Assassin's Creed: Shadows (2025): The Review

Overview

Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t a disaster, but it’s far from the return to glory fans were hoping for. Its clunky combat, stiff animations, and clear departure from the series’ roots make it feel uneven and confused about what it wants to be. Yet, there’s no denying the impressive scale, high production values, and a few fresh mechanics that show promise. It’s worth a look, on sale, at least, as long as you’re not a hardcore Assassin’s Creed purist expecting a true comeback.

Score: 6.5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Assassin’s Creed Shadows may stumble in execution, but it’s impossible to deny just how gorgeous and ambitious its world truly is. Ubisoft’s recreation of Sengoku-era Japan is nothing short of breathtaking, vast, layered, and dripping with historical atmosphere. From misty bamboo forests to the stone steps of Kyoto, every inch of the map oozes craftsmanship. The game’s commitment to authenticity is best felt through its immersive dialogue mode, where Japanese and Portuguese dubs replace the default English voice work. It’s a small but deeply effective touch, hearing Portuguese traders struggling through broken Japanese or local villagers reacting naturally to your heritage sells the illusion of being part of a living, breathing world. The artistic direction, coupled with beautiful lighting and subtle environmental details like falling sakura petals or heavy snow cloaking rooftops, makes the setting feel alive in ways the franchise hasn’t achieved in years.

The dual protagonist structure also provides a sense of variety that, when it works, makes for a refreshing experience. Playing as Naoe, the agile Shinobi, captures that classic Assassin’s Creed rhythm, stalking prey, striking unseen, and slipping into the night. Her missions embody everything the series built its name on: patient observation, clever route planning, and the thrill of executing a flawless assassination. On the other hand, Yasuke, the Samurai warrior, delivers a heavier, more brutal gameplay loop that lets you revel in sheer power. The contrast between these two perspectives brings new energy to the formula, offering players the chance to approach Japan’s Warring States period from two vastly different cultural and moral viewpoints.

Then there’s Ubisoft’s newest sandbox of systems, the Kakurega hideouts, scouts, and seasonal changes, which, for all their rough edges, show a genuine attempt at innovation. Building hideouts and customizing your base gives you a tangible sense of ownership over the world. It’s no longer just about conquering enemy outposts; it’s about cultivating safety and influence. Scouts, meanwhile, are a surprisingly clever addition, transforming how you gather intelligence and discover new objectives. Having to earn your waypoints instead of relying on a cluttered minimap encourages real exploration. Even the seasonal system, where snow muffles footsteps or rain reduces visibility, adds subtle environmental strategy. These mechanics might not redefine the franchise, but they do breathe life into a familiar loop.

Credit also has to be given to Shadows’ presentation and sound design. Ubisoft clearly invested in its production values, and it shows. The soundscape, from the metallic ring of katana clashes to the hum of cicadas echoing through mountain valleys, is beautifully realized. The Japanese score, while understated, complements the world perfectly. Voice acting is top-notch across the board, with standout performances that lend humanity to both leads. It’s a reminder that even when Ubisoft’s systems feel bloated or its writing overreaches, the studio’s technical teams still know how to craft spectacle. For all its flaws, Assassin’s Creed Shadows delivers moments of genuine awe, the kind that make you stop, pan the camera, and simply admire the horizon.

The Negatives ⚠️

Unfortunately, for every moment of brilliance in Shadows, there’s another that reminds you Ubisoft still can’t get out of its own way. The combat, for one, is wildly inconsistent. Naoe’s encounters can be clunky, but at least they stay true to the stealth-based foundation that defines Assassin’s Creed. Yasuke’s, however, feel like they wandered in from another game entirely, somewhere between Ghost of Tsushima and God of War, but missing the grace of either. The hit detection is unpredictable, enemy AI is inconsistent, and the camera often refuses to cooperate. You’ll find yourself losing fights not because you made mistakes, but because the game’s targeting logic decided to lock onto a tree instead of the enemy trying to split your skull. It’s frustrating, especially for a series that once prided itself on tactical precision and flow.

