The game is pretty enjoyable so far BUT:
Dear Ubisoft,
I will not buy 2500 HELIX ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (20 eur) to purchase a costume in-game after I spend 70 eur on it. Also, I will also not buy 4200 HELIX ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (35 eur) for an extra 5 skill points and a Katana "Starter Pack". How about you pack deez nuts into your mouth

I was enjoying Assassin’s Creed Shadows at first, even though it has a lot of performance problems. I’m running an RTX 5090 and still struggle to reach 60 frames per second. It’s ridiculous — I can play Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K with 120 FPS, but this game barely manages 30–50 FPS at the same resolution.

Like most Ubisoft titles, it’s a massive map filled with repetitive tasks and endless collectibles that have little to no impact on the actual gameplay. For the first 10 hours, I was enjoying it, but after that, it feels like I’m doing exactly the same thing over and over again. I’m just pushing through to complete it, but without any real enjoyment. This has become a recurring pattern in Assassin’s Creed games — each entry gets bigger, but not better.

For reference, I platinumed Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla on my PlayStation account, so I’ve given this series plenty of time and patience. But I don’t see myself continuing to play Shadows, because it simply isn’t fun anymore.

Then, after losing internet access for about 4-5 days, I discovered that I couldn’t even launch the game. The Ubisoft Connect launcher refuses to open it without connecting to Ubisoft’s servers — even for the single-player campaign.

This means I cannot access a product I paid for, which from a consumer standpoint is ridiculous. It’s a shame that these companies bury the experience under DRM and force online checks for single-player content that should be playable offline and doesn’t affect anyone else.

This will be the last Ubisoft game I will ever buy.

Let’s start with the positives, this game is a technical marvel. Ubisoft’s engine manages to bring feudal Japan to life with breathtaking detail, riding through the landscapes is a visual feast, and the studio’s talent for world-building is, as always, perfect. The dynamic weather and season system is also a hit. Storms come in and out with cinematic weight, while the map undergoes drastic seasonal transformations, watching feudal Japan shift from cherry-blossom spring to vibrant orange autumn forests is nothing short of amazing. The combat system is another massive improvement, its the best it has ever been since the shift to RPG mechanics.

Now, the flaws.

While the world is stunning, exploration feels hollow. Besides the large outposts, there’s little incentive to engage with the environment. Smaller side activities, designed to get mastery points for skill-tree progression, quickly devolve into tedious chores, forcing players to grind just to be able to get newer abilities.

The loot system is a fundamental misfire. In Odyssey, progression felt rewarding: starting with basic gray gear and gradually earning rare, powerful items created a satisfying power curve. Shadows, however, repeats Valhalla’s mistakes. Though Ubisoft reintroduced lower-rarity loot in chests, the system collapses early. After clearing your first outpost, you’re handed legendary gear, which incentivizes you to stick with it, leading to upgrading said gear becoming the only option.

Mid-game, this flaw becomes unbearable. With two protagonists, one wielding three and the other five weapon types, loot distribution becomes chaotic. The minimal filler gear you find (only in specific chests, not enemy drops) is spread thin across twelve equipment slots, making relying on random filler loot drops for new gear impossible. By the late game, you’re forced to either grind for materials or stick with underpowered gear. For an RPG, this is catastrophic—loot should motivate progression, not smother it.


The narrative is the game’s biggest sin. It borrowed Valhalla’s non-linear structure, the plot tasks you with assassinating 12 targets in any order. While the Japanese voice acting is amazing and the opening hours are the best narrative assasin's creed has had since AC Origins, the structure kills the momentum. Characters can’t evolve meaningfully when quests are self-contained. For example, Yasuke’s potential arc, like one of struggling with his morality, is impossible to acomplish because the game can’t account for player choice. Making the narrative a disjointed story that feels like a checklist.

I wanted to love Shadows, AC Odyssey is my favorite assain's creed, but even though the world and combat show flashes of brilliance, the flawed progression and lifeless story overshadow its strengths. Ubisoft’s half-hearted commitment to RPG mechanics leaves the game stranded between identities, no proper mechanics for an rpg and too disjointed for people that enjoy strong narratives. Ubisoft HAS to rethink their approach.

