Assassin’s Creed Shadowsgettingdelayed out of 2024might come as a disappointment to many, and my sympathies are fully with anyone who was already getting hyped to play the game in November. Game delays can often be a good thing, but that doesn’t make them any more fun, and it’s been almost four years since the lastAssassin’s Creedgame on this scale. For me, however, the delay actually comes as something of a relief, and I feel like I’ll be able to muster up more excitement for the game once its new February 2025 release rolls around.
I’ve been anAssassin’s Creedfan for a long time, although I didn’t begin right when the series did. As is the case for a lot of people,Assassin’s Creed 2is what hooked me, and I’ve played and enjoyed a lot of the games since.They have their ups and downs, but I’m always happy to wander around historical cities and marvel at the details when all the assassin business isn’t going down, and the promise of a trip to Feudel Japan inShadowscertainly sounds appealing.
I Need A Break Before Assassin’s Creed Shadows
I’m Not Quite Ready For The Huge Adventure
The biggest problem that I’ve been facing withAssassin’s Creed Shadowsis simply fatigue. Aside fromAssassin’s Creed Mirage, which was a nice change of pace,Assassin’s Creedgames have become very, very long. If the structure of side content is handled in an intuitive way, I know I’ll end up getting sucked into way too much of it, and playingShadowswill likely take up the majority of my gaming time for a while after it releases. That’s not going to change in a few months' time, but at the moment, taking a breather seems nice.
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My current course for burnout isn’t really because of otherAssassin’s Creedgames, but because ofStar Wars Outlaws, which I dutifully purchased at launch for the sake of coverage more than anything else. It has its charms, and it isn’t as endless in scale asAssassin’s Creed Shadowsprobably will be. But there’s also a certain upper limit to how much Ubisoft open-world material I want to be playing within any time span, andI wasn’t looking forward to finishingOutlaws, getting a break for a few weeks, and jumping back into another game designed to consume my time.
Recent Ubisoft games have been making appreciable changes to the formula, especially in abandoning the push for heavy UI hand-holding, but it sometimes feels like too little, too late.
I’d still like to get hands-on withAssassin’s Creed Shadowsas soon as I can, and I’m especially eager to see if Yasuke and Naoe feel like genuinely new characters to control, an area whereAssassin’s Creed Mirage’sBasim fell a bit short.I’m eager for that taste of gameplay, though, not for the full course. When I know a game is going to be overstuffed, I need to have a real appetite, and an interest in the flavor isn’t going to do it.
Star Wars Outlaws Needed More Time In The Oven
Star Wars Outlawshas also been showing me just how frustrating Ubisoft games can be at launch, and it’s not pleasant. My first issue arose before even entering the game, asbuying the game directly from the Ubisoft Store webpage failed to actually deliver me a keyin time for release despite taking the funds from my PayPal. Customer support helped me out after some back and forth, but it was a clear reminder of why I and many others prefer Steam to other digital storefronts.
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I wish I could say that it’s been smooth sailing since then, but while I encountered no game-breaking bugs inAssassin’s Creed MirageorAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoralast year,Star Wars Outlawshas pulled out all the stops. I’ve had to relaunch it repeatedly due to graphical issues that showed up after playing for around an hour at a time, and I lost hours of progressrolling back save files to circumvent a bugblocking main quest advancement.It’s also featured frequent crashes, which are particularly annoying if they come in the middle of a high-stakes game of Sabacc.
I can’t say for sure ifAssassin’s Creed Shadowswill be in better shape at launch, but with a few more months of development time, I can certainly say that the odds are higher than they were before. The tepid reception ofOutlawsseems to be a big factor in the date change, and that’s also manifesting in some other decisions surrounding the launch.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis set to release on Steam, relieving my fears of another customer support ordeal. Refreshingly,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis also abandoning the early access and expansion content incentives for premium purchases.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows' New Release Date Isn’t Ideal
A Crowded Month In A Crowded Year
The February slot forAssassin’s Creed Shadowsstill isn’t ideal, asit’s going up against some competition that calls my name. I’ll definitely be playingCivilization 7, which comes out just a few days ahead ofShadows, andLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which trails it by a couple of weeks. Throw inKingdom Come Deliverance 2,Avowed, andMonster Hunter Wilds, and a lot of people are going to be making tough choices about priorities.
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That might just be how all of 2025 looks, though. Most release dates are still in the ether, but a ton of interesting games are currently tagged with 2025 windows, many of them the result of similar delays that pushed them out of 2024. February could be as good a time as any, andUbisoft probably needs to getAssassin’s Creed Shadowsout well ahead of its most direct competitor,Ghost of Yōtei, which is coming at some point in the year.
At any rate, I’ll be more ready to invest inAssassin’s Creed Shadowsin February, and I’m hopeful that the game will be more worthy of my time then that it likely is now. TheAssassin’s Creed Shadowsdelay feels like a last-ditch effort after years of Ubisoft struggling to land a huge new hit, but even if it doesn’t solve all the publisher’s problems, it makes my life just a little bit nicer.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Set during Japan’s Sengoku period, two distinct protagonists—Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a historical African samurai—must navigate political intrigue and violent clashes between the Assassins and Templars. Players can switch between stealthy, shadow-based gameplay with Naoe and Yasuke’s direct combat approach, exploring the duality of their missions in a beautifully rendered open world.
