vision could now also identify hidden doors, haystacks, hiding spots, collectibles, and treasure chests, as well as mysterious glyphs hidden throughout the simulation by the enigmatic Subject 16. Discovering said glyphs was part of an important side quest that pushed players to search landmarks with Eagle Vision, leading them far down a rabbit hole of ancient conspiracies and, ultimately, to the truth behind humanity's origins.
Assassin's Creed Revelations
By the time the aging Ezio visited Constantinople, his Eagle Vision had become Eagle Sense, with subtler glows around enemies and eerier background noises. Eagle Sense could show Ezio ghostly afterimages of people he was searching for, as well as the paths taken by certain patrolling enemies and targets. The latter feature was great for avoiding detection, setting traps, or just figuring out the best spot from which to launch an ambush.
Eagle Sense also gave players a reticle they could use to focus on clues and people to reveal hidden secrets, identify VIPs, and see phantom reconstructions of past events. All these new abilities came with some trade-offs, however: Haystacks and other hiding spots no longer lit up in Eagle Sense, and the ability would shut off if Ezio took any damage. It's tough getting old.
Assassin's Creed III and Liberation
The version of Eagle Vision used by Connor, Aveline de Grandpré, and Haytham Kenway in Colonial America let players see the world around them a bit more clearly, turning their surroundings dark gray instead of just dark. The three playable characters could once again use it to see haystacks and hiding spots, as well as stalking zones (patches of thick vegetation the three could crouch in), all of which lit up bright white - as did the huntable wildlife that now scurried around the vast frontier.
Like in Revelations, NPCs had a subtler, more ghostly glow in Assassin's Creed III, while Liberation lit them up brightly. Haytham and Connor also couldn't use Eagle Vision during combat, and none of the three protagonists inherited Ezio's latent ability to predict enemy paths.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Freedom Cry
The pirate-Assassins Edward Kenway and Adéwalé had a more powerful variation of Eagle Vision than Edward's descendants, as it could be used not only to tag up to 10 enemies or animals - who once again had bright-red auras, and displayed floating icons above their heads once tagged - but to see them through walls, and continue to see them even after Eagle Vision was turned off. This revolutionized tailing missions, as it was much easier to keep a target in sight, and it made keeping track of enemies in stealth situations a lot easier.
This Eagle Vision wouldn't work when running or fighting, but it did have other benefits: Not only were hiding spots highlighted this time, but they now had a golden glow, while stalking zones showed up bright green. Also, huntable animals now showed up in easier-to-spot red, like enemies - underscoring the importance of hunting to Black Flag's crafting system.
Assassin's Creed Rogue
Shay Patrick Cormac's epic heel-turn from Assassin to Templar took place in the intervening years between Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's Golden Age of Piracy and Assassin's Creed III's American Revolution, and Shay's version of Eagle Vision was similar to Edward and Adéwalé's, with a couple of notable exceptions: First, the green and gold glows around stalking zones and hiding spots lost their coloring (and disappeared when Shay got close). Second, Shay got a ring-shaped indicator later in the game that, along with increasingly loud and ominous whispers, warned him when Assassins were waiting nearby to ambush him.
Assassin's Creed Unity
Arno Dorian's saga through French Revolution-era Paris reinvented Eagle Vision as the Eagle Pulse, which temporarily bathed the world in blue light and sent out a radar-like wave with visible edges. This could penetrate walls and work across long distances, even when Arno was running and fighting. Characters tagged with it would temporarily stay tagged when the blue faded away - which was important, because an Eagle Pulse lasted roughly eight seconds, after which it would need another five seconds to recharge.
These changes also came with a few new cosmetic alterations; allies now showed up green, while neutral soldiers were blue, treasures and targets were yellow, and hiding spots, lifts, and other points of interest were bright white.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Trading Arno's blue for a pale gray that complemented the smoggy Industrial-Age skies of Victorian London, the Frye twins' version of Eagle Vision sent out two pulses that rippled visibly across their surroundings, and then stayed in effect so long as Jacob and Evie didn't run or get into a fight. In addition to revealing valuables, lifts, and other useful objects, it also highlighted hazards the twins could use against enemies, like hanging weights and fire barrels, and was essential to spotting clues during investigations - including footprints and phantoms of targets' last known positions.
