Huh. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is actually launching day one on Mac

By Carli Velocci May 15, 2024

Yasuke with his sword up and and Naoe with a shuriken in her hand in Assassin's Creed Shadows — Ubisoft

Ubisoft’s biggest upcoming game is arguably Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which is set to release on November 15 across all the usual platforms, including PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. That also seems to include some unusual ones, too, including Mac.

While the official store page only mentions that the game will be available digitally on PC, a press release sent to Digital Trends features a few more details, including that the standard edition will release on Macs with Apple silicon on day one via the Mac App Store. However, players won’t be able to buy more premium editions for the platform.

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This move is in line with both Ubisoft’s and Apple’s gaming strategies over the past few years. The former hasn’t shied away from releasing its games on newer, less-established platforms. It was one of the first publishers to release games on the now-shuttered Google Stadia, along with other cloud streaming services like Amazon Luna. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was even the first demo for Stadia, back when it was known as Project Stream. The Ubisoft+ subscription service was also available on Stadia and Luna.

Baldur's Gate 3 being played on the M3 MacBook Air. — Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

As for Apple, the company has been attempting to make strides in the video game space for years. In 2022, it revealed two new features: MetalFX Upscaling and the Fast Resource Loading API. It also announced that Resident Evil Village, No Man’s Sky, and Grid Legends would be coming to Mac and would show off how supporting these features would improve performance. The next year, Apple brought noted game director Hideo Kojima out during WWDC 2023 to announce the Game Porting Toolkit, which makes it easier for developers to port their games to Mac.

The most recent silicon chip, the M3, does make gaming on Macs much better than it has been in the past. Digital Trends’ Luke Larsen was impressed with the M3 MacBook Air’s gaming performance, and was even able to run Baldur’s Gate 3 (with some caveats).

All of this is to say that while Mac might not be the best way to run Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it is possible, and Ubisoft is betting on that with a day one release for MacOS.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ blend of old and new is a recipe for success

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was officially revealed a couple of weeks ago in a beefy cinematic trailer showing off its dual protagonists, Yasuke and Naoe. It's a big moment for fans of the series, as Shadows is finally the Feudal Japan Assassin's Creed game fans have been asking for since it was teased back in the very first entry in the franchise in 2007.

Does it live up to that long wait? Ahead of today's Ubisoft Forward stream, I saw an extended gameplay presentation for Assassin's Creed Shadows that gave me a much better sense of what to expect this fall. The team behind it is looking to blend newer series entries like Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins into the more traditional Assassin's Creed titles from over a decade ago. And that seems like it could be a winning formula.
Out of the shadows
During the presentation, I saw both of Shadows' playable characters in action -- and they're quite different from one another. Yasuke's Samurai stature and hulking physique command respect from villagers when he walks by. They bow to him, move out of his way, and clearly show signs of admiration. His combat skills also match this, giving him access to actions like a shoulder charge to break down doors or knock enemies off balance.

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Can’t wait for Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Play these games instead

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

Ubisoft unveiled Assassin's Creed Shadows last week, giving us our first real glimpse at the first Assassin's Creed game to be set in Japan. Its Feudal Japan setting is something that fans of Assassin's Creed have craved for a long time, and while it's awesome that Ubisoft is finally delivering that concept, some other games did beat it to the punch. Many other developers have noticed how fruitful a historical Japan setting can be, from its feudal era all the way until the West started to intervene in the Edo period. As a result, there are quite a few games that I can recommend you check out while you're waiting for Assassin's Creed Shadows' November 15 launch.

The five games I'm recommending all range in size. Three of them are AAA action games, all set in different eras of Japanese history that immerse players in different ways. Meanwhile, the other two games I'm spotlighting are more experimental titles that, while not directly comparable to Assassin's Creed Shadows from a gameplay perspective, are still well worth your time if Japanese history and culture intrigue you.
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Gaming

No, Assassin’s Creed Shadows won’t be online only

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

Despite fan concerns that the recently announced Assassin's Creed Shadows would be online-only, Ubisoft has confirmed that this won't be the case.

The Assassin's Creed team posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday to clarify that the game would only need an online connection to install, and then can be played completely offline after.