Assassin's Creed Shadows' Main Story Is Reportedly 30-40 Hours Long

Assassin's Creed Shadows will reportedly feature a main story that is 30 to 40 hours long. Players will be able to finish the campaign and roll credits in that time, the game's creative director has reportedly said. Recent games in the series since it embraced role-playing mechanics have caught criticism for their length. Assassin's Creed Valhalla, for instance, featured a main campaign that ran nearly 60 hours.

How Long Is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

The information comes for gaming news and updates channel Genki on X, who interviewed Assassin's Creed Shadows director Jonathan Dumont at a showcase event in Kyoto, Japan. According to Dumont, the main story of the upcoming game will be 30 to 40 hours long.

That playtime, however, could double if players engage with side content, bringing the total playtime to over 80 hours, Dumont said.

The creative director also said that Assassin's Creed Shadows would feature a new modern-day story involving the Animus that would connect the game to future Assassin's Creed titles. A similar claim was made by Ubisoft vice president and Assassin's Creed executive producer Marc-Alexis Coté in November. Coté had said at the time that contemporary narratives in recent Assassin's Creed games had become “repetitive” and inconsequential — “more of a side-quest, rather than an integral part of the overall experience.” He had claimed that Assassin's Creed Shadows' modern-day story would take a “new direction”.

Recent RPG-style Assassin's Creed games have attracted criticism for being overlong. Dumont served as creative director for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which took over 45 hours to beat the main story. Going for main and side content in the game would easily require over 80 hours, while completionists would need to spend well over 100 hours in the game. Considering Dumont's claim of Assassin's Creed Shadows' main quest to be 30-40 hours long, the upcoming game could be a shorter affair than Odyssey.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is set for launch across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on March 20. Last month, some physical copies of the game broke the street date and leaked early, resulting in some players posting spoilers and other game details online.

On the back of underwhelming sales performance of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft is banking on Shadows to deliver its next big hit. The company said last month the game's pre-order numbers were in line with 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which stands as the second biggest launch in the Assassin's Creed series.