Expect a 40-Hour Campaign for Assassin's Creed Shadows

Though the Assassin’s Creed games may have started with self-contained narratives, the franchise has grown into these sprawling massive worlds promising hundreds of hours of content to engage players.

With the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players should expect more of the same, and creative director Jonathan Dumont gives eager fans a guesstimate of how long it would take to finish the main campaign.

How Long Will It Take to Finish AC Shadows?

In a recent interview with @Genki_JPN, Dumont revealed that it would take 30-40 hours to finish the main campaign of the game. For all of the side content, he says that it would probably take more than 80 hours for completionists.

Other details revealed in the interview include Dumont confirming that New Game+ is being considered for Shadows, and based on player feedback, they could be adding other game modes down the line.

Shadows promises a massive ‘breathing open world’ and there are several ways for players to get lost in it, from side quests to minigames that give players knowledge points (i.e., points that reveal more things in the game for the player).

How Long Did It Take to Finish Previous AC Games?

click to enlarge

Credit: Ubisoft

With a 30-40 hour runtime for the main campaign, it’s kind of crazy to see how far these AC games have come. Just looking at the stats, the original game is said to take 30 hours for a completionist run.

Compared to more recent games though, Shadows is shorter than Odyssey, which is said to need 144 hours for a completionist run. Origins needed 52 hours to cover the extra content, but would also require 85 hours to fully complete.

The game right before Shadows, AC Valhalla, had a main campaign that ran for 61 hours and could be completed in 148 hours.

With the ballooning completionist time for a lot of these games, it’s no wonder that Ubisoft considered a return to some of the shorter campaigns with Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

What to Expect with Assassin’s Creed Shadows

When it comes to AC Shadows, it looks like Ubisoft saw the success of Ghost of Tsushima and decided to add their own AC spin on things. This time around, players will be able to take control of two characters, the legendary black samurai Yasuke and the original character Naoe—who has ties with the Brotherhood.

While Naoe is expected to be the more traditional assassin, sneaking around, climbing walls, and doing stealth kills; Yasuke is expected to be the ‘muscle’ character that can face multiple enemies head-on—admittedly, he’s not as great at climbing things as Naoe is.

With the recent Assassin’s Creed games falling into familiar formulas, Shadows promises to shake things up by rewarding players who explore the world. While previous games have devolved into just pointing out where things are on the map, Shadows wants to keep players curious, and ‘knowledge’ becomes a valuable resource that adds to the gameplay element overall.

Watch out for Assassin’s Creed Shadows when it releases on March 20 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC.