However, the publisher also revealed that its consumer spending and player count to date have “clearly” outperformed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. If that wasn’t enough, players have spent 160 million hours in-game, a significant jump from the 40 million+ reported on March 28th.

Available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in Feudal Japan during the late Sengoku Era. Players control Naoe and Yasuke as they work together to deliver justice for their own goals. Ubisoft laid out extensive post-launch plans for the title, including the Claws of Awaji expansion launching this year.

You can learn more about its most recent update, which added the first new story quest and some secret tweaks to the parkour.

As per SteamDB, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ peak concurrent player count on Steam now sits at 64,825 players. That puts it comfortably ahead of all prior Assassin’s Creed titles on the platform. Being Ubisoft’s first day and date release on Steam since 2019, it’s certainly seeing solid numbers right out the gate.

Reports have also claimed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the second-biggest Ubisoft launch of all time, behind only Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Ubisoft recently announced that it crossed 2 million players in its first two days.

In our review of Shadows, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Assassin’s Creed rises to the occasion once more with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, an expertly crafted entry that blends the strengths of the old and new styles of Assassin’s Creed title alike to deliver one of the best outings this long and storied franchise has ever had.” Read the full review through here.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

As per Insider Gaming, the acclaimed 2018 open world action RPG remains the series’ biggest game to date, as far as player numbers go. Though 2020’s Valhalla is the biggest launch that the series and Ubisoft both have ever seen, as per the aforementioned report, Odyssey has more unique players across its lifetime than any other Assassin’s Creed game, at over 40 million players to date.

Exactly what that means for the game’s sales is unknown, but given the reputation that Odyssey has enjoyed since its launch seven years ago, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that it has the massive player base that it does.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Read our review of the game through here.

“Kassandra is very much alive during these times,” teased Dumont when asked about her. “She is somewhere around the globe, lurking in the shadows.”

For context, Kassandra was introduced as one of two potential protagonists for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Since then, Ubisoft has confirmed that she is the canonical protagonist for that game. During the game, she gets access to the Staff of Hermes, which ends up extending her lifespan.

In terms of the overarching story of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Kassandra would have been around throughout all of the games, having lived for more than 2,000 years. She also eventually appeared in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla through a post-launch update.

In an update, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla got a series of free quests called Crossover Stories, which explored the links between protagonist Eivor and Kassandra.

It is worth noting that Dumont’s statement doesn’t really confirm whether Kassandra will be a character we get to meet in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It is, however, possible that we might get to see her in some form with a similar Crossover Stories quest like in Valhalla and Odyssey.

The March 20 release date for Assassin’s Creed Shadows is looming over the horizon, and Ubisoft has been in full gear for its marketing for the game. Earlier this week, the company released a video offering us a deep dive into the in-game Hideout.

During their time with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will get a base of operations in the Izumi province. Players can customize this base quite a bit, with around an acre of land available to decorate and kit out.

Along with cosmetic customization, the Hideout will have gameplay elements, such as the Stables for smuggling materials and the Forge for crafting, upgrading, and dismantling equipment.

Dumont also revealed earlier this week that Ubisoft might bring New Game Plus to Assassin’s Creed Shadows in a post-launch update. While not confirming the mode’s addition, he said the studio will pay attention to player feedback to decide the game’s updates.

What Dumont has confirmed is that the title’s main story will take players between 30 and 40 hours to finish. However, indulging in various optional activities might push that total past the 80-hour mark.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title is also getting a collaboration event with Red Bull, where completing a quiz can get you unique Red Bull-branded equipment for the game’s two protagonists. This equipment offers minor bonuses like increased affliction buildup on enemies and the ability to heal when you successfully dodge.

According to its latest statement, the “technical error” that resulted in players getting shown pop-up advertisements while in the middle of gameplay has now been fixed.

“Our intention was to display a promotion for Assassin’s Creed Mirage as part of the franchise news in the main menu of other Assassin’s Creed games,” said the company.

“Unfortunately, this technical error caused the promotion to appear in one of our in-game menus instead,” the statement continues. “We want to ensure the best player experience possible, and these disruptive pop-ups were promptly removed once we learned of the issue.”

Players reported ads popping up for Ubisoft’s Black Friday sale yesterday, with a player posting a video from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on Xbox, which showed that opening the map prompted a pop-up to advertise Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage was released back in October, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. For more details about the game, check out our review.

We have been made aware that some players encountered a pop-up message in-game while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday. This was the result of a technical error that has now been fixed.

Our intention was to display a promotion for Assassin's Creed Mirage as part…

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) November 24, 2023

Reddit user triddell24 posted a video from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on Xbox, where opening the map showcased an ad for purchasing Assassin’s Creed Mirage during the Black Friday sale. Other users in the same thread report seeing the same thing. Given the Loading Icon and button designs on the ad, it’s clear that this is more Ubisoft than Microsoft’s doing.

The publisher hasn’t confirmed whether this is a mistake or part of a long-term initiative to advertise its sales during gameplay. Stay tuned for more updates on the same.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Check out our review here.

Of course, each of these approaches caters to different kinds of audiences, but in recent years – the industry has seen a shift wherein the length of a game becomes a bullet point in the marketing of a game itself. A prominent example of this kind of marketing is Techland’s Dying Light 2: Stay Human which claims to have 500 hours worth of content. Another example of such behavior was Bethesda’s showcase of its upcoming Starfield, which is said to have over 1000 planets that players would be able to explore during their space travels.

