The road toAssassin’s Creed Shadowshas been a long and strange one. WhenAssassin’s Creed Shadows(initially codenamedAssassin’s Creed Red) was first announced back in 2022, it was met with joyous cheers from fans, with Ubisoft finally delivering theFeudal Japan settingthat they’d been requesting for years. But as that journey to launch grew longer, andShadowsreceived more delays, fan excitement started to dwindle.
Almost three years after its announcement,Assassin’s Creed Shadowshas finally launched, right alongside a bevy of critic reviews. Though personal enjoyment of a video game is subjective, reviews can be a good indicator of a game’s general quality, especially when it comes to more objective features like graphics, writing, performances, and sound design. Just one quick glance overAssassin’s Creed Shadows' review scores reveals another solid entry for the long-running action-adventure stealth series, though one that doesn’t quite live up to some of its predecessors.
8
9
6
7.7
9.2
10
7
8.4
8.2
6.6
7.8
6.5
6.8
5
7.4
8.5
7.2
7.1
8.6
N/A
When comparingAssassin’s Creed Shadows' review scoresfrom a handful of outlets with those of every other mainline entry in the franchise, it seems as though this latest entry in the series delivers an experience that fans have come to expect fromAssassin’s Creed.Assassin’s Creed Shadowshas earned mostly 8s across the board, with a handful of 9s sprinkled in for good measure, and a few 7s (from outlets not listed above) to balance things out.
This bringsAssassin’s Creed Shadowsin line with its fellow action-RPG predecessors, withOrigins,Odyssey, andValhallaall earning very similar scores. However, thoughAssassin’s Creed Shadows' scores are very good, they don’t quite reach the heights of acclaimed entries likeAssassin’s Creed 2orAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.
Though, it’s also important to note thatShadows' review scores are much higher than the franchise’s weakest-scoring entries,Assassin’s Creed UnityandAssassin’s Creed Rogue.
81
76
7.0
80
6.0
83
7.3
6.9
72
5.7
88
8.3
84
7.5
89
90
8.8
Assassin’s Creed Shadows' Metacritic score paints an even clearer overview of its critical standing. With a current Critic Metascore of 81,Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis generally considered to be of the same quality asValhalla,Odyssey, andOrigins, as well as older titles like2007’sAssassin’s CreedandRevelations. Of course, critical perspective changes over time, soShadows' quality and score can’t be directly compared with the almost two-decade-old entries, but it’s an intriguing observation nonetheless.
