Assassin's Creed Shadows.

The Gavler Review.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Review: Japan Done Right, Bloat and All

Assassin's Creed Shadows ranks number 10 on Gavler's Best PS5 Games of 2025 list with an 8.2, closing out the list as its lowest-scored entry — still a strong recommendation, just a more familiar one. This is Ubisoft finally delivering the feudal Japan setting fans have asked for since Origins reinvented the series in 2017, built around two switchable protagonists: the stealth-focused shinobi Naoe and the powerhouse samurai Yasuke. IGN's review found the systems sharpened enough to call it "the best version of the open world style it's been honing for the last decade." Gamecritics.com's Cj Salcedo scored it 8.5 out of 10, with a blunt "LOW" callout for "some slowdown and visual quirks" — a minor technical asterisk on an otherwise well-reviewed game. This review, by The Gavler Team, covers who Shadows is actually for.

What it is

Developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed Shadows sets its action-adventure RPG in 16th-century Japan during the final years of the Sengoku period, as European guns begin reshaping the balance of power between rival clans. Naoe, trained since childhood in the Iga Province's shinobi arts, and Yasuke, based on the real historical African samurai of the same name, meet under dire circumstances and ally to push back a wave of oppressors. Players switch between them freely for most of the campaign, each with distinct skill trees, combat styles, and traversal options — Naoe favors stealth, parkour, and assassination tools; Yasuke favors direct confrontation and heavier weapons. A dynamic seasons system alters terrain and visibility across the world, and a hideout-building layer lets you recruit allies and craft upgrades between missions.

It released March 20, 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, macOS, and Switch 2, priced at $69.99. Metacritic's aggregate sits at 82, though the score has varied somewhat by platform since launch; it carries an M rating for Mature 17+.

In use

Gamecritics.com's review, based on roughly 30 hours played on PS5, is worth reading closely because it comes from a reviewer with direct comparison points — the same critic reviewed Assassin's Creed Valhalla and came away from Shadows more impressed. On the dual-protagonist structure: "Rather than each character being a simple aesthetic choice, each provides a different style, different skill trees and different approaches to combat, allowing players to build Naoe and Yasuke how they want." The review details building Naoe as a full stealth assassin — double assassinations, thrown kunai, night-damage armor, prone crawling through bushes — while using Yasuke as a blunt-force option for kicking down doors and taking on entire outposts head-on.

That flexibility extends to stealth mechanics broadly: extinguishing candles to hide in darkness, avoiding creaky floorboards, and dynamic quests that can be completed multiple ways. Combined with the removal of Valhalla's stamina meter — a change Gamecritics.com singled out as removing "the cumbersome feeling of managing a meter" from combat — the result reads as the most stealth-forward mainline entry since the series' pre-2017 identity.

IGN's baseline review reached a similar conclusion about the systems work overall, while Eurogamer's take added a narrative caveat worth noting: the game is "majestic in scope, impressive in detail," but "its strongest moments are saved for the personal stories of two protagonists" rather than the broader open-world structure around them — a polite way of flagging that the map-filling side content hasn't fundamentally changed shape.

Strengths

• Two genuinely different playstyles, not a cosmetic swap. Naoe and Yasuke support distinct builds and approaches, and Gamecritics.com's review found switching between them meaningfully changed how missions played out.
• Stealth is a real option again. Removed stamina-meter friction and expanded tools (candle-dousing, floorboard awareness, prone crawling) make full-stealth playthroughs viable in a way recent entries didn't fully support.
• A darker, more grounded story than recent entries. Gamecritics.com called the narrative "the best the series has seen in years," built around the toll of war and vengeance rather than shadow-society conspiracy plotting alone.
• A dense, detailed recreation of Sengoku-era Japan. Smaller in raw scale than Valhalla's England, but reviewers found it more visually and texturally rewarding as a result.
• Cinematic presentation. Widescreen letterboxing and directed cutscenes give Shadows' story beats a more deliberate cinematic weight than typical open-world cutscene delivery.

The trade-offs — who should skip it

The most consistent critique across reviews — including Gavler's own baseline notes — is that Shadows is still, structurally, an Assassin's Creed open world: dense with map markers, side activities, and the general design bloat this era of the series has leaned on since 2017. If that formula has worn thin for you regardless of setting quality, a new location alone won't fix it. Some reviewers also flagged encounter design that occasionally throws enough enemies at you that fights get repetitive rather than tense.

The launch was also shadowed by public controversy over the game's historical depiction of Yasuke and elements of its marketing, criticism that dogged the game's rollout independent of how it actually reviewed — worth knowing about if that context matters to your purchase decision, separate from the gameplay itself. On the technical side, Gamecritics.com's "LOW" callout for slowdown and visual quirks was minor in their playthrough but echoes a broader pattern of Metacritic scores varying somewhat by platform, so it's worth checking recent patch notes for your specific system before buying.

How it compares

On the same list, Ghost of Yōtei ranks 4th with an 8.9 and makes for a natural comparison — another 2025 open-world game built around a lone-wolf revenge story in a stylized take on Japanese history, though as a PS5 exclusive built from the ground up around one protagonist rather than Shadows' dual-character structure. For a completely different pace on the same list, Doom: The Dark Ages at rank 7 with an 8.7 trades Shadows' sprawling map and dual-protagonist RPG systems for tight, level-based first-person combat.

The Gavler verdict

An 8.2, and a fair score for a game that succeeds at exactly what it set out to do without erasing the format's longstanding fatigue. Ubisoft finally delivered the Japan setting fans have wanted for years, paired it with the series' strongest stealth systems in a decade, and told a story reviewers rated among the best the franchise has produced. What it didn't do is escape the open-world bloat that's dogged the series since 2017. If you've enjoyed recent Assassin's Creed entries and wanted a better setting and stealth model, Shadows delivers. If the formula itself has worn you out, a new coat of paint won't change your mind.

Common Questions

Is Assassin's Creed Shadows worth it in 2026?

Yes for open-world stealth fans — it ranks number 10 on Gavler's Best PS5 Games of 2025 list with an 8.2. IGN said sharpening the series' existing systems creates 'the best version of the open world style it's been honing for the last decade,' and Gamecritics.com scored it 8.5/10.

Should I play as Naoe or Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows?

You get both and switch freely after an opening stretch with Naoe. Gamecritics.com's review found each protagonist distinct rather than a cosmetic choice — Naoe for stealth-focused assassination builds, Yasuke for direct, brutal combat — and recommended building each character around a different playstyle rather than playing them identically.

How big is the open world in Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Gamecritics.com's reviewer, who has also covered Assassin's Creed Valhalla, noted that Shadows' feudal Japan setting is smaller in scale than Valhalla's England but denser with detail — a deliberate trade of raw size for texture.