Assassin's Creed Shadows

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Developers
	Ubisoft Quebec
	Ubisoft Belgrade
	Ubisoft Bordeaux
	Ubisoft Bucharest
	Ubisoft Chengdu
	Ubisoft Kyiv
	Ubisoft Montpellier
	Ubisoft Montreal
	Ubisoft Odesa
	Ubisoft Osaka
	Ubisoft Pune
	Ubisoft Shanghai
	Ubisoft Singapore
	Ubisoft Sofia
	Ubisoft Tokyo
Publishers
	Ubisoft
Engines
	Ubisoft Anvil
Release dates
Windows	March 20, 2025
macOS (OS X)	March 20, 2025
Reception
Metacritic	78
OpenCritic	81
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	Boost, Cosmetic, Currency, Free-to-grind
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Stealth
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Japan
Series	Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed Shadows is a singleplayer stealth action game primary developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. It is the fourteenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series.

It was released Windows and MacOS on March 20, 2025.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		Digital Deluxe Edition & Premium Edition also available.
		Digital Deluxe Edition & Premium Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming		Digital Deluxe Edition & Premium Edition also available.
Mac App Store		Only runs on Apple Silicon machines.
Microsoft Store
Steam		Digital Deluxe Edition & Premium Edition also available.
Ubisoft Store		Digital Deluxe Edition & Premium Edition also available. Premium Edition included with Ubisoft+ Premium.

All Windows versions require Ubisoft Connect and Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM.

Version differences

Pre-Orders includes Claws of Awaji expansion for free and Thrown to the Dogs quest.

The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the Sekiryu Dual Pack, the Sekiryu Hideout Pack, and five Mastery Points.

Premium Edition includes the base game, Claws of Awaji expansion, Deluxe Pack, and five mastery points.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Included in the Ubisoft+ subscription, but only on the more expensive Premium tier.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
Boost	The game contains boosting microtransactions, such as an option to pay to reveal all objective map markers or to purchase resources that can be used to upgrade hideouts.
Cosmetic	Cosmetic microtransactions are present.
Currency	The in-game currency that is normally obtainable via gameplay, is also a real money purchase.
Free-to-grind	Many purchasable benefits can be obtained in game without purchasing microtransactions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Premium Starter Pack	Includes 2 weapons, 5 mastery points and in-game currency.
Thrown to the Dogs	Originally a pre-order bonus. Became available for free in TU 1.0.5.
Claws of Awaji	Story Expansion.

Essential improvements

Lyall's ACShadowsFix

Adds various fixes to the game.

• Skip intro videos.
• Extend in-game FOV slider.
• Disable frame rate cap in cutscenes/FMVs/menus.
• Enable dynamic cloth physics frame rate.
• Allow cutscene frame generation.
• Disable pillarboxing/letterboxing in cutscenes.
• Option to center the gameplay camera.

Skip intro videos

Use Lyall's ACShadowsFix

Delete or rename the video files
Go to <path-to-game>\videos\. Rename, move or delete ANVIL_Logo.webm, INTEL_Logo.webm, HUB_Bootflow_FranchiseIntro.webm and UbisoftLogo.webm. Go to <path-to-game>\videos\en\, or the folder that corresponds to the currently set text language in game. Rename, move or delete Epilepsy.webm, warning_disclaimer.webm, and WarningSaving.webm.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Assassin's Creed Shadows\ACShadows.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/3159330/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\8006\
Steam	<Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\1081\
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Containers/Assassin's Creed Shadows/Data/Library/Autosave Information/saves
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/3159330/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video

Scalability settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Use Lyall's ACShadowsFix to disable pillarboxing/letterboxing in cutscenes.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Ranges from 85% to 115%. Use Lyall's ACShadowsFix to extend the FOV slider.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Forced TAA. Native resolution DLSS, FSR, and XeSS are also available.
High-fidelity upscaling		DLSS 3.7, FSR 3.1, XeSS 2
Frame generation		DLSS Frame Generation, FSR Frame Generation, XeSS Frame Generation Use Lyall's ACShadowsFix to allow cutscene frame generation.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Cutscenes are 30 FPS. Uncapped cutscenes was added in TU 1.1.1. Use Lyall's ACShadowsFix to disable frame rate cap in FMVs, menus and enable dynamic cloth physics frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		HDR experience can be improved using: RenoDX RenoDX greatly improves existing implementation.
Ray tracing (RT)		Raytraced Global Illumination and Reflections in Windows and Raytraced Global Illumination in macOS. A limited software based solution is used on GPUs without hardware RT support.
Color blind mode		Red-Green, Blue-Yellow Blindness.

