Ubisoft's latest entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise delivers breathtaking next-gen visuals and refined gameplay mechanics, but struggles to break free from the series' established open-world formula. As the first title built exclusively for current-generation hardware, Shadows represents both the technical peak of the franchise and a reminder of the limitations in contemporary open-world game design.
A Visual Masterpiece That Sets New Standards
Assassin's Creed Shadows stands as one of the most visually impressive games of this generation, establishing a new benchmark for open-world environments. The game's lighting system rivals path-traced implementations seen in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, while its weather effects—from dust-kicking winds to torrential downpours—create an immersive feudal Japan that feels alive and dynamic. Running on an RTX 4070 Ti at 1440p, the game delivers a steady 90-110 FPS with DLSS Frame Generation enabled, maintaining performance above 85 FPS throughout gameplay. However, Ubisoft's puzzling decision to cap PC cutscenes at 30 FPS creates a jarring disconnect between gameplay and narrative sequences.
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| A scene capturing the breathtaking visuals of Assassin's Creed Shadows, showcasing armored figures approaching a grand city in a dynamic game world |
Dual Protagonists With Uneven Impact
For the first time since 2015's Syndicate, the series returns to dual protagonists with distinct playstyles. Naoe, a nimble shinobi, embodies the traditional assassin archetype with stealth-focused gameplay, while Yasuke, an African samurai, offers a more combat-oriented experience reminiscent of Ghost of Tsushima. While this duality provides gameplay variety, the character development and narrative execution fall short of their potential. Yasuke's storyline about finding belonging in a foreign land shows moments of compelling writing, but Naoe's character and English voice acting often fail to deliver emotional resonance during extended cutscenes. Their chemistry together provides some of the game's strongest moments, highlighting what could have been with stronger overall narrative execution.
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| An intense confrontation highlighting the character dynamics in Assassin's Creed Shadows, representing the dual protagonists and their contrasting storylines |
Refined Combat and Stealth Systems
The gameplay in Shadows successfully merges elements from both the classic and RPG-era Assassin's Creed titles. Combat feels responsive and challenging, requiring strategic use of parries, dodges, and blocks rather than button-mashing. This creates genuinely rewarding encounters that demand player skill and attention—a significant improvement over many previous entries. Meanwhile, the stealth mechanics shine brightest when playing as Naoe, offering methodical assassination opportunities through shadow manipulation, environmental distractions, and vertical traversal. The grappling hook adds welcome mobility options, enhancing the traditional parkour experience without replacing it. However, the bizarre choice to incorporate trap music and Japanese rap during major combat sequences undermines the game's otherwise immersive historical setting.
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| A warrior in battle-ready posture representing the refined combat and strategic gameplay of Assassin's Creed Shadows |
A Less Bloated But Still Familiar Open World
While Shadows features a more condensed map than its predecessor Valhalla, it still struggles with the fundamental issues plaguing modern open-world design. The nine distinct regions offer visual variety, but the activities within them follow predictable patterns: synchronize viewpoints, clear enemy outposts, and complete fetch quests with minimal narrative significance. Ubisoft has attempted to refresh exploration through a clue-based discovery system, where players must deduce mission locations rather than following waypoints. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned mechanic often feels like an unnecessary hurdle that many players will likely bypass in favor of direct objective markers.
The Missing Innovation
What Shadows and similar contemporary open-world games increasingly lack is a system that makes their expansive environments feel truly alive and consequential. The absence of something akin to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's revolutionary Nemesis System—now inaccessible to other developers due to Warner Bros' patent—is particularly felt here. While Shadows' world is technically impressive and aesthetically beautiful, it lacks the emergent storytelling and dynamic character interactions that could transform its beautiful but static environment into something genuinely memorable and engaging.
Value Proposition
Priced at USD $70 for the Standard Edition and USD $90 for the Digital Deluxe Edition (which includes exclusive gear sets and skill points), Assassin's Creed Shadows represents a significant investment. Ubisoft+ subscribers can access the game for USD $18 monthly, though given the publisher's pricing history, significant discounts aren't expected anytime soon. With approximately 40-50 hours required for the main story and potentially double that for completionists, the game offers substantial content, even if much of it follows familiar patterns.
Conclusion: Beauty, Brutality, and Missed Opportunities
Assassin's Creed Shadows demonstrates Ubisoft's technical prowess and willingness to refine its formula without fundamentally reimagining it. The game excels in its visual presentation and combat mechanics while taking modest steps to address the bloat that has plagued recent entries. However, it ultimately fails to solve the deeper issues of repetitive content and shallow world interaction that increasingly define big-budget open-world experiences. For series fans and those who appreciate feudal Japan settings, Shadows offers an enjoyable if somewhat predictable adventure, but it leaves one wondering what could have been possible with more innovative systems driving its beautiful world.