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To set the things right at the very start of this review—I'm probably one of the biggest Assassin's Creed fans on this God's green Earth, and no Assassin's Creed game can be that bad that I cannot find enough time in my schedule to play the hell out of it. For reference, I have accumulated more than 600 hours on Assassin's Creed: Valhalla on the PC and more than 200 hours on the PlayStation 5, unlocking all the trophies and achievements in the process, even though this game is considered to be the worst of all AC titles.
I'm sharing all of this so that the claims I'm about to make—after spending over 60 hours with Assassin's Creed: Shadows—carry more weight and reflect just how much this franchise means to me. While it's rare for an Assassin's Creed game to truly let me down, I have to say up front: Shadows managed to both fascinate and disappoint me at the same time.
After so many years of development, some crucial delays that, truth be told, made us more happy than sad because we all wanted for Shadows to be as smooth and optimised as possible, we have the chance to play the Assassin's Creed game that was one of the most anticipated, for sure. Whether the wait was worth it or not, read in this review.
Story
Ironically, the weakest link in the chain that is Assassin's Creed: Shadows turns out to be its story—despite high expectations that Ubisoft would absolutely deliver on this front. What makes this even more puzzling is that the story itself is actually quite good. Sure, it doesn’t reach the heights of Origins or the masterpiece that is Assassin’s Creed II, but it’s far from bad—really, it’s genuinely solid.
So you might wonder, what the hell is wrong with it then? The answer is actually pretty simple. The story of Assassin's Creed: Shadows feels like a huge pile full of high-quality stuff. Now it is up to you which piece of this stuff you want to take for yourself. Take whatever you want, and then come back for the rest.
In other words, the story feels like it has neither head nor tail; everything feels like a huge mess where you must find what is important and what isn't. If you played the last installment in the series, Assassin's Creed: Mirage, Ubisoft copied the same formula of telling the story.
You have a section in your menu where you can see all the objectives and all your targets and investigations. Now, if you want to follow a single investigation or a quest, you open that particular section and follow the clues that only vaguely point you in the quest direction.
With Mirage, this system worked flawlessly because it was a much smaller game, and all shown here was easily trackable. However, in Assassin's Creed: Shadows, you'll immediately lose yourself in all this mess. On top of all that, if you, like me, love to free roam the world and do things at your own pace, you'll come across many NPCs that will attack you, and once you deal with them, the new section with new targets and characters will open, and you won't have the slightest idea who they are or what they represent.
This will almost inevitably lead you to encounter a number of unfamiliar characters, and since they’re already logged in your exploration menu, the game just assumes you’re already familiar with them. More than once, Naoe or Yasuke would start talking about someone—or even directly to a character—without me having the slightest clue who they were.
Another thing that caught me off guard regarding the story—or more specifically, how it's presented—is the very beginning of the game. It just doesn’t pull you in right away. A significant portion of the early game is spent doing fairly generic tasks, without much intrigue or anything that truly grabs your attention. That said, I want to emphasise again that the story itself is more than good—it's packed with emotion, drama, loss, struggle, and even uplifting moments. But all of that takes time to unfold, so be prepared to wait and arm yourself with patience.
On the flip side, one thing Shadows definitely deserves praise for is the decision to finally move away from in-engine cutscenes. Believe it or not, those awkward moments from the last two games—where characters in cutscenes often looked completely out of sync or confused—are a thing of the past. Now, key story moments are presented through pre-rendered video cutscenes, and the fact that they’re locked at 30 FPS is a clear sign that these are actual video files, not rendered in real-time.
But enough about bad things; one might think this review, or at least the story section, will be just critiques. I've already mentioned that the story is genuinely good, and I fully intend to support those claims. As you probably already know, Assassin's Creed: Shadows has two protagonists: a shinobi Naoe and a samurai Yasuke, and the story about both of them is just fantastic.
Yasuke is a Portuguese slave who came to Japan as a part of a Christian expedition and stayed there, serving as a gift to a great Japanese general who was curious about a Black man and saw something special in him. After spending many years in Japan and honing his skills, Yasuke, thanks to his physical attributes, became his master's tool of destruction.
