Players will experience the intertwined stories of Naoe, an adept shinobi Assassin from the Iga Province, and Yasuke, the powerful samurai of historical legend. Discover their personal stories, meet pivotal historical figures, and shape the duo’s common destiny as they usher in a new era for Japan.  

As Naoe and Yasuke, players can master two complementary playstyles, with each character featuring their own progression paths, skills, weapon options, and stats. Whether they embrace Naoe’s stealth skills or Yasuke’s combat prowess, players will have plenty of ways to approach objectives. With Naoe, they will experience refined infiltration mechanics using light, noise, shadows, and changing surroundings to avoid detection from enemies. With Yasuke, they will be able to take on larger groups of enemies with brutal precision. 

The game will let players explore a vast open world with a variety of landscapes evolving through weather and seasons. From spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and pastoral landscapes, feudal Japan comes to life with unprecedented dynamism built from the ground up with the latest version of Anvil engine and the power of new-gen consoles.  

In this troubled period, information is key and will be at the heart of the renewed exploration mechanics. Players will build their own spies’ network to unveil new areas and hunt down targets. Allies with highly specialized skills and abilities can also be recruited to help during missions. The creation of their own customizable hideout will enable players to enhance their network and train their new crew. From base building and layout to decorations and accessories, they will be able to craft a unique place to call home. 

Originally planned for November 2024, delayed until February 2025, Assassin's Creed Shadows is now scheduled for March 20, 2025.

As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences, Ubisoft has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

This additional time will allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months and help create the best conditions for launch by continuing to engage closely with the increasingly positive Assassin’s Creed community. The game is now scheduled for March 20.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said “We made good progress on the strategic and execution reviews initiated a few months ago and are confident that this will position Ubisoft for a stronger future. We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation. We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises. Additionally, we are all behind our teams’ efforts to create the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed opus of the franchise and made the decision to provide an extra month of development to Shadows in order to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months that will enable us to fully deliver on the potential of the game and finish the year on a strong note.”

Fans pre-ordering Assassin’s Creed Shadows will receive an additional quest for any pre-ordered edition. The Gold, Ultimate, and Collector’s Editions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows were announced as well: 

• The Gold Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass (including a bonus quest with additional unlockable content as well as two upcoming expansions) and 3 days early access to the game. 
• The Ultimate Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass, the Ultimate Pack and 3 days early access to the game. The Ultimate Pack will contain the Sekiryu Character Pack (Naoe and Yasuke outfit and weapon, trinket and mount), the Sekiryu Hideout Pack, 5 Skill points and a Red and black photo mode filter. 
• The Collector’s Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass, the Ultimate Pack, physical content and 3 days early access to the game. The physical content will be a Steelbook, the World map, Naoe & Yasuke Figurine, life-size Naoe's Katana Tsuba, a Wall Creed Scroll, an 84 pages collector's artbook and 2 sumi-e lithographs. 

Assassin's Creed Shadows is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Amazon Luna, Macs with Apple silicon via the Mac App Store as well as PC (Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store) on March 20, 2025 at $69.99.