The story, too, is a tangle of timelines and tonal shifts that make it exhausting to follow. Ubisoft doubles down on its usual tricks: flashbacks, flash-forwards, Animus layers, and even the occasional flashback-within-a-flashback. For veterans, it’s par for the course, but for newcomers? It’s a headache waiting to happen. The first few hours bombard you with exposition, historical references, and meta-narrative jargon that feels impenetrable unless you’ve got a mental chart of the Assassin-Templar war dating back to 2007. The intent seems to be ambition, weaving historical and modern threads together, but the result is just confusion dressed up as depth. And considering Ubisoft billed this as the start of a new “period” for the series, the lack of narrative clarity feels like a serious misstep.

Even beyond storytelling, the facial animation problem persists, and it’s honestly baffling. In 2025, Ubisoft’s characters still move their mouths like ventriloquist dummies during emotional scenes. The world around them is so gorgeous that it only makes their dead-eyed expressions stand out more. Yasuke and Naoe fare better, but secondary characters suffer from that uncanny stiffness that’s plagued the series for years. It’s not immersion-breaking in the way Unity’s infamous bugs were, but it constantly reminds you that Ubisoft’s priorities still skew toward scope over polish. When a quiet, emotional cutscene lands flat because an NPC can’t stop twitching, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment.

And then there’s the price tag, $69.99 for a game that, at times, feels unfinished. It’s not a disaster, but it’s certainly not the kind of refinement that should come at full AAA price. The amount of recycled design here, from stealth patterns to side-quest structures, is too high to justify the cost. Ubisoft’s habit of overloading players with checklists returns in full force, and while the hideout system and scouts are clever, they don’t fully offset the fatigue of running through yet another series of copy-paste missions. For a game so ambitious in concept, it too often falls back on safe, predictable content that fails to keep pace with its own ideas.

The Experience 🎮

Playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels like standing on a bridge between what the franchise once was and what it might one day become. The DNA of the classic games is still here: the assassinations, the parkour, the historic intrigue, but it’s buried under a pile of experimental mechanics that don’t always fit. You can sense Ubisoft’s ambition to move forward, to innovate beyond the formula that defined the originals, but the result feels caught in limbo. The moments when everything clicks, when you slip unseen through a Kyoto temple as Naoe, or crest a mountain ridge at sunset, are magical. Yet they’re constantly interrupted by half-baked systems and technical hiccups that pull you right back to earth.

For longtime fans, it’s a bittersweet experience. Shadows gestures toward greatness but never quite reaches it. The best of Assassin’s Creed, the silent kills, the historical depth, the duality of freedom and order, gets drowned out by the noise of modern AAA excess. You can feel that this could’ve been the Assassin’s Creed in Japan that fans had imagined for over a decade. Instead, it’s a prototype, a proof of concept that shows promise but demands patience. It’s not the triumphant reinvention the franchise needed, but it’s not a total misfire either. Think of it as a middle chapter: clumsy, confused, but trying hard to evolve.

If you strip away expectations and look at it as a standalone open-world adventure, there’s still plenty to admire. The environments are jaw-dropping, the lore is intriguing, and the dual-character structure offers replay value. Even the flawed mechanics carry an undercurrent of creativity, suggesting Ubisoft’s developers haven’t completely lost their touch, they’re just learning how to focus it again. When you meet the game on its own terms, Shadows becomes… almost relaxing, in a strange way. It’s the kind of game you can sink into for hours, not because it’s revolutionary, but because it’s comfortably familiar.

Still, familiarity can only take it so far. When the credits roll, Assassin’s Creed Shadows leaves a lingering sense of what could have been. It’s a technically impressive, occasionally brilliant, but ultimately uneven chapter in a series that continues to wrestle with its identity. If you’re an AC purist, this one might sting; if you’re a curious newcomer, it’s a decent entry point with some caveats. And for everyone else? Wait for a sale. Admire the scenery, enjoy the stealth, and let Yasuke’s combat frustrate someone else.