Assassin’s Creed Shadows for Nintendo Switch 2 impressions

I’ve been quite impressed this year with the quality of Switch 2 third-party ports. From my thoughts on the outstanding Cyberpunk 2077 to Madden NFL 26, things are looking good for anyone who has missed out on big games because they primarily use a Nintendo device. While Assassin’s Creed has already been on the Switch via a few ports, they’ve been older titles. Now that Ubisoft has experience under its belt in a fantastic Star Wars Outlaws port, Assassin’s Creed Shadows can now parkour onto the sequel handheld, albeit with significant compromises to make it work.

To set the stage, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a phenomenal experience. Engaging with feudal-era Japan through the eyes of Yasuke, a black samurai, and Naoe, a Japanese assassin, as dual protagonists, is inspired. It offers both narrative flair and a wealth of mechanics. This much-delayed and anticipated game has been well worth the wait.

Ron Burke and Flynn both postulated that “Assassin’s Creed Shadows represents an excellent amalgamation of not only the new generation of Creed titles that started with Origins, but also plucking some of the best elements of those that came before. It’s a graphical powerhouse, combined with compelling characters, a meaningful and impactful story that takes risks, and refined gameplay mechanics. This is the new benchmark for the series, and it’s a high bar indeed.” That kind of praise is worth picking up Assassin’s Creed Shadow on alone, and if you want to know more about the game as a whole, check out the bookmarked review below.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t missing anything beyond graphical or performance enhancements in the Switch 2 version. One of the best things about the Switch 2 as of recent has been watching the third-party ports feature everything its contemporaries offer. Except for the Claws of Awaji expansion, every bit of content that comes to Shadows will arrive on Switch 2. Another big feature is cross-progression, and it’s impeccable. As I’d previously linked my Ubisoft Connect account to my Switch 2, the moment I opened Shadows, my save from the PlayStation 5 was there. That’s just an epic capability, which lets you literally take your Naoe and Yasuke wherever you go.

Let's get into how this game performs on the Nintendo Switch 2, arguably the reason you’re here. It works, and surprisingly well, even with a lot of sacrifices. Ubisoft has utilized DLSS to ensure the frame rate can stay solid with graphical upscaling. Whether docked or handheld, you’ll be operating at around 30 FPS, and it sticks without stuttering beyond a few occasions. Add in VRR support, and you won’t have to worry about the frame rate at all. I’ve done my fair share of galloping through the Japanese expanse and entering more crowded areas (although there is some NPC reduction), and at least in my playtime, it hasn’t impacted my experience.

That said, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about what you’d expect on the Switch 2. In line with Star Wars Outlaws – although probably more taxing on the hardware and thus resting a bit below that standard – Shadows world can be quite muddy at times. Textures are rough, especially in the distance, and pop-in abounds. The character models can be especially unpleasant and bland. While the surface level can look decent, this is more like a last-gen Assassin’s Creed game than the revelation of fidelity we see on PlayStation 5 Pro. Even so, with the performance handling so well in a game where precision is necessary with the parkour and stealth mechanics, I’d say it’s mostly worth the sacrifice. It’s just unfortunately noticeable when pre-rendered cutscenes are so sharp compared to the dull textures of Shadows.

This “downgrade” is probably responsible for both a smaller install size and quicker loading times. Assassin’s Creed Shadows weighs in at around 62GB, which is no spring chicken, but certainly not the 107GB+ of the PlayStation 5 version. It’s going to command plenty of your space, but with the amount of video game provided (similar to Cyberpunk 2077), it makes up for hogging your storage.

Loading into Assassin’s Creed Shadows is what takes the most time, clocking in at around a minute, getting to the main hub menu. Thankfully, that’s the most time you’ll spend waiting for Shadows to ready up, as booting into a save was only around twenty seconds. Beyond the pop-in I mentioned, the game doesn’t force you into much on-the-spot loading either outside of cutscenes, which are there in the PC and console versions too, so it isn’t extra. I’m pretty happy with it; many games fail here in ports to lesser-powered devices, but not Shadows.

It’s also worth noting that there have been some problems with crashing in docked mode; Ubisoft is deploying a patch soon to fix that. It doesn’t have this issue in handheld mode, and I haven’t run across it in my short time playing on my TV. Given that a lot of players are handheld-oriented, it doesn’t hurt as much, although it needs to get fixed in a hurry.

Overall, with such a phenomenal game on deck for the Switch 2, this is well worth picking up. There are rough edges and a docked mode issue that needs ironing out. Even so, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is incredibly playable on the Switch 2, with stable framerates for the outstanding gameplay, narrative, and world to explore. If you’re used to the version that came out on other platforms and earlier in 2025, you may not appreciate it as much, but as for me and my busy lifestyle, I’m having a lot of fun.

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