Assassin’s Creed Shadows is ramping up its marketing campaign ahead of its launch in less than two months. Recently, many critics and influencers got to play up to six hours of the game at Ubisoft Quebec and their previews went live on January 24th.
The game looks more polished than before, and the delay seems to have helped fix some rough edges. However, many agree that the story and characters aren’t very strong or interesting, and are skeptical about more than a few aspects of the game. This isn’t surprising, as the last few Assassin’s Creed games have also been lacking in this area. Still, some hope the full game will be more compelling.
The Previews Are Mostly Positive for Assassin’s Creed Shadows
In terms of gameplay, Assassin’s Creed Shadows brings back RPG elements from the past few installments, which haven’t exactly been a hit with fans of the older, classic games of the franchise. The game does seem to offer a bit more variety, as players can choose between direct, tanky combat with Yasuke or a sneaky approach with Naoe.
This dual-character system offers varied challenges and difficulty in combat, as Naoe usually goes down in two direct hits in normal difficulty. Yasuke also has limited parkour capabilities and doesn’t have a grappling hook required to scale certain buildings and towers. Comparisons to Ghost of Tsushima have existed ever since the game’s reveal, noting similarities in setting and style. Visually, both games have some beautiful landscapes and detailed environments.
Yet, some feel that Assassin’s Creed Shadow’s combat and animations aren’t as fluid as Ghost of Tsushima’s, and the overall production quality doesn’t match even though there’s a five-year and a console generation gap between these two. Despite these comparisons, Shadows looks to stand on its own with unique features and gameplay systems, some of which might be more in-depth and expansive.

With dwindling stock prices and talks of a sale or a merger, there’s a lot riding on the quality and reception of the game for Ubisoft, and it could very well define the future of the company when the game launches on March 20 this year for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Fans and skeptics alike are eager to see if it will live up to the hype and possibly be the game Ubisoft needs right now to make a comeback, especially after Star Wars Outlaws failed to meet both commercial and critical expectations.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows releases 20th March 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Mac.
For more Thumb Wars coverage, check out this list of 41 of our most anticipated games of 2025, or our all-encompassing 2025 games release calendar.
Suhaib is a Writer at Thumb Wars. Besides Movies, TV, and Video Games, there’s not much else that interests him. Some of his favorites include The Irishman, No Country for Old Men, Heat, Succession, It’s Always Sunny, and The Sopranos.