Assassin’s Creed Shadows Review (PS5) – Striking A Perfect Balance

It’s safe to say that there is a lot of weight on the shoulders of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft needs this game to be a success more than any other—the future of the company could very well depend on it. Adding to the pressure for Assassin’s Creed Shadows are the expectations of long-time fans of the franchise like myself. Fans of Assassin’s Creed have dreamt about Ubisoft taking the series to Feudal Japan for years. Now, Assassin’s Creed Shadows finally brings us there, but can it deliver on the dreams of old-school fans and RPG die-hards alike?

It’s time to step out of the shadows and find out together, this is based on the almost 40 hours I’ve played so far.

Game Name: Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Publisher(s): Ubisoft
Developer(s): Ubisoft Quebec
Release Date: March 20th, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Is Back!

If you’re like me, you may feel that the Assassin’s Creed franchise has lost its identity, leaving it behind to appeal to a different audience. With a stronger RPG focus than in recent entries—Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Valhalla especially—the Assassins often felt like an afterthought. While Odyssey and Valhalla are fantastic games in their own right, I found myself less interested due to the lack of Assassins (I mean, it’s in the name).

Thankfully, the Assassins and their creed are much more central to the experience in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, both in the story and gameplay.

A Historic Fictional Delight

The core narrative of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a fictional tale intertwined with real history, something we’ve seen in the franchise many times before. This time it is a little different—we get to play as a historical figure. Of course, I’m talking about Yasuke. While there is much debate about who he actually was, we know he existed. It’s believed that Yasuke served Oda Nobunaga, first arriving in Japan as a slave of Alessandro Valignano. This part of history is recreated in the opening moments of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, albeit with a more amicable first interaction between Nobunaga and Yasuke for those familiar with the real story.

The relationship between Nobunaga and Yasuke, combined with Nobunaga’s ultimate fate, plays a huge role in the story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It serves as a key motivator for Yasuke, shaping who he is within the world of the game.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke is only half of the puzzle. The shinobi Naoe is arguably the star of the show, with much of the early game focusing on her. I won’t go into detail about her motivations, other than to say she has a direct connection to the fabled Assassin’s Creed. If you play through her section of the prologue, you’ll quickly grasp her driving force in the narrative, along with a mystery to uncover. The way she crosses paths with Yasuke is somewhat predictable, but it’s also a well-executed use of real history to support the game’s fictional tale.

Following the prologue, you won’t see Yasuke again for about twenty hours—perhaps slightly less if you focus only on the main story missions. In one way, it frustrated me that the game took so long to return to Yasuke, but in truth, I think it works well. By the time he reappears, Naoe is well-established as a character, even more so if you engage with a specific type of side content. This allows Yasuke to be introduced to the player at the same time that Naoe is getting to know him.

The story that follows is fantastic, featuring some of the best character moments and writing I can remember in the Assassin’s Creed series.

Exploration and Discovery in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Another standout feature of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is its world. Not only is it beautiful and full of life, but there is also plenty to do and discover. After the prologue, you can essentially go anywhere right away—just remember that this is still an RPG, meaning that you can find yourself in an area that you are under-leveled for, and things may not go too well for you.

Like past entries, Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers a wealth of activities, but with one major improvement: the way you explore and uncover the world is much more dynamic, making the game feel less like a checklist. The checklist is still there, of course, but Shadows doesn’t overwhelm your map with endless icons like Valhalla did. Instead, you get points of interest. Even when syncing viewpoints, you clear the fog of war within a certain radius, but most locations remain as question marks. Many things don’t appear on the map at all until you’re very close to them.

You can even stumble upon additional assassination targets throughout the world, allowing you to eliminate them before receiving the associated quest.

This design choice allows Assassin’s Creed Shadows to create a much more rewarding, discovery-driven loop within its open world. To enhance this sense of reward, completing various activities earns you knowledge points. Collect enough of these, and your knowledge level increases, unlocking better active and passive skills.

So, when you come across a horseback archery challenge for Yasuke or find a Kuji-Kiri meditation spot for Naoe, you should take the time to engage with them, as they can be rewarding for either character. I particularly enjoyed Naoe’s Kuji-Kiri, but I won’t spoil why—that’s for you to discover on your own.

Becoming An Assassin Or Maybe A Samurai

One advantage of Assassin’s Creed Shadows having two playable protagonists is that it gives you more freedom to play the way you want. If you want to be a legendary Assassin like Ezio, Naoe can fulfill that role. Or maybe you’d rather be a fierce, head-on warrior like Eivor? Then Yasuke has you covered.

This isn’t the first time the franchise has experimented with multiple playable characters. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate also attempted this with the Frye twins, but by the end of that game, both characters felt largely the same to play. I’m happy to say that Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t suffer from the same issue. Naoe and Yasuke feel completely different, both in and out of combat.

But what exactly sets them apart? Well, everything—but let’s start with their skills and weapons.

Skill Trees and Weapon Choices: Shaping Your Protagonist

Unlocking skills requires two things. As I mentioned earlier, you need the correct knowledge level, which increases as you engage with different activities in the world. Secondly, you need mastery points, which you can earn by leveling up your characters, completing certain quests, and more.

