Those who rode the Nintendo Switch roller coaster over the years probably know all about the concept of the so-called “Miracle Port”. Basically, they’re games making their way over from more powerful hardware that come in well above most expectations. In some important ways, the Nintendo Switch 2 doesn’t struggle quite as much as its predecessor did with ports from its more powerful competition. Even so, it’s no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series in terms of power. Thus, it too gets to enjoy the excitement of “Miracle Ports”. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and Star Wars Outlaws are a few examples on the console of conversions that are punching well above the console’s perceived weight.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not a “Miracle Port”. Despite Ubisoft being behind the incredible Switch 2 version of Star Wars Outlaws, it could not deliver to the same extent here. No, even after several months’ worth of patches, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is for better or worse exactly the quality of port you would expect for this game on Switch 2 hardware. That means that if you have a more powerful platform to play this game, that’s probably where you should do it. Ubisoft is still delivering patches for this game so there may yet be some improvements to come, but I would not count on anything major at this point. This version of the game is a clear step down in performance and graphical quality, and for some people that is absolutely going to be a dealbreaker. The resolution is particularly muddy, and it’s hard to ignore when you’re deep in any foliage.
Having said that, I personally found Assassin’s Creed Shadows to be more than playable enough on Switch 2 in its current form. When I say the port is what you would expect, that also means it’s not especially bad either. It took some post-launch work to get it here, and that isn’t especially great for those who picked it up at release. Still, I’m glad Ubisoft didn’t just give up on it. The game is particularly easy to enjoy in handheld mode, where some of its visual shortcomings are less noticeable. It doesn’t hurt that this kind of game lends itself well to quickly popping in and out to do a few things during spare pockets of time in your day. If you’ve got a better way to play on your TV I would recommend doing so, but I think handheld players and those without other options can probably get by with what we’ve got here.
That’s just the port, though. How about the game itself? Assassin’s Creed Shadows finally did the thing everyone had been asking for since the early days of the franchise and sets the story in Japan. Very specifically the Kansai region in the Sengoku era, which is a great place to have ninja and samurai running about killing people. It follows in the line of the last few mainline Assassin’s Creed entries in that it is essentially a big open world action-RPG. Some people have gotten tired of this formula by now, and if that’s where you’re at then I doubt anything here is going to change your mind. I mean, unless the setting does. That’s a strong selling point all on its own, as it usually is for Assassin’s Creed games. Whatever else one can say about these games, they do a great job of realizing their chosen locations.
There are two playable characters, a kunoichi named Naoe from Iga and the real-life African samurai Yasuke. You’ll start the game with a brief stint as Yasuke before hopping over to Naoe’s story, after which you’ll have to put in a fair bit of work on the main questline to get access to Yasuke again. Once you do, you’ll be able to swap between the two as you like. Naoe is every bit the assassin type, squishy but deadly. Her skill tree is filled with cool tricks and techniques for those who are in it mainly for the stealth. Yasuke on the other hand is a beefy warrior, and he’s probably the better choice if you’re not so good at the indirect approach. Well, you’re going to have to deal with stealth to a great degree whether you like it or not, but I assume you know that if you’re picking up an Assassin’s Creed game.
Both characters have their narrative reasons to be doing what they’re doing, and the whole mess naturally ties in with the greater Assassins/Templars conflict that has been running through the series. Despite those connections, Shadows has its own tale to tell, and it’s a rather compelling one once it starts cooking. Depending on how easily distracted you are, that might take some time. There are a lot of things to do in this world, and one could easily spend a couple dozen hours taking down enemy bases, gathering resources, expanding the home base, finding things to sketch, and exploring Kofuns for loot before ever doing much to advance the story. Nothing particularly new for this genre, but it’s done quite well here. Just enough breadcrumbs sprinkled about to keep you moving from one to the next if you don’t force yourself to focus.
The nuts and bolts of the gameplay will be largely familiar to anyone who has played an Assassin’s Creed game before. You have lots of techniques and tools to assist you in your stealthy behavior, and if you’re forced to fight you’ll find a functional if not necessarily outstanding combat system to engage with. If you’re Naoe you’ll typically want to avoid direct conflicts but if one comes for you then you’ll need to parry and dodge for dear life. Yasuke can handle himself a lot better in these situations but being outnumbered goes about as well here as it would in real life. As usual, you can move around quite stylishly with little effort, though you might find occasional situations where you can’t get your character to do quite what you want them to because they’ve stuck to something or hopped over something you didn’t want them to.
There does get to be a point where it all starts to feel like too many marshmallows, but everyone’s personal threshold for that will be different. There’s an awful lot stuff into this game, and I recommend if you start finding it tedious that you simply head back to the main questlines and get things wrapped up. I also think the dual-character system doesn’t quite work as smoothly as it could have. Narratively, both Naoe and Yasuke serve important roles, but the game might have been better off picking one of them as the sole protagonist. Finally, it’s also worth mentioning that this particular template has been done a few times before this and might be getting old for some.
For those who stick to Nintendo platforms, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the first of the action-RPG entries in the series to see a release. If you’re willing to put up with the less-than-miraculous graphical performance, this is a very engaging open world game with an amazingly well-realized setting and a cool story. Just be fully aware that this is a significant step down technically from versions on other platforms, so it’s really best-targeted to handheld players and those who do their gaming exclusively on Nintendo’s consoles.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Ubisoft
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