Ubisoft has officially removed the review embargo for its latest installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, titled Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. With the game now available for scrutiny, the focus shifts to its performance on PC, powered by the cutting-edge AnvilNext Engine.
Benchmarking the Performance
For our performance benchmarks, we utilized a robust setup featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, complemented by 32GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 6000MHz. The graphics cards tested included AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, RX 9070XT, alongside NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and the newly acquired RTX 5090. The tests were conducted on a Windows 10 64-bit system using GeForce driver version 572.70 and Radeon Adrenalin Edition 25.3.1.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows features a built-in benchmark tool, which we employed for our evaluations. Initial impressions suggest that the early game segments accurately reflect the in-game performance, though it remains uncertain whether later levels may present greater challenges.
Graphics Settings and Ray Tracing
Ubisoft has generously included a variety of graphics settings that allow PC gamers to fine-tune aspects such as textures, shadows, characters, and clouds. The game supports advanced technologies including NVIDIA DLSS 3 (and 4 via the NVIDIA App), AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS. Notably, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows also supports Ray Tracing, but unlike titles such as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars: Outlaws, it does not mandate an RT GPU. Players can opt for a “Hideout Only” setting, which limits RT effects to the hideout area, effectively allowing the game to function as a rasterized title.
In terms of performance, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is predominantly GPU-bound. Even at 1080p with DLSS 4 Performance Mode, we encountered a bottleneck due to the GPU, rendering CPU comparisons unnecessary. To achieve a steady 60FPS at 1080p with Ultra High Settings and no RT, players will require either an AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, an NVIDIA RTX 4090, or an NVIDIA RTX 5090. Interestingly, the game exhibits a marked preference for AMD GPUs, with the RX 7900XTX matching the performance of the RTX 4090, while the RX 9070XT competes closely with the RTX 5080.
Resolution Performance Insights
At 1440p with Ultra High Settings and no RT, both the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX and NVIDIA RTX 4090 deliver a smooth gaming experience. However, to maintain a consistent 60FPS, the NVIDIA RTX 5090 is necessary. When testing at Native 4K with Ultra High Settings and no RT, no GPU managed to provide a satisfactory experience, with even the formidable RTX 5090 struggling to maintain frame rates above 50FPS.
Curiously, the game’s performance does not scale well with adjustments to the graphics settings. Lowering the settings to Very High yielded a minimum of 67FPS, yet switching to High settings did not produce significant improvements. This anomaly raises questions about potential CPU bottlenecks, although our tests indicated that the NVIDIA RTX 5090 was fully utilized, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D operated at around 30% capacity.
Visual Quality and Comparisons
Graphically, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows presents a visually appealing experience. However, the absence of RTGI effects can render the game somewhat flat at times. The real-time day-night cycle enhances immersion, and character details are impressively rendered with high-quality textures. While the game excels as a rasterized title, it struggles to compete visually with Unreal Engine 5 games utilizing Lumen or those benefiting from RTGI technology.
In summary, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows faces scrutiny regarding its hefty GPU demands, particularly on NVIDIA hardware. For a rasterized title, expectations were set for superior performance, yet the current benchmarks reveal that it underperforms compared to other titles, such as Hellblade 2, which showcases superior visuals and performance despite employing advanced technologies like Nanite and Lumen.
Stay tuned for our upcoming article, where we will delve into Ray Tracing and DLSS 4 benchmarks for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