But does more always amount to better? Well, not necessarily. Like most things, there are two sides to this argument as well. You see, unlike movies or TV – the cost associated with a purchase of a game is dramatically higher. Furthermore, prices of games are getting higher and higher, with Sony and most major multi-platform publishers asking upwards of $70 for their hottest current-gen games. So when you are spending that kind of money on a product, you’d naturally want it to last a while. You’d want to have it last more than just a weekend, and when viewed through this lens – a longer game offers a better value proposition than a shorter game.

But for a long game to work, it needs to nail a handful of things. Let’s take the example of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is an excellent action RPG that’s bursting with engaging content throughout its gargantuan open world. The developer has filled the landscape with different types of activities such as character-driven side-quests and adrenaline-pumping monster hunts. But most of this side content is optional, and anyone wanting to make a beeline through the critical path can do so without noodling around the open world so much. And even if you venture off the beaten path and pursue these side activities, you will be rewarded with useful gear, engaging stories that are just as interesting as the main story, and much more.

Sectioning out the main content clearly from the side content like this without compromising on their quality allows different players with different amounts of free time and attention spans to enjoy the game the way they choose. So, completing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can be a pretty lengthy endeavor if you want it to or it could be a relatively brief one at least when compared to other contemporaries of the genre. Either way, you are getting a great experience on both ends which is what ultimately matters.

Compare that to something like Odyssey, which is also a sprawling open-world RPG filled with oodles of content. But unlike The Witcher, this open-world forces players to invest copious amounts of time into pursuing side-content by gating story-critical missions behind arbitrary power levels. As such, completing the game can quickly become an exercise in pain – since there’s a clear distinction between the many grindy fetch quests peppered throughout the game and the main missions that advance the story forwards. Having such a grindy progression system makes a game artificially bloat up in length, which makes getting through the game straight-up not fun. To add fuel to the fire, such stingy progression systems and artificially elongated games can’t be enjoyed by most players who don’t have a lot of free time – even if they may have a lot of interest in the game’s premise or setting.

Pacing is also important in the case of a lengthy game, especially when the gameplay doesn’t evolve much over the course of the campaign. A good example, in this case, would be Red Dead Redemption 2, which is a great game with a lot of merits – but mandatory sections like Guarma adversely affect the game’s pacing as they don’t contribute much to the overall plot and instead subject players to one shootout after the other. Kojima Productions Death Stranding also suffers from the same issue – as the game’s story beats are scattered far away from each other and the supporting gameplay isn’t as thrilling as fans have come to expect from modern AAA releases.

But what about games that aren’t expansive trudges through a litany of distinct locales? Short games can use their length to their advantage and craft experiences are more focused in their scope – both from a narrative and gameplay perspective. Something like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice can serve as a good example here, as it uses its short runtime to firmly establish an intimate connection between the player and the protagonist. Supporting gameplay elements like the combat and puzzles aren’t as fleshed out as a longer game, but that works well for the game’s relatively short runtime and you don’t get bored of these one-note mechanics.

But that comes with a catch, of course. Having experiences that last for just a handful of hours is fine if the game isn’t full-priced, but if that isn’t the case – such experiences become a hard pill to swallow despite their many merits. Good examples of this would be Max Payne 2 and The Order: 1886 just to name a few. Each of these games has a ton of great things going for it – but those qualities can get undermined when you try to evaluate these games against the money you’re spending on them. Something like Dishonored can get away with having a short campaign, since the game is built around repetition and obtaining a mastery of the handful of levels – but that isn’t the case with the examples I mentioned before. The price of a game can be a non-factor for a utopian world, but practically speaking – these are factors that the majority of gamers consider before a purchase.

To conclude, both long and short games have their own sets of pros and cons – and none can be termed definitively better than the other. Everything depends on the quality of the experience that a game delivers within that runtime, and whether you’re left wanting for more after the credits roll or not. With subscription services like Xbox Game Pass becoming more and more popular as of late, the runtime of a game is starting to become a non-factor for many more people than before which should hopefully, nudge developers to focus on what matters the most instead of trying to market their games around the amount of content they offer for the price tag.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Going live today for owners of both base games, this crossover explores the ties between both heroes. “A Fated Encounter” in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can be accessed by reaching Settlement level 4 and completing the quest “A Wise Friend.” Meanwhile, in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, “Those Who Are Treasured” is unlocked by finishing Chapter 1 and reaching Megaris (though it’s recommended for those who have finished all three story arcs since spoilers are involved).

The crossover features two new islands and exclusive rewards so it may be worth checking out. Interestingly, given how both studios are working on Assassin’s Creed Infinity, this crossover could very well be a way to test the waters for similar experiences there. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

God of War (2018)

Much of the God of War journey involves, well, a literal journey to honor Kratos’ wife Faye (with a dash of smacking down Baldr). But even after making the trek back home and seeing the “dream” with Thor, there’s still plenty to wrap up. Outside of collectibles, you could kill of the Valkyries including Sigrun, the toughest boss in the entire game; partake in the Impossible Trials of Muspelheim and master Niflheim’s poisonous arena; free all of the dragons; and reassemble the Gauntlet of Ages to wield Infinity Stone-esque power. New Game Plus adds even more content with new armor, talismans, enchantments and stronger versions of current armor.

At roughly 370 MB for Xbox One and 470 MB for PS4, it’s not a big update by any means. But that’s because it’s not adding native support for current-gen consoles. The update simply allows for 60 FPS when playing via backwards compatibility so don’t go in expecting DualSense support, 4K resolutions or other unique features.

Along with Xbox One and PS4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is also available for PC and Google Stadia. You can check out our review here for more details and impressions. Those seeking improved visuals that actually take advantage of current-gen console tech should look into Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which recently received its new expansion Siege of Paris.