Summary
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsreviews are in, and they are mostly positive across the board. While we’re seeing few perfect scores, most reviewers have enjoyed their time with the latestAssassin’s Creed, and it’s performing much better thanAssassin’s Creed Miragebefore it.
At the time of writing, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is sitting at an average critic score of 81 on Open Critic, and 82 on Metacritic. If it stays this way, that wedges it between the first Assassin’s Creed game andValhalla.
The Reviews Are In For Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Here’s what critics have to say about this long-awaited venture into feudal Japan
In our review, Lead News Editor George Foster gave Assassin’s Creed Shadows a 4/5, describing it as a “return to form” that finally has him caring about the series again. He praises the writing of Yasuke and Naoe in particular, but takes aim at its repetition - something that’s often noted withUbisoftgames.
“Despite some repetition and bloat that makes Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ final stretch drag more than the rest of the game excites, its brave approach to exploration in a gorgeous world, heartfelt personal stories, and satisfying tweaks to the formula still make it stand as one of my favourite entries yet,” he writes. “While no one can say if Shadows will be the all-timer hit that both Ubisoft and the series need right now, I can at least say that it’s more than worthy of your time.”
Matt Karoglou fromGame Rantalso enjoyed the game, but went a little higher, awarding it a 9/10. He admits that this can feel like the same old Ubisoft formula, but wasn’t put off, and praised it for offering one of the most “stunning and detailed” in the series.
“By the time the credits rolled on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it surpassed Odyssey and Black Flag as one of the best in the franchise, and the thought of spending another 40 or so hours completing everything the game has to offer will have fans ready to re-immerse themselves,” Karoglou writes.
On the other hand, one of the lowest scores comes from Ethan Krieger, writing forDualShockers. Krieger gave Shadows a 5.5/10, not enjoying the gameplay, “nonsense” narrative, and “lack of innovation”.
“Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a bloated collection of uninspired quests that quickly turn into a repetitive, boring grind,” says Krieger. “Future Assassin’s Creed releases need to innovate instead of being yet another rehash of games we’ve already played in different locations. There are other open-world games in similar settings that are much more worthy of your time.”
We’ll have to wait and see where general audiences land. Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on March 20.
