How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

By Jesse Lennox Published March 19, 2025

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

It’s no secret that the Assassin’s Creed games have gotten longer and longer over the years. This is typical for Ubisoft open-world titles, but many are hoping that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has scaled back on the bloat a bit. There’s always fast travel and finding the fastest ways to earn XP to cut down on the grind, but there’s only so much time that can be saved. If you’re worried that this game might be another 100-hour time investment to fully complete, let’s use our Eagle Vision to scout out how long Assassin’s Creed Shadows is before you start playing.

How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

A samurai clan sitting under banners in Assassin's Creed Shadows. — Ubisoft

As you would expect, the amount of time you could put into Assassin’s Creed Shadows will vary wildly based on how you approach it. You can focus on just the story and nothing else, tackle a handful of side missions and activities, or attempt to complete anything and everything the game has to offer.

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For just the mainline story, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a fairly lengthy experience. You can expect this tale to take 25 to 30 hours, depending on your approach. Playing with Naoe and attempting to use stealth and stay undetected as opposed to rushing in as Yasuke will obviously result in longer missions.

If you were to add in a healthy mix of side content while playing, as we did, then you can increase that time to 40 to 50 hours, again depending entirely on how much side content you think is worthwhile. For the ultimate completionists out there, expect at least 60 hours worth of activities, collectibles, side quests, and optional content to tackle.

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Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over five years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…

Gaming

The best ways to earn XP in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Yasuke fighting in the snow in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is still an open-world RPG at heart. It has some new features like Scouts and two protagonists, but you will still be leveling up, investing points into skill trees, and getting better gear over the course of this adventure. There are a few wrinkles here, such as Naoe and Yasuke each having their own unique skill trees and Knowledge Points acting as a progression gate, but your main concern will still be gettin XP as fast as possible to boost your stats. There are a ton of things to do in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but not all give XP equally. If you want to power level your characters fast, here are the best ways to earn XP.
Best ways to earn XP

Assassin's Creed Shadows makes it somewhat easy to know what is in it for you to do each specific task. When you highlight any objective on the map, you will see the XP rewarded alongside any other items or gear. That's a good place to start, but it doesn't tell the entire story since some tasks can be done very quickly and others might take the better part of an hour.

Gaming

The best Yasuke skills in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

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

Naoe is your more traditional assassin-type character in Assassin's Creed Shadows, while Yasuke plays quite differently. As a samurai, he is not so good at stealth and subterfuge, but instead heads into battle headfirst with powerful attacks and strong armor. This makes his skill tree far different than Naoe's, even after you've gotten all the Knowledge Points. Since both characters share XP, you have no excuse not to invest points into Yasuke's tree, even if you don't plan on making him your primary character. That said, he has some great skills here that might change your mind.
Regeneration

Yasuke doesn't have the luxury of killing an entire base without taking a few hits. Well, unless you're just that good. For the rest of us, Regeneration is a basic but powerful passive skill that restores a percentage of Yasuke's total HP on each kill. Since rations are so limited, this can keep you perpetually healthy in drawn out battles.
Steady Hand

Gaming

The best Naoe skills in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Naoe from Assassin's Creed Shadows leaping in the night sky.

Now that there are double the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows, there are twice as many skills to learn. Earning XP, as well as the new Knowledge Points, will let you access six skill trees for both characters, with around a dozen or more skills in each to unlock. The game is long enough that you could unlock them all, but that would require a lot of time or grinding. Plus, not all the skills are as useful as the others. Building up both characters is important, but we will be focusing on the most powerful skills you should be getting with the shinobi Naoe.
Double Assasinate

First introduced in Assassin's Creed 2, the ability to stealth assassinate two targets is a mechanic you won't feel complete without. You need to have a Tantop equipped to make it work, but it is worth taking up a slot even if you dislike its moveset. After all, this skill is all about avoiding open combat. Guards move and stand in pairs more often than not, and there is no good way to peel one away without alerting the other. This skill streamlines your stealth approach by letting you take down a pair with ease and not risk raising an alarm.
Melee Expert