On the other hand, Naoe belonged to a small community that decided to fight against the occupation led by no other than Oda Nobunaga, Yasuke's master, and after his army crushed their little rebellion and killed Naoe's father in the process, Naoe swore to avenge him and all the mysterious figures who were involved in this crime.
Naoe's and Yasuke's worlds will interconnect soon enough, and all the story will lead in one direction: vengeance and finding the true purpose in the world full of political injustice and, of course, good old connections to the world of Assassins. How they are involved in all this I'll leave for you to find out whether you decide to play Assassin's Creed: Shadows; the only thing I'll say is that this particular part of the story is probably the most interesting one.
As I've already mentioned, the story is told through the small stories tracked through the investigation menu, but the best part of the Assassin's Creed: Shadows narrative is shown through the memories of Naoe's and Yasuke's previous lives, or the time prior to the present moment they found themself in.
Every now and then, some investigation will lead to Yasuke's memories, while the special places where Naoe meditates lead to the memories of her early days. Not just those moments are the best part of the story, but they are jam-packed with emotions and strong feelings that will work hard on immersing you into the story.
The voice acting does an excellent job of bringing the story to life, which is no surprise given Ubisoft’s reputation and the strength of their flagship title. Naoe is an incredibly likeable character, with a sweet and gentle voice that fits her appearance perfectly. Yasuke, on the other hand, while a powerful and fierce samurai, radiates a calm presence and often serves as the voice of reason when important decisions arise.
By the end of the story section, I found myself both impressed and let down. On one hand, I was truly captivated by the high-quality presentation—especially the cutscenes and voice acting—and to some extent by the story itself. On the other hand, I was quite disappointed with how the narrative was delivered. It often felt like a chaotic jumble that struggled to come together into a coherent whole.
If not for these shortcomings, we might have been looking at the best Assassin's Creed title to date—but unfortunately, it falls just short of that mark.
Gameplay
After a brief detour into the more classic, less RPG-focused style with Assassin's Creed: Mirage, Shadows marks a full return to the RPG approach—though this time, it leans more toward a lighter, streamlined version rather than a fully-fledged RPG experience.
In essence, Assassin's Creed Shadows is an open-world, action RPG using the gear system that resembles some looter titles and a very deep and satisfying combat that is, hands down, the best in the entire series to date.
Like Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, Shadows features a huge open-world map with a lot of regions and locations you'll be able to explore at your own leisure, choosing wherever you want to go and doing stuff at your own pace.
No region will be locked to you, except during some story missions with recognisable desynch Assassin's Creed walls. During free roam, you'll be able to travel wherever you want, but some regions will be labelled as higher levels than yours, and regardless of the difficulty, if you get into a fight with the enemies that are higher level than you, it will certainly be game over very soon.
Speaking of levels, levelling in Shadows is the same as in previous games; you gain XP points, which transform into mastery points that you spend for unlocking new skills. Each level gives one mastery point, and apart from gaining them through levelling, you'll unlock them through doing quests and some other activities.
Pretty usual stuff, really. Some casual activities, like praying at some temples or finding some scrolls, will give you knowledge points, and those points will serve for unlocking the tiers in the skill tree. This system is very well-made and will motivate you to explore as much as possible.
Speaking of activities, the open world has, let's say, just enough of them. It isn't the question mark on every square inch, like it used to be in some previous titles, but the map will feature just enough of them to make the exploration more than interesting and never boring.
The activities range from small enemy camps to large castles, caves teeming with secrets, temples, and meditation points, and also some relaxing activities, like finding some cute animals doing everyday activities, which you'll have to paint.
As I said, you'll never get bored because the activities are interesting and very varied. One criticism, however, goes to the camps and castles, where the gameplay loop tends to feel repetitive: locate the samurai guarding the area—more samurai if it's a larger castle—and once you've taken them all out, a special chest unlocks. Loot it, and the location is marked as complete. It would’ve been nice to see a bit more variety in these activities to keep things fresh, but it's still a step in the right direction compared to previous entries, as you're no longer required to track down a long list of collectibles to fully clear a location.
