How To Unlock Secret Castle Rooms In Assassin’s Creed Shadows

How Secret Castle Rooms Work In Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Major castles in Assassin’s Creed Shadows hide some of the best loot in the game behind secret rooms, mechanical vaults, concealed attics, and hidden underground chambers.

Unlike simple locked doors, these rooms are built directly into the castle architecture and usually require environmental interactions or character-specific abilities to access.

Most hidden rooms contain:

• Legendary chests
• Rare crafting materials
• Historical collectibles
• Unique armor pieces
• Endgame upgrade resources

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Use Explosive Jars To Break Barricades

One of the most common castle puzzles involves doors barricaded from the opposite side.

Search nearby rooms or storage areas for explosive jars.

Pick up the jar, place it near the blocked entrance, and trigger the explosion using a ranged weapon or thrown tool.

This is especially common inside castles like Katano Castle where hidden side rooms are protected behind reinforced wooden barriers.

If a suspicious hallway suddenly dead-ends, there is a good chance Ubisoft wants you to blow something up.

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Find Keys Using Observation Mode

Many castle rooms require physical keys carried by guards or hidden on desks inside restricted areas.

Use the Observe mechanic to highlight nearby interactable objects and key icons through walls.

Keys are commonly found:

• On patrolling officers
• Inside commander rooms
• Near upper-level strategy tables
• Beside treasure vault entrances

Always scout the upper floors carefully before assuming a room is inaccessible.

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Use Naoe To Access Hidden Entrances

Naoe specializes in infiltration and can bypass many castle defenses entirely.

Grappling Hook Entry Points

Look for elevated beams, roof openings, or partially open windows.

Many keeps contain hidden attic crawlspaces only reachable with the grappling hook.

These hidden rafters often contain:

• Loot chests
• Secret passages
• Lever systems
• Alternate routes into locked rooms

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Belly Crawling And Hidden Floors

Some castles hide crawlspaces beneath floorboards or inside narrow maintenance tunnels.

If you notice:

• Misaligned tatami mats
• Raised floor sections
• Small wall gaps
• Unusual floor geometry

There is usually a hidden passage nearby.

Naoe can crawl through spaces completely inaccessible to Yasuke.

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Use Yasuke For Structural Breaching

Yasuke cannot fit through hidden tunnels, but he can create entrances manually.

Break Weak Walls And Gates

Look for:

• Cracked clay walls
• Weak wooden lattice panels
• Heavy iron-reinforced doors
• Damaged structural supports

Use heavy attacks or blunt weapons to smash through barriers.

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Operate Heavy Counterweight Systems

Some castle vaults use giant pulley systems and mechanical locks.

Yasuke can interact with:

• Stone counterweights
• Iron-bound pulley wheels
• Massive lock mechanisms
• Heavy sliding gates

These systems often open pathways for Naoe to continue deeper into restricted areas.

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The Twin Shoji Switch Puzzle

This puzzle appears inside larger keeps and treasury vaults.

How It Works

You will find a sealed wooden door flanked by decorative sliding panels.

Follow the rope pulley systems along the ceiling to locate two separate switches hidden in nearby rooms.

Both switches must be activated within a short time window.

Naoe is usually the best choice because her movement speed makes it easier to trigger both mechanisms quickly.

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The Hidden Waterway Puzzle

Some castles hide treasury access beneath flooded courtyards or wells.

How To Solve It

Locate the drainage wheel somewhere within the outer courtyard.

Use Yasuke to rotate the heavy mechanism and lower the water level.

After draining the area:

1. Switch to Naoe
2. Dive beneath the gate structure
3. Swim through the underwater tunnel
4. Surface inside the hidden treasury room

These puzzles are some of the coolest castle infiltrations in the game honestly. Very classic shinobi energy.

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The Gear-And-Axle Puzzle

This puzzle blocks access to hidden armories and mechanical vaults.

How To Open The Wall

Look upward for exposed wooden gear pins attached to the ceiling machinery.

Use:

• Kunai
• Bows
• Matchlock rifles
• Throwable weapons

Destroying the pins causes the counterweights to collapse and forces the hidden wall panel to slide open.

Sometimes the solution is literally just shooting the weird suspicious thing hanging above your head.

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Eliminate All Samurai Daisho

The upper keeps inside major castles contain legendary reward chests.

These remain locked until every Samurai Daisho in the area has been defeated.

You can track remaining Daisho enemies through castle progression markers and observation scouting.

Once all targets are eliminated, the legendary chest unlocks automatically.

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Rewards Inside Secret Castle Rooms

Successfully infiltrating hidden castle rooms rewards some of the best gear and materials in the game.

Possible rewards include:

• Legendary armor sets
• Rare weapon upgrades
• Historical scroll collectibles
• High-grade steel
• Rare lacquered wood
• Endgame crafting resources

Many stealth-focused and combat-focused legendary sets are hidden inside these secret vaults.