How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows exactly? It's a hefty adventure in a massive open world, so don't expect a quick jaunt across Japan. Breaking away from the RPG-heaviness of Odyssey and Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Shadows is a fair bit leaner than its predecessors but is still a big commitment that'll take you at least 25 hours. Although, it could potentially take double that (or more) depending on your approach, so I've laid out some estimates for the length of Assassin's Creed Shadows with differing playstyles in mind.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows length and time to beat
With a massive open world packed with side activities and complex assassination objectives, Assassin's Creed Shadows will take you many hours to complete, even if you try to be quick about it. Here's how long we reckon it'll take you to beat AC Shadows based on how you play:
- Main quests only: 25-35 hours
- Standard (main quests + some side activities): 35-50 hours
- 100% completionist: 60+ hours
As I've said, the time it takes to beat Assassin's Creed Shadows will vary massively depending on how much you engage with the open world activities, how you approach combat, and how much time you spend generally exploring the huge map. If you're try to blast through the main quest line, focusing almost exclusively on assassinating the main Shinbakufu faction and switching Assassin's Creed Shadows characters when necessary to pursue their personal quests, you can reach the credits in around 30 hours.
- Assassin's Creed Shadows will take upwards of 80 hours for completionists, creative director confirms, and Ubisoft is considering adding New Game+ post launch
- Assassin's Creed Shadows forced Ubisoft to "craft the crap" out of its new-style open world, ensuring you won't have Points of Interest every 50 meters
However, given the density of the game and the number of side quests and activities split across both protagonists, not to mention the Hideout base building and management mechanics, it's likely that it'll take you a fair bit longer than 30 hours. The author of our Assassin's Creed Shadows review saw the end of the game in about 40 hours, having pursued some side activities along the way. Finally, if you want to be thorough and mop up everything AC Shadows has to offer, you're looking at spending at least 60 hours gallivanting across Japan.
Bearing our Assassin's Creed Shadows tips in mind should give you a nice head start to get through the early stages of the game a bit faster, and we've got a guide to help you with the first notable infiltration challenge: knowning how to retrieve the box in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
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