At the outset, the twins' Eagle Vision could tag enemies, displaying their level and letting players continue to track them through walls, although skill-tree upgrades could add the ability to see through walls immediately, and to show which way enemies on the mini-map were facing.
Assassin's Creed Origins
If Assassin's Creed Unity reinvented Eagle Vision, Origins completely reimagined it, this time replacing the alternate vision mode with a literal eagle. By switching their control to Bayek's bird Senu, players could scout from above to quickly tag enemies and reveal their level, as well as locate mission objectives, crossbow turrets, chests, secret passages, crafting materials, and more. Senu could even display what any NPC she could see was doing at any given time (sleeping, working, defending, etc.). Senu's perception range could be increased as Bayek synchronized with viewpoints, adding an extra incentive to explore and enabling her to tag enemies for Bayek more easily.
Players looking for valuables in their immediate surroundings had another solution: Animus Pulse, which - while more an ability granted by the Animus technology than an innate sixth sense - lit up nearby lootables with easy-to-spot white arrows for easy collecting.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
The Spartan mercenary Kassandra (or Alexios) had abilities similar to Bayek, in that they could summon their eagle, Ikaros, to scout from the skies. Ikaros could tag enemies as well as treasures, targets, VIPs, or other objectives dotting the landscape. For close-range detection, Kassandra/Alexios had an innate ability known as Revelation, which could be upgraded to increase its range up to 30 meters. This worked similarly to the Animus Pulse and could reveal nearby secrets, including chests and hidden passages - but it could also tag any nearby enemies without the need to call on Ikaros, which was especially useful if you were in one of Ancient Greece's countless underground ruins (or anywhere else inaccessible by eagle).
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Eagle? What's an "eagle?" The Viking warrior Eivor had a raven, Sýnin, as their companion, and wielded an ability called Odin's Sight to spot nearby threats and valuables. While these powers were superficially similar to their counterparts in the previous two games, Sýnin didn't tag enemies automatically (although players could manually slap markers onto moving enemies while controlling her), and was more useful for pinpointing item locations and quest objectives.
Odin's Sight, meanwhile, would send out a blue-green pulse that tagged nearby enemies - even through walls and across long distances - and highlighted weak points Eivor could shoot for big damage. It also revealed nearby treasures by showing radiant gold auras, and marked other nearby valuables with modest white dots. Additionally, if you unlocked the Stealth Recon skill, you wouldn't even need Odin's Sight to find enemies - just being crouched and undetected was enough.
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Basim's Eagle Vision pulled out all the stops and worked in the best parts of everything that came before. You want to scout with an eagle? His friend Enkidu was always ready to give you the lay of the land and tag enemies. As you upgraded Enkidu's vision through the skill tree, he could more easily spot chests and secret entrances, tag enemies more quickly, and even predict the patrol paths of tagged guards - although he could also be scared away by certain archers, meaning Basim sometimes needed to clear the way for him on the ground.
If you wanted traditional Eagle Vision, Basim had that as well, and could use it to see enemies - complete with visible sightlines - as well as friends, treasures, item refills, explosives, coin-filled purses on passersby, and other interactables. It shut off if Basim ran or got into a fight, but was powerful enough to see across long distances and through walls. And it only got more powerful with upgrades, eventually giving Basim a Stealth Recon-like ability to automatically tag enemies while sneaking, even if you hadn't activated Eagle Vision at all.
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Eagle Vision returns in Assassin's Creed Shadows, although controllable avian companions don't. Casting the world into gray relief, it immediately highlights enemies as well as useful elements such as hiding spots and tool-refill boxes, and works through walls. There'll be more to say about Eagle Vision and other Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay details later this year, so stay tuned.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is available for preorder now and launches on November 15 on PS5, Xbox Series X, Amazon Luna, Macs with Apple Silicon via the Mac App Store, and PC via the Ubisoft Store and Epic Games Store. The game will also arrive on iPad at a later date. Players who purchase the Gold Edition, Ultimate Edition, Collector Edition, or have a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription can play the game three days early on November 12. Additionally, all other Assassin's Creed games listed above, including their DLC, are included with a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription, and (with the exception of the first Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed Mirage) are included without DLC with a Ubisoft+ Classics subscription.
For more Assassin's Creed, check out The Evolution of Assassin's Creed's Hidden Blades and How to Play the Assassin's Creed Games in Order.