Since im a biased AC consumer i will give it a 7/10, but for a normal gamer that's just looking for good narratives you will be better suited elsewhere

Finished the game but I honestly can't give it a thumbs up, it's possibly the most frustrating AC game I've played and I've played them all. Your greatest enemy in this game is the camera and controls who constantly double-team you into submission.. and you cannot defeat them. The amount of times I got stuck on world geometry is also unacceptable. And the complete lack of the real world story.. ugh.. I know it's divisive but that was always one of my favourite things in these games; the mystery and intrigue of the ancient Isu and the Pieces of Eden seems to be completely forgotten and ignored. Felt like I was finishing it more from stubbornness than actual enjoyment.
That and to this date it STILL suffers from random DirectX crashes. Unacceptable.

If you intend to play this game offline in any capacity, be warned, you can't. Although, they advertised the game as being playable offline on X/Twitter back in May 2024, every attempt I've made to do so is thwarted by the Ubisoft Connect launcher demanding to be reconnected to the internet. If you try to set it to offline mode, it closes then restarts with the same message as if it never happened. The game refuses to start because of this. Support seems to be willfully ignoring anyone that brings this up to them.

Disappointing, because this is otherwise a solid game.

Yeah, it's a Ubisoft game all right. It seems like they didn't learn a thing since Origins. Only the prologue didn't seem like a complete slog. The world is vast but empty, the side content consist of very tedious fetch quests, there are a million characters with no depth or development who's names you'll forget in 5 seconds. The main quest is still structured like Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla - here is a list of people, go kill them. Half way through the game I forgot why even was I after them. Facial animations are still wooden and the voice acting is something you'll find on Craigslist. All castles feel the same, and most of the content is centred around clearing them. All in all I think that this is definitively my last Ubisoft game. Oh, and a special f*** you to Ubisoft Connect. Every other time I tried to launch the game I'll get the "Something went wrong with the activation" error. Don't waste your time on this bloated c*** like me, go play Expedition 33 instead.

Micro transactions in a single-player game with 70 Dollar price tag, why?

13 hours into the game i deeply regret buying it.

It's a pretty looking game with no substance inside of it.
I will probably play some more of it just to kill some time whilst watching/listening to something in the background.

The fact that i have relegated a "single player story driven game" to "guess i will listen to a podcast on the side" should speak volumes of my opinion of the game, how repetitive it is, and how boring the writing is.

Also, why the f*ck are enemy levels a thing in this game?
Why is a common soldier all of a sudden immortal just because he has a higher number?
why do i go from tanking ~3/4 hits to dying in 1 shot, when all that happened was that the number next to the enemy went up by one?
Why do i have to run around doing chores to make sure my steel blade actually hurts the enemy?

Remember, this costs 70$ and some will have payed more:

Why is there a battle pass in a single player game?
Why is there a premium currency you need to buy with real money?
Why is there a FOMO rotating shop of item's?
Why do they sell an option to reveal the map for real money?
Why can you buy in game currency with real money?

Why are there 4 "Premium" armor sets you can only get by spending real money?
4 armor sets witch could have for example been given to the player for let's say completing some really challenging achievements.
But no, they have to squeeze every penny out of us while they still can.

By the way, they're not selling skins, they are selling items with their own stats.
Literally selling you legendary items with unique passives that as far as i know you can't get otherwise.

I repeat: 70$ "SINGLE PLAYER GAME"

Why Ubisoft...
Why...

If I'd have to describe the word "average" to someone I'd probably show them this game.

If you are happy by just running from quest marker to quest marker for hours on end, then I highly recommend this game. Because that's pretty much all you do for the entire game. And I personally found it oddly satisfying to just turn off my brain and wander through the admittedly very beautiful open world - hence the positive review.

But if you actually have some higher standards when it comes to video games, you'd probably be in for a disappointment.

The story is the same as in the last 5 games of the franchise so you can basically foresee pretty much all events from a mile away anyway.
The combat looks cool but is not challenging at all.
The graphics are commendable; especially the facial expression of the main characters seem to have improved massively compared to older AC games.

Its definitely better than the dumpster fire they released back in 2020 with Valhalla but its still far from an adequate product considering we're talking about a "AAA-Publisher" with an insane budget.

TL;DR
Gud game if you dont care about story or a lack of challenge and like running from quest marker to quest marker like I do :)

Microtransaction in single player game never cease to pisses me off.