Each character has several skill trees tied to their archetype and weapons. Naoe’s skill trees include Assassin, Shinobi, and Tools. Upgrading these skills grants access to abilities such as Shuriken, Shinobi Bells, and Double Assassinations. In terms of weapon-based skill trees, Naoe has Katana, Kusarigama, and Tanto—one for each weapon type available to her. Weapon skills tend to be more active, granting special moves or abilities in combat. Activating these abilities requires building adrenaline and using the right trigger + the corresponding face button, similar to Valhalla and Odyssey. These abilities can be the difference between life and death, so I’d encourage you to find the weapon type that suits you best and invest in that skill tree.

I really enjoyed using the Tanto as my main weapon, since it’s required for double assassinations, while the Kusarigama is my preferred secondary weapon due to its longer range and excellent crowd control.

Yasuke, on the other hand, has more weapons, meaning more weapon-focused skill trees—but more on those in a minute. Unlike Naoe, Yasuke only has one character-focused tree. Since he isn’t an Assassin or a Shinobi and doesn’t use Tools, his skill tree is simply Samurai. Upgrades in this tree provide combat-focused passives, such as health regeneration after kills or increased adrenaline for activating extra weapon abilities. However, two of my favorite skills are far less passive—and not subtle at all. First, there’s Brutal Assassinations, and secondly, the War Kick — this game’s version of the Spartan Kick.

Yasuke has five weapon options: Long Katana, Naginata, Kanabo, Teppo Rifle, and Bow. The variety of weapons at his disposal makes him a formidable force, adding far more depth to his gameplay than many might have expected. If you prefer playing Yasuke with a stealthy approach, focus on the Bow with silent arrows. However, if you want maximum damage, I’d recommend the Kanabo. Though it’s a slow weapon, this Japanese mace-style weapon is devastating, easily breaking enemy armor and dealing massive damage—even to the toughest foes.

Fighting Styles: Yasuke’s Tank vs. Naoe’s Agility

If you’ve played any of the RPG-era Assassin’s Creed titles, you’ll find the combat mechanics in Assassin’s Creed Shadows very familiar. Light and heavy attacks are mapped to the right bumper and trigger, respectively, and you can dodge, block, and parry. However, blocking is exclusive to Yasuke—Naoe cannot block but she can parry all but the red hits, and her dodge is far more effective. While Yasuke performs more of a sidestep, Naoe’s dodge allows her to evade attacks with greater agility.

One mechanic both characters share is the new posture attacks—though, in truth, they aren’t entirely new. These are essentially a redesigned version of charged attacks from previous games. You execute them by holding and then releasing either the light or heavy attack button. If a posture attack lands successfully, it can leave your opponent vulnerable, indicated by a yellow-orange glow around the enemy. However, if you miss, you leave yourself open to taking massive damage.

The differences between Yasuke and Naoe in combat are quite significant. Yasuke is a powerhouse, able to withstand multiple enemies at once with little more than a scratch. In other words, he’s a walking tank. Naoe, on the other hand, excels in one-on-one encounters due to her speed, but is far more fragile and a few well-placed hits can take her down.

Stealth and Movement: How Yasuke and Naoe Differ

As you might expect, the differences between Yasuke and Naoe extend beyond combat.

Stealth and traversal go hand in hand, but Naoe and Yasuke have vastly different capabilities in these areas. Naoe, for example, has access to a grappling hook, allowing her to quickly scale buildings and stay out of sight. She also has tools such as smoke bombs and shinobi bells to help her bypass enemies unnoticed. Yasuke, on the other hand, lacks these tools and cannot use a grappling hook. While he is capable of some parkour—such as climbing over walls—he does so much more slowly, and certain parkour objects will even break under his size and weight.

Speaking of size, Yasuke’s larger frame also makes him significantly louder when moving, making it easier for enemies to detect him. In contrast, Naoe is much smaller, quieter, and even able to hide in spaces that Yasuke physically cannot fit into.

Naoe’s superior traversal abilities are further highlighted by the fact that some viewpoints can only be reached by her. If you prefer a stealth-focused playstyle, slipping in and out of locations without ever being seen, Naoe is likely the ideal choice for you.

The League Of The Hidden Blade

Away from the core gameplay, a huge component of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the new Hideout settlement system. It shares some similarities with the settlement in Valhalla but it gives you more freedom and is more integral to your overall gameplay experience. Firstly, the hideout system allows more creativity than seen in Valhalla. You can place buildings much more freely and gain multiple cosmetic options to make your hideout stand out.

While exploring the open-world, you will come across different resources that can be used to build your hideout. The best part is that building your hideout actually has a gameplay impact. For example, gaining and upgrading a blacksmith allows you to level up and engrave weapons with new perks. With the hideout, you can also increase the number of scouts you have and scouts are very important. Scouts help you to locate targets and other objectives, but they can also gather resources for you. The reason that gaining more scouts helps is that scouts are limited in their number of uses per in-game season.

