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Nintendo versions of big name, AAA games sometimes disappoint in minor ways. The idea and ambiance may feel similar, but they can miss the mark. The Assassin’s Creed series generally worked okay on systems like the Wii U and Switch, with minor concessions needing to be made. However, we haven’t seen recent entries on a Nintendo platform worldwide until Assassin’s Creed Shadows for the Switch 2. (The Cloud version of Odyssey only appeared on the Switch in Japan.) I feel like it might have been worth the wait, as this latest installment runs wonderfully on the system.
We already did a review of Assassin’s Creed Shadows a while back, but here’s a quick refresher. This is the first mainline entry set in Japan during the Sengoku Period. While our playable characters are a samurai named Yasuke and ninja-and-very-obvious-new-assassin Naoe Fujibayashi. This means a number of historical figures, like Nobunaga Oda, Mitsuhide Akechi, Hanzo Hattori, and Ieyasu Tokugawa appear throughout the adventure. While initially on opposing sides that highlight different elements of the story, the adventure pulls Naoe and Yasuke together toward a common cause. Though because of their roles, Naoe feels and plays more like the traditional “assassin” in the series, while Yasuke is a more in-your-face, head-on attacking samurai.
So the first thing I really appreciated about Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the Switch 2is probably a silly one. When I started, I had downloaded a copy, then headed out to visit some family. I wasn’t connected to the internet. While the game did eventually pull the “hey, connect your Ubisoft account and play” thing once I was home and my system was online, it didn’t pull that when I wasn’t online. If you play in airplane mode or are offline, you don’t even need to be connected the first time you’re playing and starting. It’s small, but considering how much I hate all of these companies mandating extra accounts to play games I own, it’s appreciated.
The next highlight is the way Assassin’s Creed Shadows automatically accounted for how I was playing on the Switch 2. Since I wasn’t at home, I was in handheld mode. It immediately adjusted options to ensure things like the larger font appeared. It’s handy! I also was delighted to see that no matter what, it remained at a steady 30fps in handheld mode. (It is also at 30fps when docked.) It is at 400p in handheld, which looked pretty good for my purposes, especially considering docked only brings it up to 648p.
Now, the thing you do have to consider is that there are accommodations being made to get Assassin’s Creed Shadows running on a Switch 2 compared to a PC or PS5. The textures aren’t as good. In areas where there would be trees, grasses, and bushes, there will be fewer and they’ll be of lower quality Reflections? On water? Get outta here with that. Shadows in Assassin’s Creed Shadows? I mean, it depends on if you are in handheld mode or not.
But when it is running, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is pretty great on the Switch 2! I had no issues getting through the first five to six hours. Everything ran perfectly. The story is great. The controls are fantastic. It is really a delight in handheld mode.
However, I will say after those initial hours, I did encounter occasional crashes. I checked online and it seems it isn’t uncommon, though an actual official patch isn’t out yet. I swapped some things around to get the full game on the console’s on-system drive instead of my microSD Express memory card, in case that was the problem. I’ve still encountered occasional crashes while taking on Kakushiba Ikki missions, though they do seem to be happening at a reduced rate. Also, I seem to encounter fewer issues when playing only in handheld mode, compared to going through it when docked. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a patch in a few weeks that fixes things once Ubisoft pins the problems down.
It’s great to see Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the Switch 2 as part of the launch lineup, considering the absence of new mainline games in the series as of late. Ubisoft clearly made compromises to get it there. But it is! And it usually works well, especially in handheld mode. I did encounter some crashes along the way, so that’s something to keep in mind, but perhaps we’ll see those fixed in the near future since this is a “big” release for the company.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available on the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
