The dust is starting to settle following the high-profile launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20, which received more pre-release attention than most AC projects in recent memory. Despite the controversy that surrounded the project prior to launch, the early figures for AC Shadows bode well for the title, putting the game on track to be quite a successful entry to the longstanding Ubisoft IP.
The release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows has drawn some comparisons to another massively anticipated upcoming project, Ghost of Yotei. The core mechanics, premise, and setting of Shadows and Ghost of Yotei are extremely similar, and the positive early reception of the latest Assassin’s Creed is a good sign for Sucker Punch Productions’ own hopes of exceeding the experience of Ghost of Tsushima.
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows Should Only Feed the Passion and Potential Behind Ghost of Yotei
Fans are now firmly getting to grips with everything that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has to offer. The game finally delivers on the much-anticipated Japanese setting that AC players have been wanting for quite some time. While unrecognizable from the earliest entries to the Ubisoft franchise, Shadows boldly carries forward the new open-world formula of Assassin’s Creed, evolving to center around two simultaneous protagonists and a wide range of fresh game mechanics.
Despite the significant divisiveness that surrounded Assassin’s Creed Shadows in the months leading up to its release, many players are reporting positive experiences with the game, with the early figures for the title indicating a respectable level of success for the title. Ubisoft has already reported that over three million players have engaged with Shadows. The game reportedly also holds the title of the second-highest day-one sales revenue across Assassin’s Creed‘s entire history.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ sales revenue has only been beaten by 2020’s Valhalla, although it has been reported that Shadows has already beaten Valhalla‘s player record.
While the impact of Shadows has not been ground-breaking for the AAA industry, its relative success is still worth commending. It is fair to say that Sucker Punch will likely be following the overall impact of Assassin’s Creed Shadows quite closely in the run-up to Ghost of Yotei‘s release. Ghost of Yotei is the heavily anticipated sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, so the game already has a massive reputation to live up to. The success of Shadows is hopefully a good indicator of Yotei‘s own eventual reception.
Ghost of Yotei and AC Shadows Releasing So Closely Adds Another Layer of Competition
Ghost of Yotei is currently aiming for a 2025 release window, with the game carrying forward the same Feudal Japanese setting as its predecessor, only 329 years later. Like Shadows, Yotei is set to be an open-world third-person experience centered around action adventure, and the massive heights reached by Ghost of Tsushima put a huge amount of pressure on Yotei to evolve its predecessor’s experience.
Not only does Yotei possess the same setting and general gameplay framework as Shadows, but it has even faced its own controversies surrounding its choice of protagonist, and the early success of Assassin’s Creed Shadows should bode even better for Yotei‘s ambitions. If anything else, another AAA Japan-set action adventure title releasing in the same year as Yotei will surely add even more thorough dedication to the game’s development process, while giving Sucker Punch a directly comparable title to learn lessons from, either good or bad. If Ghost of Yotei does end up delivering on its current 2025 release window estimations, then a serious impact will be needed on the gaming industry to hold the title in its own esteem away from any similar project, meaning Shadows could end up being a partial catalyst in pushing Yotei to strive for even greater heights.
- Released
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March 20, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language