The viewpoints are still present, although this time, they don't serve as places where you scan the area and reveal all there is in its vicinity. The viewpoints serve as fast-travel points, and once you scale them, you'll be prompted to scan the area manually to find the activities around.
Also, now you cannot simply activate eagle vision as before or scan the area with your bird (this mechanic isn't present in Shadows); the game will tell you a vague explanation about the objective location, and you'll have to find it yourself.
That said, those simple objective markers are a thing of the past, which is a very good thing; instead, you now can employ the help of scouts that will do the searching for you. The scouts are the ordinary people you help in the world, and as a payment, they help you back by feeding you the information and scouting for you.
One of the most noticeably improved aspects of the gameplay is the combat, which has seen a significant leap forward compared to all previous titles. In Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, the combat is hands down the best the series has offered so far, and it’s clear the developers put a lot of effort into refining and perfecting it.
The combat system follows the formula started in Mirage—a hack-and-slash system with light and heavy attacks, block and parry mechanics, enriched with a lot of skill-based attacks seen in Valhalla. To easily explain the combat system in Shadows, one can say that it is the perfect mix of everything good from Valhalla and Mirage with the addition of Shadows unique charm.
As I've mentioned earlier, there are two protagonists in Shadows, Naoe and Yasuke, and each one of them features a different combat style and different skills tied to their respective styles.
Yasuke is a samurai, and he is brutal in combat. He will deal way more damage and will be a perfect solution for the fights with larger groups of enemies. Naoe, on the other hand, is a small, fragile shinobi warrior who prefers agility over brute force.
If you enter the combat encounter and get surrounded by enemies, Naoe will most likely get overpowered easily, but in stealth, she is a true ninja. So if you want to do things silently, you choose Naoe, and if you want the brute force, Yasuke is your man. Regardless of whom you choose, the fan is guaranteed, trust me.
Speaking of stealth, Ubisoft really outdid themself with this title because I say it confidently: you won't find a better game to play stealth than Shadows. Naoe is a true ninja. Her movements over rooftops, sneaking in the shadows, using ninja tools like shuriken and kunais, will definitely blow your mind away—you haven't experienced anything like this before, that's for sure.
Sneaking around, stabbing enemies, doing double assassinations, and whatnot really never gets old; that's why you'll probably spend the majority of time in Assassin's Creed: Shadows playing as Naoe because it's so much fun.
While speaking of combat and stealth, I cannot not mention the weapons, and in this game, they are really too varied for its own good. I said earlier that this game is a sort of looter, and I intend to explain this here and now.
Each character will have two types of weapons at their disposal, the main and the secondary one. Naoe will carry a katana, a tanto, and a kusarigama, and you'll be able to choose any of them to be either your main or secondary choice.
Yasuke will wield a long katana or a naginata, and both of them will have the range weapon options: Yasuke a bow or a teppo and Naoe her aforementioned ninja tools. All those weapons will be upgradable, but upgrading weapons seems like the most useless feature in this game.
All around the world, you'll be finding chests, and each of them will contain a variation of those weapons. Apart from the chests, almost every quest, main or side, will reward you, you guess it, with a variation of a weapon.
So all the time, you'll switch the old weapons with the new ones you find, each with better stats, so upgrading or sticking to a single weapon doesn't really make any sense. The same is true for all other gear: armour or amulets. If I can highlight a single drawback regarding the gear choices, it would be this.
Graphics, Sounds, and Performance
As this review comes to a close, the praise only grows stronger. While the story may be the weakest aspect of the game and the gameplay—though largely impressive—has a few minor flaws, the graphics are undeniably the standout feature. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows isn’t just the most visually stunning entry in the franchise—it’s quite possibly the most beautiful game ever made, and I say that without a hint of hesitation.
