When Nintendo first pulled the curtain back on the Switch 2, the question wasn’t just about what Nintendo would make, but how third-party giants would bridge the generational gap. Ubisoft has provided a definitive answer with the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. For those interested in our full thoughts on the game itself, be sure to check out our full game review.
By bringing the full Feudal Japan open world to a handheld without the need for a “Cloud Edition”, Ubisoft has set a new benchmark for what specialized porting teams can achieve on this hardware. While cloud gaming remains a vital tool for the industry, the Switch and Switch 2 have historically been far from ideal platforms for streaming due to their lukewarm Wi-Fi capabilities. Relying on native code rather than a finicky wireless signal ensures the experience remains stable regardless of your router’s proximity.
The effort behind the port
Bringing a current-gen exclusive built for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to a mobile chipset is no small feat. Ubisoft’s Anvil engine underwent a massive overhaul to accommodate the Switch 2’s ARM architecture. Developers utilized “smart cuts,” such as replacing Ray-Traced Global Illumination with high-quality baked lighting, to ensure the game’s atmosphere remained intact while respecting the hardware’s power envelope. Crucially, the port retains the “Micropolygon” technology, which virtually eliminates the distracting object pop-in that plagued previous handheld entries in the series.
The Switch 2 proves itself to be somewhat of an Xbox Series S in your pocket. Running at a target 30 FPS, the game feels remarkably stable thanks to a Variable Refresh Rate algorithm that keeps the experience fluid even during intense combat or action sequences. While the docked resolution averages around 640p, the inclusion of NVIDIA DLSS is the real game-changer here. The AI upscaling does a heavy lift, presenting an image that looks significantly sharper on a 1080p display.
Portable play is arguably the best way to experience the game, though. On the smaller screen, the visual concessions, like reduced water reflections and foliage density, are far less noticeable, allowing the artistic direction to shine.
A solid foundation for the future
The success of Assassin’s Creed Shadows sends a clear message: the Switch 2 is more than capable of handling modern AAA releases from last year and beyond. With advanced technology and algorithms, and 12GB of RAM, the bottleneck is no longer the “impossibility” of the port, but the optimization time invested.
As specialized porting houses such as Panic Button, and internal teams at publishers like Ubisoft and Capcom refine their work, we can expect quirks of early ports to disappear. This foundation hints at a future where the Switch 2 library isn’t just a collection of legacy ports like it ended up happening with the original Switch, but a simultaneous home for the biggest games in the industry. We are starting to see it with games like Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata being there day and date. Let’s just hope that more of these open world titles feature cross-save options!
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