• 

  Display settings

• 

  Gameplay settings

• 

  Interface settings

Input

Keyboard controls settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		As a slider from 1 to 50.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		As a slider from 1 to 8.
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Each axis can be adjusted separately from 1 to 15.
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

• 

  Controller controls settings

• 

  Default keyboard preset

• 

  Default gamepad preset

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Voice, Music, Foley FX, Gameplay FX, Menu and Ambient FX Volume sliders.
Surround sound		Supports Spatial Audio API.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

• 

  Captions audio settings

Localizations

An Immersion Mode option is available. Enabling this option will not only overwrite the currently selected voiceover language, but locks the voiceover language to Japanese. While the Animus parts are in the same voice language as the selected text language (or English on languages that don't support voiceovers), characters will speak in Japanese, while some may speak in Portuguese, in order to create a more immersive experience.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Native 3D		Sequential-View Rendering Use NoMoreFlat + VRto3D Use SBS or TAB by default. For Interleaved or Anaglyph use with ReShade shader 3DToElse. For Frame Sequential use with WibbleWobble. For Eye-Tracked Lightfield displays use with 3D Game Bridge GUI.
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Native 3D for Frame Sequential or Interleaved.

Issues fixed

Game does not launch after clicking Play in Steam

If Ubisoft Connect is already running in the background when attempting to play the Steam version for the first time, the game may fail to launch after the Ubisoft Connect installation step. Completely closing out of Ubisoft Connect before clicking Play may resolve this issue, allowing the game to launch.

Missing music and ambient sounds in - at least - French version

After a few minutes of play, the music and ambient sounds eventually stop, leaving the player in a heavy silence. It seems that an oversight in the configuration file causes this issue.

The issue occurs in versions 1.0.0 and 1.0.1.

Edit ACShadows.ini
Run the game and exit to desktop. Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Assassin's Creed Shadows\. Open ACShadows.ini in a text editor. Search line starting with Sound=, value should be en-US. Replace en-US with fr-FR. Save the changes. Set file attribute as read-only in file properties until an official patch.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12
Metal support

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	ARM	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended	2K	4K
Target	1080p @ 30 FPS, Low (Selective RT)	1080p @ 30 FPS, Medium (Selective RT)	1440p @ 60 FPS, High (Selective RT)	4K @ 60 FPS, High (Selective RT)
Operating system (OS)	10, 11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i7-8700K AMD Ryzen 5 3600	Intel Core i5-11600K AMD Ryzen 5 5600X	Intel Core i5-11600k AMD Ryzen 5 5600x	Intel Core i7-12700k AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3D
System memory (RAM)	16 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	115 GB (SSD)
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 AMD Radeon RX 5700 Intel Arc A580 8 GB of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Intel Arc B580 8 GB (Nvidia), 12 GB (AMD, Intel) of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 10 GB (Nvidia), 16 GB (AMD) of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 16 GB (Nvidia), 20 GB (AMD) of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Additional system requirements for standard ray tracing and extended ray tracing presets can be found here.

The game requires a CPU with AVX2 instructions.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended	Low Selective RT	Medium Selective RT
Target	720p, Low @ 30 FPS (Software RT)	1080p, Medium @ 30 FPS (Software RT)	720p, Low @ 30 FPS (Selective RT)	1080p, Medium @ 60 FPS (Selective RT)
Operating system (OS)	15.0
Processor (CPU)	Apple M1 Max Apple M2 Pro	Apple M1 Ultra Apple M2 Max	Apple M3	Apple M4
System memory (RAM)	16 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	130 GB

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Additional system requirements for additional software ray tracing preset, as well as standard ray tracing presets,can be found here.