Introduction

“Assassin’s Creed Shadows” takes players to feudal Japan, a long-requested setting for the franchise, and one of the few that hasn’t been explored in previous titles. The game follows two protagonists—a skilled shinobi assassin and a legendary samurai—offering contrasting playstyles and perspectives on the turbulent era. As rival factions vie for power, players will uncover hidden conspiracies, shape the fate of Japan, and master the art of stealth and combat in an expansive open world.

Blending classic Assassin’s Creed mechanics with new innovations, Shadows introduces an enhanced parkour system, deeper stealth mechanics, and dynamic weather, affecting gameplay. The dual-character system allows players to switch between the shinobi’s agility and the samurai’s raw power. Expansive settlements, dense forests, and towering castles create a living, reactive world where strategy and adaptability are key.

Developed by Ubisoft, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” is built on the latest iteration of the Anvil Engine, delivering cutting-edge visuals and performance. The game fully supports NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS upscaling technologies, along with full frame generation support. Ray tracing enhances lighting, shadows, and reflections, while an optional shader-based fallback ensures compatibility for older GPUs. This marks the first Assassin’s Creed title to feature ray tracing, setting a new technical milestone for the series.

This review will evaluate the performance of Assassin’s Creed Shadows across a wide range of contemporary graphics cards, compare image quality settings, and analyze the game’s VRAM usage to provide insight into the hardware requirements needed for an optimal experience.