Ubisoft did a big thing, which really stirred up the whole gaming community – the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a game that will be playable on Nintendo Switch 2 starting December 2nd. Players will be taken back to feudal Japan, where they can either be a shinobi named Naoe or a samurai named Yasuke, and these two characters come with the added benefits of cross-progression and all menus being accessible via touchscreen support. This is a very impressive piece of information for players who have been waiting to take part in the latest adventure of the Assassin’s Creed saga.
This product unveiling was done via the official Twitter account of Nintendo and the reaction was quite mixed, from people being very excited to… some users did not hold back in showing their dissatisfaction. But we will come back to this later.
So, what will be the features of this port? First of all, the player will have the option to choose between two completely different characters – Naoe the shinobi who is perfect for sneaky plays, and Yasuke the samurai who provides direct combat. This alone is a big reason to continue playing. On top of that was also the cross-progression feature which lets you continue your progress on any other platform if you were playing on Switch 2. And touch screen for menus? That is definitely the example of the perfect mobile gaming experience.
We now continue our conversation to reactions, which were quite difficult to read for sure. Some players are almost going crazy but in a nice way. For instance, User AyyReem26 has yelled “THE RUMORS ARE TURE LETS GOOOOO CANT WAIT TO PLAY THIS 😭🙏🏾🔥,” which is approximately the degree of excitement. Another user under the name of Pixel says, “Ooh, shinobi Naoe sounds like a blast! Can’t wait to sneak around Feudal Japan on the Switch” – and actually, I feel the same way.
On the contrary, there had to be some… unusual opinions expressed on Twitter. Zebesian_ha was probably in a sharing mood when he posted “A Game for Racists,” which I mean, what? On the other side, Goomba Shane replied, “Fantastic game. Ignore the haters and decide for yourself,” which is probably the most reasonable advice you will find on the internet these days.
Then, the technical part came into discussion which gamers love to debate as they do. azuraiis mentioned “Idk if this was announced before but this is such an impressive port… Good shit, may not play but still I’m happy to see these games run on the console,” and that was about the actual performance. Luca Sicilia was part of the discussion about whether it would reach PS4 Pro/Xbox Series S level and said “in portable it’s like a ps4” which if true, would be really impressive for a handheld device.
Moreover, the surprising timing of the announcement is worth mentioning too. Johniibo simply commented “Random announcement lol,” and me? I can’t help but say “Fair.” Nintendo sure is unpredictable with the timing of their news.
The amazing thing about this is that it is yet another significant third-party title that is coming along with the next-gen system of Nintendo. Reports regarding the capabilities of Switch 2 have been around for some months already, and games like this are giving us a sneak peek of what we can expect in the future. If Ubisoft can manage to run Assassin’s Creed Shadows seamlessly together with hardware then the sky is the limit for other major titles.
The cross-progression aspect is brilliant – it reflects the current gamers’ reality of playing on multiple platforms at the same time. No longer will you lose progress when switching between Switch 2 and other systems since it’s an on-the-go quality of life feature that more developers should take up.
But we shouldn’t forget about the support for touchscreen menus. It does not seem that important but every gamer who has ever dealt with a menu-heavy title on a portable device will agree that the difference between non-intuitive and intuitive touch controls is quite staggering. Those are the little features that can elevate a port from “just ok” to “absolutely necessary to play”.
With December 2nd marked as the release date, the gamers can now easily clear their calendars and prepare for what’s likely to be one of the most groundbreaking Assassin’s Creed games in recent times. Feudal Japan, which has been the most wanted location for centuries, is going to be on Nintendo’s new devices just in time for the holiday rush? That’s just an excellent move.
Sure, there are always concerns about how good the ports will turn out to be. Ubisoft has had a rocky history with Switch ports but they are making this one for the more powerful Switch 2, which is a good sign indicating that they are really trying to be better in their efforts.
Eventually, it is always a good thing for gamers that they have more options. It does not matter if your plan equals playing as the invisible ninja or the grand warrior, the fact that the Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available on the Nintendo platform means a bigger audience is going to enjoy the new series great addition. 2nd December, mark it on your calendar – feudal Japan on the go is almost there.
