Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a big job ahead of it. Not only is this the “Assassin’s Creed in Japan” game fans have wanted for well over a decade, it needs to dig publisher Ubisoft out of a big hole.
Ubisoft hasn’t had a major hit since 2021’s Far Cry 6. Even the Star Wars licence couldn’t save Star Wars Outlaws from poor sales, and that was a good game in its own right – read our four-star review for the full lowdown.
But Assassin’s Creed is the jewel in the Ubisoft crown. And with last year’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage more of a throwback that didn’t quite bring in the crowds like mega-hit Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it’s all eyes on Assassin’s Creed Shadows to come up with the goods.
There’s parkour, assassinations and two key characters that let you approach situations in different ways.
Here’s what else we know so far about Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
What is Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ release date?
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was originally due out in November 2024. It has had two delays since then, and the current release date is pegged at March 20, 2025.
Until recently, it was expected to land in February, but Ubisoft said the game needed a few “additional weeks” to ensure a smooth launch. Some have questioned how much the developers can do in a month, but a bug-ridden start was seen as one cause for the relatively poor performance of Star Wars Outlaws.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is already available to pre-order. The standard edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows costs £59.99, while the Gold Edition is an eye-watering £94.99, which gets you three-day early access and the season pass, covering “two upcoming expansions” and other downloadable content.
You can spend even more, if you like. The Ultimate Edition costs £114.99 and includes a handful of bonus in-game items such as gear for your characters and customisations for your in-world hangout.
What is Assassin’s Creed setting and gameplay?
The Assassin’s Creed games are all about performing deadly takedowns and death-defying parkour in beautifully realised period settings – and Shadows is likely to be no different.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in 1579, during the Sengoku period. This was a time of civil war in Japan, as you can see in the trailer lower down this article.
There are two playable characters, Yasuke and Naoe. Yasuke is a black man, Naoe a female shinobi.
Yasuke is roughly inspired by a real historical figure, too, the subject of a 2021 Netflix anime of the same name, in which he’s known as the “black samurai”.
“With our dual protagonists, we have two fantasies, the samurai and the shinobi,” game director Charles Benoit told PC Gamer.
“We want the player to experience both, and we cannot squeeze both fantasies into one character because the samurai and shinobi came from different social classes. They have different lives. So we cannot really mix them together.”
This suggests you won’t pick one for a playthrough, and instead will switch between the two in Grand Theft Auto V style. Yasuke is a straight-up fighter who embodies the combat styles of more recent AC games, such as Odyssey and Origins.
Meanwhile, Naoe is more of a classic Assassin’s Creed character, a stealthy and lithe figure who can sink into the shadows, uses a wooden reed to breathe underwater and escape enemy detection. Even better, Ubisoft has promised that the weather will change with the seasons, allowing Naoe to use thunderstorms, snow or foliage as coverage as she tracks down her enemies.
Yasuke wields a kanabō, which can fully decapitate enemies (or impale them), and can even run straight through doors and walls. Naoe, meanwhile, wields a polearm and katana as part of her fighting gear, which the gameplay showcase showed her switching between in combat.
She will also have a grappling hook, which is likely to become Assassin’s Creed Shadow’s key stealth tool.
“The grappling hook allows you to climb over walls that you cannot climb with Yasuke, or without the hook, which opens different paths for Naoe,” creative director Jonathan Dumont said in a trailer breakdown.
Even better, the assassination scenes have been changed up, too: a death will be greeted by a Kurosawa-style animation, in which colour bleeds to black and white, except for the bright-red blood spatters of the downed enemy.
You can expect political intrigue, ruthless warlords, Machiavellian power grabs, and an army of ninjas and samurai. It’s developed by Ubisoft Quebec, a Canadian video game studio under the larger Ubisoft umbrella responsible for 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and 2020’s Immortals Fenyx Rising.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows trailer
Ubisoft’s most recent trailer for Assassin’s Creed is a world-building demo. It’s a showcase of all the little touches in environments we’ll probably ignore when dashing around Japan, slashing the place up:
Ubisoft released the first Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer on May 15, 2024. It’s a cinematic preview that offers a look at a few of the game’s themes and characters. But, if you want to fee full-on gameplay, you’ll have to wait.
However, the trailer did become the number one trending video on YouTube, so it’s clear people do want to see what’s up next for Assassin’s Creed.
For a deeper dive into what each part of the trailer tells us, don’t miss the trailer breakdown, too. It features creative director Dumont and assistant director of cinematic design Akim Milne talking about Assassin’s Creed Shadows in more detail: