If I had a nickel for every time Alex reviewed a game and I came in with some sort of technical breakdown of it, I’d be able to by at least one can of soda from an expensive hotel vending machine. That being said, I have to recognize that Ubisoft might be the current kings of porting over their games to the Switch 2. After I played the impressive Star Wars: Outlaws, I naturally had to try Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The results? Well, I’ll just say that there is a whole new quadrant of players who can jump into one of the most vast and impressive games of this generation. So let’s cut to the chase and take a look at how Assassin’s Creed: Shadows plays on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Characters
Starting off with character models, I’ll say that the detail on the main characters are incredibly impressive. Naoe and Yasuke’s character models have the most care put into them as they are the folks you will be playing as. Everyone else, especially NPCs, tend to take on a less detailed approach and it is understandable. The Switch 2 is a great piece of hardware but it has its limits, this being one of them.
Support characters that are ingrained within various parts of the story have ample details that still allow them to stand out amongst the crowd. It is the third-tier characters and NPCs that have the least amount of details while still retaining a level of identity. I’m not going to say that each of these characters resemble PlayStaton levels of graphical fidelity because that would be disingenuous. But there are still times where characters will look as sleek as a poorly planned birthday party.
Perhaps the most important part of a character is understanding facial cues because that is how we gauge how our words are effecting a conversation. In many cases, even in their somewhat “downgraded” features, you can still understand the emotional depth of what is being conveyed. It is just one of the many compromises that need to be made to make everything else feel incredibly impactful. The first time you climb a tower and look over the land, that is when it all hits you. The light reveals itself and you bask in its understanding.
Environments
I give the game a bit of leeway because it is incredibly vast, and I honestly don’t really need to. Shadows does a wonderful job standing up for its own cause where I don’t need to go too deep into the details. Shadows’ Japanese rolling landscapes, secret shrines, dense forest areas, speak for themselves. Despite that, I am still impressed with how massive it makes the Japan look and feel. Details like tall towers and unique landscape elements still somehow cut through the fog, making themselves ever present monoliths in comparison to your stature. The amount of resources it takes to render the backgrounds at this level of fidelity while maintaining a level of smoothness with various elements in the foreground is quite impressive. Granted, you’re not often fighting enemies on tops of a mountains, but the moment you do come across one specific enemy, it makes a truly scenic experience.
Dense forests that are strewn about, acting as the filler of the game place themselves in a unique scenario. You’re not supposed to rummage through, bushwhacking your way till you’re at your location. They are there to help guide you through the many paths, but if you are like me who throws caution to the wind, your screen will be filled with leaves of many seasons. You’ll remain confused and concerned about your whereabouts, making fast travel the only true way to recapture your bearings. In these moments of arrogance, I noticed how the density changes. Sure, the trees and bushes are always there, but the level of detail begins to also diminish at this point, and that is okay. Part of maintaining a level of fidelity that we talked about earlier, you need to balance certain elements like this. Not everything will look as perfect as the main character’s armor and that is fine. I’ll take a low-poly count bush as long as other elements work smoothly.
That being said, closer environmental elements manage to work here. In general, Shadows’ tone is rather dark, creating a world that seems gritty, leading to that sense of historic realism Ubisoft strives for. While it isn’t always as sharp as it could be, Shadows does hold its own. When the sun is shining on the hills, I am impressed that the Switch 2 can handle this.
Alone in the City
While the green hills and bamboo forests set the stage, we can’t forget about how towns and other populated areas operate. Here I found a lot of the core details that made Shadows truly stand out on other platforms to also be present here with awe-inspiring castles that overlook Japan.
Some details have been developed at a lower resolution and detail but the true meat and potatoes of these environments still stands. Enemy count is still up there in terms of numbers. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if they had to remove certain guards and other NPCs to ensure the game runs. I felt like the city areas populated by guards and other armored foes weren’t affected, but in some instances where there were a lot of peaceful NPCs, my game would crash. Granted, this is planned to be fixed with an upcoming update.
Details of Note
Shadows runs at a solid 30 frames per second and that is not something easy to achieve, especially on a handheld device. With a 1080 resolution courtesy of DLSS, I found the experience to match up with my personal expectations.
Music and voice lines didn’t feel impacted at all. I think those elements were able to remain untouched as the game was ported over. If there were any adjustments, I didn’t notice them. Even the sound effects like clanging swords and the bated breath of the characters as they climb up walls remains as impactful as they were on PC. Once again, no complaints here.
Conclusion
All in all, I am surprised and impressed. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one of those games that might look a little rough around the edges, but for good reason. I didn’t fully expect this one to land with as much grace as something like Star Wars: Outlaws or even Cyberpunk 2077, but Ubisoft managed to perform some magic here. I can highly recommend Assassin’s Creed Shadows to anyone who is looking to get their hands on it. It is a long game with plenty to do and it will feel good whether you are on the train heading to work or at home.