Another part of the hideout is the allies who you may or may not have. Throughout the story of Shadows, you’ll come across various characters that can join your league as an ally if you make the right dialogue choices that is. Although there is a canon mode that takes these choices out of your hands. Allies can be activated during gameplay like abilities with a cooldown period. They have various abilities that might help you in combat or stealth.

If you are lucky enough to gain an ally building a dojo at your hideout will allow you to upgrade your allies with enough resources. These upgrades might give them new abilities or make existing ones more potent.

Casting Excellence and Creating Beauty

I would be doing a massive disservice to Assassin’s Creed Shadows if I didn’t discuss its presentation. Earlier, I mentioned how beautiful the world of Shadows is—the environments are picturesque. This beauty is highlighted further by the changing seasons throughout the game; areas look quite different in winter than they do in summer. Certain aspects of the environment completely change, and this actually has a gameplay impact. One small example is that in summer, you might see a beautiful bush of flowers that makes a great hiding spot. In winter, that same bush will be dead, and enemies can see right through it.

I talked earlier about how enemies can hear you as you move around, but sounds in the world can also mask the noise you make. For example, when a storm rolls in, not only does it sound incredible, but it also makes it harder for enemies to hear you.

Just like the visuals, the audio throughout Assassin’s Creed Shadows is outstanding. Everything sings, from the clang of steel on steel in a katana-fueled duel to the whoosh of an arrow passing your head or the ambiance of listening to wildlife as you explore. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a meditative audio experience that can be relaxing but also helps you enter a flow state in combat.

One important aspect of this beautiful audio experience is the game’s amazing score. The soundtrack combines classic Japanese-style music with more modern electronic sounds. The result is something that won’t be to everyone’s taste but suits the game and makes its music stand out. I was particularly impressed by new versions of classic themes from the franchise, such as Ezio’s Family, which have been adapted to better suit the setting and tone of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Casting Excellence

A huge part of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ presentation—and arguably the biggest improvement over previous titles—is the significantly improved facial animations. While there are still some issues with standard NPCs, the level of detail in facial expressions during cutscenes is a major leap in quality over the rest of the series.

Of course, this improvement wouldn’t matter if the performances didn’t back it up. I’m pleased to say that the cast is phenomenal! I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one, if not multiple, actors nominated for end-of-year awards. Special mention goes to Masumi Tsunoda for her portrayal of Naoe and Tongayi Chirisa for his performance as Yasuke. Both bring their characters to life in such a way that brought a tear to my eye multiple times—and I haven’t even finished the game yet.

Is Assassin’s Creed Shadows Accessible?

I’m pleased to report that Assassin’s Creed Shadows continues Ubisoft’s trend of creating highly accessible games. While there is no dedicated accessibility menu—which is a bit disappointing—all the options you would expect from a modern game seem to be present. From colorblind modes and subtitle customization to press/hold control options, full HUD customization, and more, Ubisoft has done a great job here. However, there’s always room for further improvements.

How Assassin’s Creed Shadows Runs on Console

Unfortunately, due to technical issues with my PC, I was unable to test that version—despite it being the first one we gained access to. However, both Keith Mitchell and Scott Adams have informed me that it runs very well on their hardware. However, Keith has made it very clear that you can not disable any of the upscaling technology; regardless if it’s AMD’s FSR, Nvidia’s DLSS, Intel’s XeSS, or Ubisoft’s own. Some may not like that, but what can you do?

As for me, I later received review codes for the PS5 and Xbox versions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Owning a PS5 Pro, I spent over half of my playtime during the review period on that version, and it was a fantastic way to experience the game.

I played using the game’s recommended Quality Mode, which prioritizes resolution and visual fidelity. Unless you’re particularly sensitive to a 30fps cap, this is definitely the best way to enjoy such a visually stunning game. The frame rate in this mode is locked on the PS5 Pro, which also benefits from additional ray tracing not present in other console versions. There is also a Balanced Mode, which is similar to Quality Mode but targets 40fps for those with compatible displays. While I could have played in this mode, I found Quality Mode to be more in line with my personal preferences.

For those prioritizing frame rate above all else, there’s the Performance Mode, which targets 60fps. However, I felt the drop in visual quality wasn’t worth the trade-off, especially since the 60fps target isn’t locked and tends to dip in more chaotic scenarios.

I also tested the game on Xbox Series X for a few hours and came away impressed. It features the same three graphical modes, though with slightly less ray tracing than the PS5 Pro version. The upside is that this reduced ray tracing allows the Xbox version to hold its FPS targets more consistently across all modes—at least based on my early hours with the game.

A major plus for Assassin’s Creed Shadows is its level of polish. In my experience, this is the most stable and bug-free console release in recent franchise history. Across all modes, I have not encountered a single crash or major bug while playing on either console.

The Perfect Balance

As we come to the end of this review, I’ll sum it up simply by saying that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is everything I wanted it to be—and more. It places a renewed focus on the Assassin Brotherhood, an element that was somewhat lost in recent titles. This step helps the series rediscover its identity.

What I didn’t expect—but was delighted by—is Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ ability to strike a near-perfect balance between the classic titles and its RPG-driven predecessors. This is exactly what I want RPG-style Assassin’s Creed games to be moving forward.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows was provided to us for review purposes by Ubisoft. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.

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