As a huge fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, I’ll always welcome more handheld editions. As the series has grown in entries, it’s grown in content and map size too, to the point where we’ve gone from parkouring around a couple of small cities to running, galloping and sailing around the best part of entire countries. Having these games on a handheld system make them more digestible, and during my playthrough of every mainline game last year I spent several hours working my way through Black Flag and Rogue on Nintendo Switch, the perfect pick up/put down solution for gaming during the nightshift with a newborn baby. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one I hadn’t expected to see on the Nintendo Switch 2, and certainly not so soon after its original release, but I’m pleased to say it’s an excellent port and a great way to play the game.
I’ll caveat the review by saying that I played through the entire game on PS5 earlier this year, so picked up my endgame save on Switch 2 to see how things were running before diving into a new game. I’ll touch on a bit of everything in this review, but for more detail on the game I recommend checking out our full Assassin’s Creed Shadows review by Mick.
If Switch 2 is your primary platform and you’ve not played the previous three RPG Assassin’s Creed games then the new Animus Nexus menu might be a bit of a jarring introduction. On the other consoles it essentially functions as a launcher, showing you a timeline of recent games in the series and letting you jump into each of them, provided you own them and have them installed. Obviously none of these games are on the Switch 2 yet though, so you’re greeted by a menu for games you can’t access. It immediately struck me as a bit strange, but if it means Valhalla is coming to Switch 2 in the future then I’m onboard with it.
As with most games in the series, the narrative focuses on a conflict between those who seek to rule through control and those who want freedom for the masses. Assassin’s Creed Shadows starts off strong, introducing you to dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke. Naoe’s tale of vengeance against the Shinbakufu, a shadowy cabal of evildoers with catchy names like The Ox and The Fool, is brought to life in that first hour, told through some exciting set pieces and cutscenes, and with a soundtrack that almost feels like a samurai movie meets the wild west.
Similar to Valhalla, Shadows employs non-linear progression for much of the story so you can pick and choose which Shinbakfu member to take down first, bringing you into smaller, self-contained stories in specific regions. It didn’t quite land as well for me here, and I found it very difficult to care about these sub-plots and the characters involved. Combined with the overall length of the game, it felt like the middle acts dragged on a bit, and with the ending lacking some of the series’ staples I’d come to expect, it left me wanting a lot more. We don’t get anything from the modern day barring some text collectibles and some vague references after starting the game for the first time, nor do we get anything related to the series’ ongoing framing narrative. I appreciate I may be in the minority of people who want those things, but to me they’re part of Assassin’s Creeds DNA.
Stealth is another part of the series’ DNA, and I think this is the best “traditional” stealth the series has ever had. Naoe is a shinobi and has the skillset to prove it. You can now go prone, and there’s a system for your visibility based on light in the environment. This means you’ve got more tools in your arsenal for planning your approach: do you go infiltrate a castle during the day, keeping a low profile to stay hidden, or wait and use the cover of night to slip in more easily? Plus there’s a grappling hook for scaling walls or swinging across gaps, and it’s just as cool as you’d hope it’d be.
Unfortunately there’s no social stealth, which made a brief reappearance in the last two games, but it also might not make sense based on the two characters you’re playing as, which brings me nicely onto Yasuke. While Naoe is your stealthy shinobi, Yasuke is a power trip of a samurai. Towering above most enemies and armed with some heavy duty weaponry and armour, you’ll be busting heads, charging through doors and generally taking no nonsense from anyone. I enjoyed switching between the two periodically, however I did gravitate a lot more to Naoe as I prefer a stealthy approach, which Yasuke struggles with.
In terms of Switch 2 specific features for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it’s fairly slim pickings. Barring the obvious two ways to play. you’ve now got the option to control menus with the touchscreen, which can be handy when sifting through loot. While it’s not specific to the Switch 2 edition, the cross-save is worth calling out too. It’s very slick and seamless: I installed the game, booted it up and my 50 hour save from earlier this year was there waiting for me to pick up. For those with multiple copies of the game across different systems it’s a handy feature to have.
Let’s not forget that this is a game from 2025 either. I played it on PS5 Pro a few months ago and was blown away by how it looked, so was immediately skeptical of a Switch 2 version being able to hold its own. It’s obviously not going to look or run as well as that, but I was still genuinely impressed by how the game performs. In handheld the visuals are a little soft and muddy at times, but Ubisoft has done some witchcraft with VRR to allow it to run at 30fps on the Switch 2 screen, which leads to the game feeling incredibly smooth. Until I read their blog on the subject I was convinced it was a 40fps game, and it’s smooth enough that I could easily see myself replaying the entire game again on Switch 2.
Docked is where things get a little iffy. There’s no VRR, which means you’re left at 30fps, although you do get the benefit of some fairly significantly improved visuals. However the pre-release version seemed to have some issues with docked mode, which led to it crashing if I played more than 5-10 minutes. Once that’s fixed though then this will be a serviceable way to play the game, however I’d strongly recommend sticking to handheld for a smoother experience.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Switch 2 is a very impressive port, and it’s a great way to play the game for first-timers and those looking for a portable replay alike. With the amount of activities and collectibles on offer, it’s a great fit for the console as you can dip in and out, mopping up quests, and work Ubisoft has put into making a gorgeous, expansive 2025 home console game look and run on the handheld Switch 2 is seriously impressive.
