This review is mainly going to focus on the performance of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and its position in the Nintendo world. The reason for that is because, as you may well know, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has been out since March 2025, and the review scores are plentiful for other consoles and PCs.
Briefly though, you play as two protagonists in feudal Japan: Fujibayashi Naoe, who is a shinobi (ninja), and slave-turned samurai Yasuke. Each character has very different playstyles, one being stealthy and the other a sword-wielding tank, and their paths in the story cross and inevitably align. The story is actually pretty good, as are the cinematography and narrative. The voice acting didn’t wow me, especially the person who voices Naoe, but overall, it’s good for a Ubisoft title.
The game features an open-world for you to explore, with as much or as little help as you want. One of the strengths of the game are the gorgeous environments that change over time into different seasons. The world’s artwork is also exceptional.
I found the main missions to be excellent, but the side missions were far too repetitive and mundane. There is a base-building mechanic that was actually quite fun for someone like me that normally doesn’t really like that sort of thing.
The combat was also excellent, and it’s really enjoyable playing with each character’s different combat styles and to be able to freely choose when you wanted to play as a specific character. The hack and slash action is not as polished as in other similar games, like Ghost of Tsushima, but it’s still serviceable and fun.
It is a great game, but how does it fare on the less powerful platform, the Nintendo Switch 2?
Overall, not too bad, but for my part, it does have one big performance issue. Ubisoft have been very open in how much work and effort they have put in to bring the game to the Switch 2 platform. Here is a link to the deep dive of what hoops they have had to jump through to do it.
You have to tip your hat to them that such a recent game has been released just a few months later on the Switch 2. It’s the kind of game the Switch system is crying out for.
For the most part, I was really pleased with how the game worked on my system. The graphics have quite naturally taken a bit of a hit. Textures, even when comparing to other Switch 2 games I own (more of this later), are a little devoid of depth or detail. The lighting and lack of, ahem, “Shadows” (get it? Lack of shadows in a game called Assassin’s Creed: Shadows) is a little ironic as it makes a lot of surfaces look stark. Be that as it may, the artwork is still fantastic, and it is still a visual treat for the eyes.
The one issue the game has is the frame rate. Ubisoft targeted a locked 30fps for the Switch 2. For Switch owners, this isn’t news, but the problem is the game doesn’t manage to keep it there. When in towns with other NPCs, during cutscenes, or most frustratingly, during combat, the frame rate dips down to mid to low 20 fps. It’s frequent and very noticeable.
The question really is, will this bother you as the player? If you have other consoles, it will be grating and occasionally frustrating to play the game like this. But, if you have never owned anything other than a Nintendo system, perhaps not. I’ve played many Switch games over the years that struggle to keep 30fps.
At the end of the day, you do have a playable, mobile, up to date AC game to play in the palm of your hand. This is most certainly something to celebrate as Nintendo Switch 2 owners. The game also features, via the Ubisoft save system, the ability to cross platform save your progress. This means that if you have AC Shadows on, say, a PS5 and a Nintendo Switch 2, you can play the game in an evening, save your progress, take your Switch 2 to work, pick up the save and carry on using your Nintendo Switch 2 during your lunch break.
For me, though, I was brought up in a world where you don’t get an award just for showing up. You only get awards for being one of the best. The dipping frame rate, for me, has made my experience of the game too janky; so janky, in fact, that I stopped playing. I’m very honest and open about how frame rate is king in my book. The frame rate issues for this game don’t make the game unplayable by any means, but it does make it less enjoyable. For example, trying to time a parry in combat and missing because the frame rate made it difficult is quite frustrating.
There is a rumour I can’t confirm that Ubisoft are aware of the dipping frame rate and are going to try and work on it with a patch. I’ll eagerly await that patch as if it arrives to stabilise the frame rate at 30fps for the entire game, I’d most certainly jump back into the experience, no question. The game doesn’t have to be 60 fps to be playable. 30 fps will most certainly be enough. But it has to stay at 30 fps minimum at all times.
The other thing to consider is the timing of the game’s Nintendo Switch 2 release. The Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Red Dead Redemption also just recently released. Admittedly, it’s a far less technically advanced game than AC Shadows, but goodness me, it looks and plays fantastically well. If a Switch 2 owner was looking to play a recently released open-world game, the competition makes it hard to recommend AC Shadows first.
Maybe I’m being too hard, I don’t know. It’s a great AC game at its core. It’s probably the most interesting AC game I’ve played since the first game in the series. I just want the game to reward me with the time and effort it will take to get the most out of it, with an experience I’ll enjoy and not get annoyed with. If the game held its 30 fps bar, it would have done that. Even as it is, it’s very, very close to achieving that anyway, but I’m going to wait for the first patch before I keep going.
Summary
You have to applaud Ubisoft Quebec for a magnificent effort to get the most recent AC game, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, onto the Nintendo Switch 2 platform so soon after the game was originally released. The game is actually, in many ways, superb, especially the artwork and the main storyline.
However, getting the game onto the platform has come at a cost. Visuals take a little, which isn’t too bad at all, but the game’s frame rate dips too much to not notice. If you only own a Switch 2, go fill your boots. If you have other platforms, the Switch 2 is, as expected, the worst performing system this game currently runs on. It’s not unplayable by any stretch of the imagination, just better elsewhere.
Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Release Date: 2nd December 2025
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows for Nintendo Switch 2 was provided by the publisher.