It feels as though Ubisoft set out with this title to make a bold statement—to show everyone exactly what they’re capable of. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is so visually stunning that I can confidently say you’ll be in a constant state of awe from start to finish—the game never stops delivering breathtaking visuals all the way through.
Japan is undeniably one of the most visually stunning settings a game can have, and every location in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is nothing short of breathtaking. From the cherry blossoms in spring and dense bamboo forests to the elegant temples, towering castles, and high watchtowers—each element of the landscape is so meticulously and beautifully rendered that, at times, it’s hard to tell whether you’re watching real-life footage or playing a video game.
And the visual brilliance doesn’t stop there. As you probably already know, the game features a dynamic seasonal system, with many gameplay mechanics tied to the changing seasons. What’s truly impressive is how drastically each location transforms with the seasons—everything looks completely different depending on the time of year. For instance, during autumn, the sight of leaves gently falling creates an atmosphere that’s nothing short of stunning.
Winter introduces frozen ponds that the main characters can slide across while running, adding a fun and visually striking detail. During the transition between autumn and spring, frequent rainfall enhances the atmosphere, with especially beautiful weather effects. All in all, the game is packed with breathtaking sights. Even after spending over 60 hours in it, I’m still in awe—it's hard to believe a game can look this stunning and captivating.
To say nothing about the level of small details that really make a difference. For example, once Naoe or Yasuke enters a temple, they will take off their shoes out of respect for the holy place. Each time you get out of water, you'll see the water drops fall off of your clothes, or when the rain stops, the rain drops will still go down from the rooftops. Seriously, the level of detail in this game is just insane.
Furthermore, the feat that impressed me the most is that you'll hardly find the same-looking character in the world. Even the unimportant NPCs feature different looks, and you can just imagine how many of them are in the game, such as Assassin's Creed: Shadows.
The stunning visuals are especially noticeable in the PC version of the game. While I initially played on PlayStation 5—which is undeniably impressive—the PC version stands a class above. What makes it even more remarkable is how well-optimised the game is on PC, delivering both beauty and performance seamlessly.
The game runs exceptionally well, consistently staying above 60 FPS even on my now somewhat dated RTX 3080 Ti, even with settings maxed out. On PlayStation 5, the performance mode delivers a smooth 60 FPS, while quality mode runs at 30 FPS—both offering stable and reliable performance throughout.
When it comes to sound, everything is simply top-notch. One of the moments I especially loved was stumbling upon an old man playing a traditional Japanese instrument and singing as I explored the world. Even though I couldn’t understand a word, I found myself stopping to listen every single time. From the atmospheric soundtrack to the detailed sound effects, the entire audio experience is masterfully crafted and truly elevates the game.
To wrap up this section, I can confidently say that Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is an absolute masterpiece in terms of audiovisual presentation and overall performance. It doesn’t just meet the standards of a AAA title—it surpasses them to the point where it truly deserves to be called a AAAA game, if such a category existed.
Conclusion
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is, without a doubt, the most complete entry in the series to date. If not for a few minor issues with the story’s presentation and some small gameplay flaws, it could very well have been a strong contender for Game of the Year. However, it still carries some of the recurring problems that have long affected the franchise—issues that, unfortunately, even Shadows hasn’t managed to fully overcome.
If you appreciate exceptional presentation, intricate detail, and visuals that bring Feudal Japan to life in a video game, Assassin's Creed: Shadows will deliver all of that—and likely much more. Though this is one of the longest reviews I’ve written in my career, I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface, as the game offers so much. Ultimately, if you're a fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, this game will undoubtedly meet all of your expectations.
The Good
Exceptional graphics and stunning visuals- Detailed environmental design and dynamic seasonal changes
- Beautifully crafted world of Feudal Japan
- Deep and satisfying combat system
- Stealth mechanics are top-notch
- Two unique protagonists with distinct combat styles
- Great voice acting and memorable characters
- Well-optimized on both PC and PlayStation 5
The Bad
Story presentation feels disjointed and chaotic- Investigations can be overwhelming and confusing
- Repetitive gameplay loop in certain activities
