If you’ve been patiently waiting for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Switch 2, your time has nearly come: it slinks onto the console next Tuesday, 2nd December. And ahead of its arrival, Ubisoft has shared a bit of a deep-dive detailing some of the technical jiggery pokery it used to make it work on Nintendo’s platform, alongside some of its exclusive features.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched for other platforms back in March following a number of delays, whisking the series to 16th century feudal Japan for an adventure focused on dual protagonists Yasuke and Fujibayashi Naoe. It was well-received too, with Eurogamer’s former editor-in-chief Tom Phillips calling it “majestic in scope, impressive in detail” in his four star review.
As for the Switch 2 version, Ubisoft’s latest blog post confirms it’ll include all updates released for Assassin’s Creed Shadows so far, with the exception of its Claws of Awaji expansion, which is due in 2026. The company also notes future Switch 2 updates will align with other platforms, and it’ll be working on console-specific improvements too, with talk of optimisation patches plus keyboard and mouse compatibility when docked.
Wondering what else you can expect on Switch 2? Ubisoft is targeting a “stable 30fps” in both docked and handheld modes, saying it’s done a “lot of code-level work… to optimise and adapt the game architecture”. This, it adds, has enabled it to “streamline certain technical aspects of the quality, without compromising the player’s experience or the richness of the game.”
Elsewhere it’s foregoing Switch 2’s ray-traced global illumination support in favour of baked global illumination “mainly for RAM memory reasons”, while level of details, draw distances, texture resolution, and element loading have been “carefully adjusted” in an effort to maintain performance. Switch 2 will also feature fewer NPCs in highly populated areas to “ensure smooth gameplay”, although Ubisoft reckons environmental richness “remains largely intact”. There’s also DLSS support for “smoother” performance.
As for handheld mode compromises, there’ve been “adjustments to image quality, draw distance, and LOD settings” to accomodate GPU limitations. However, variable refresh rates make an appearance, as does HDR.
If it’s Switch 2-specific features you want, there’s touch screen navigation when interacting with maps and menus. Additionally, cross-progression is supported via Ubisoft Connect, meaning it’s possible to seamlessly hop between platforms if you’ve been playing – or were planning on playing – Shadows elsewhere. And as a reminder, Assassin’s Creed Shadows arrives on Switch 2, next Tuesday, 2nd December.
