Microsoft’s recent Windows 11 update is breaking games

By Patrick Hearn Published December 31, 2024

Bayek atop the Sphynx and overlooking ancient Egypt in a promo image for Assassin's Creed Origins. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Until now, players have been able to enjoy Assassin’s Creed: Origins on PC with few problems, but the most recent Windows 11 update has thrown a wrench into things. Now players are review bombing Assassin’s Creed: Origins with complaints of crashes, blue screens, freezing, and a lot more. There’s one thing to keep in mind, though: the Windows update is to blame, not the game itself. Origins isn’t the only game affected by the update, either.

A user named The Hidden One — appropriate for a subject like Assassin’s Creed — shared the news on X. Recent reviews have a mixed rating, and the bar graph shows a distinct spike in negative reviews since the update. Of course, it’s understandable why fans reacted that way; Ubisoft doesn’t have the best track record with PC ports. Then again, that’s not just a Ubisoft problem.

Recommended Videos

Assassin's Creed Origins is getting bombed with negative reviews because of Microsoft’s 24H2 Windows 11 update which has bricked the game for a lot of people. Black screens, crashes, and freezes, and still no fixes yet. pic.twitter.com/kldzId77HY

— The Hidden One (@TheHiddenOneAC) December 30, 2024

The update primarily seems to mess with games that use AutoHDR and, for whatever reason, Ubisoft titles specifically. Aside from Origins, two other Assassin’s Creedgames have exhibited crashes: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. The issue isn’t exactly new; the problem has persisted for around a week now, and Microsoft hasn’t supplied players with updates on when they can expect a fix.

Some members of the community have reported solving the issue by disabling AutoHDR. Simply turning off the setting is enough to stabilize a lot of the games, but Ubisoft players seem to be disproportionately impacted. Other Reddit users have also said the update affects Path of Exile 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, too.

These are temporary fixes that work for the moment, but until Microsoft releases a patch or hotfix that will resolve the issues this update introduced, certain games may have spotty performance.

Mobile Writer

Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…

Topics

Computing

How I fixed the most annoying part of PC gaming

solving pc gamings launcher problem launchers featured 1

There are far too many launchers for PC gaming. Even with various failed attempted from game publishers, such as the Bethesda launcher, we have more storefronts, libraries, and third-party apps than ever on PC, all of them gunning to capture just a little bit of the magic Valve bottled up with Steam back in the early 2000s.

I'm sick of them, and I'm sure you are too. You can't uninstall all of your launchers if you want to play games you have on various storefronts, but you can unify your library in a single spot and minimize how much the various different launchers on PC pester you. Here's how I did it.
My preferred method: Steam

Gaming

All Assassin’s Creed games in order, by release date and chronologically

The main character of Assassin's Creed: Mirage perches on a ledge and looks out over the city of Baghdad.

After a humble beginning in 2007, Assassin's Creed has become not only one of Ubisoft's most successful franchises but one of the biggest in gaming as a whole. Originally meant to be a new Prince of Persia game, the series was instead allowed to be a new IP that focused on a secret order of assassins in a centuries-long conflict with the Knights Templar.

What made the series so appealing was the setup. Through the use of a fictional machine called the Animus, people could relive the memories of their ancestors to learn secrets from the past to help in the present. That opened up endless possibilities for places and time periods the series could go. With over a dozen games in the series and counting, we've been all across history at this point.

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass is getting a price hike alongside complicated tier overhaul

Microsoft just announced some price hikes and tier changes for Xbox Game Pass, its video game subscription service. The changes, which go into effect on July 10, were quietly announced on Xbox's support site before being noticed by Wario64 and Windows Central.

The most notable change is that Microsoft will no longer allow people to purchase Game Pass for Console. While existing subscriptions won't be affected, people will have to instead opt for Xbox Game Pass Core or the new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier, which is launching "in the coming months." Xbox Game Pass Standard will cost $15 a month and give subscribers access to online multiplayer on consoles, but won't support cloud gaming or have immediate access to "some games available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on day one."