Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the Steam Deck surprise of the year so far

In the consciousness that it, uh, works

Who tin accidental what made Ubisoft alteration their minds connected Steam Deck enactment for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the beauteous bully samurai stealther that antecedently stated an volition to spell without. Perhaps a high-ranking executive, visiting household to invitation them to a travel connected his spare yacht, had his frozen bosom melted by the show of a Naoe-cosplaying granddaughter clutching a Steam Deck OLED successful her clearly-too-small-for-it hands. Perhaps.

It works, is the main thing. And works good – remarkably well, actually, considering not conscionable the erstwhile denial and 11th hr U-turn, but the game’s precocious PC strategy requirements and astatine slightest partially mandatory ray tracing. This does travel astatine the outgo of a severely stripped-down prime settings menu, and you’ll inactive request to motion into a Ubisoft Connect relationship adjacent if you ain Shadows connected Steam, but there’s nary uncertainty that its Steam Deck Verified presumption is deserved.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Previous Assassin’s Creedeseses person been lone earned a Playable badge, contempt gathering Valve’s Verified criteria connected performance, due to the fact that the request for a simultaneous installation and login for Ubisoft’s ain launcher would interfere with its creaseless cognition connected Steam; Assassin’s Creed Mirage being the astir caller example. Shadows, however, has a benignant of Ubisoft Connect Lite built close in, truthful you tin conscionable motorboat from your main Steam Deck room arsenic usual, sync your Steam and Ubisoft accounts in-game, and beryllium connected your merry stabbing way. Ideally there’d beryllium nary request for each this billions-of-launchers nonsense astatine all, but still, it’s an improvement. Alternatively, you tin usage Desktop Mode and Lutris to instal Ubisoft Connect connected your Steam Deck, adhd it arsenic a non-Steam game, and motorboat from there.

Once up and running, you’ll find that the graphics options surface – the accepted archetypal larboard of telephone successful immoderate crippled for the performance-concerned Deck proprietor – offers but a fraction of the settings you’d get connected a Windows desktop. Ubisoft haven’t replied to my queries arsenic to whether this is intentional, but it’s the aforesaid whether you’re playing connected a Steam transcript oregon a Connect copy, truthful I’m guessing it is.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Complaining astir this seems petty, successful a way, arsenic honorable enactment has evidently been enactment into making Shadows tally connected the Steam Deck against the odds. But I’m not excessively keen connected mounting precedents for developers to marque abstracted and stripped down Steam Deck 'versions' of their games; adjacent if the consistency of the Deck’s hardware makes it easier to program console-style ‘fixed’ settings, Shadows itself demonstrates that a batch of granular, idiosyncratic settings tin often beryllium raised from the lowest to highest without impacting performance. There’s nary readily evident payment to taking that flexibility away.

That said, it’s yet amended to person a decent-running crippled with fewer options than to person an unplayable crippled with loads. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the former. These are the settings I similar using, which admittedly are fundamentally conscionable the defaults, prevention for the upscaler being specified arsenic FSR alternatively than being near connected Auto.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Steam Deck settings

• Raytraced planetary illumination: Diffuse Hideout Only
• Upscaler type: AMD FSR
• Minimum dynamic resolution: 25%
• Maximum dynamic resolution: 75%
• Sharpen strength: 0.25
• Frame generation: Off

These support Shadows running, for the astir part, astatine an impressively accordant 30fps. There are immoderate momentary dips below, but nary sustained drops oregon stuttering, adjacent successful engaged settlements oregon – astir astonishing of each – the Hideout. This hub country is the lone portion of the crippled that won’t fto you disable ray tracing entirely, but recognition wherever it’s due: Ubisoft’s in-house, software-based RT effects aren’t anyplace adjacent arsenic demanding arsenic conventional, hardware-based ray tracing. Again, you mightiness get immoderate tiny drops, but Shadows is arsenic playable connected the Steam Deck present arsenic it is anyplace other connected the map.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

I besides haven’t had immoderate problems with undersized substance oregon awkward controls, truthful it suits the Deck’s outer hardware arsenic well. Those controls are besides partially wherefore I’ve near framework procreation off. See, you tin alteration FSR 3 framework gen for a dash of other smoothness, with boosted framerates reaching 45fps astatine times. Unfortunately, it tin besides driblet to astir 33-34fps erstwhile the surface gets busy, nullifying the benefit, portion swamping power responsivity nether lashings of input lag. Most switches and toggles that tin assistance a 50% velocity summation are worthy flicking astatine slightest once, but personally I’d alternatively person a much accordant 30fps without that added sluggishness.

At slightest each the caller tech successful Shadows hasn’t earnestly intensified its drain connected the Steam Deck’s artillery life. Playing connected the Ubisoft Connect version, with surface brightness and talker measurement some astatine 50%, Shadows ran my archetypal LCD Deck from afloat to level successful 1h 22m, conscionable a azygous infinitesimal little than Mirage did. I fishy that could beryllium improved, too, specified arsenic by dropping the display’s refresh complaint to 40Hz – you won’t beryllium needing much than 30 of these hertz anyway.

Sub-90 minutes is, of course, astatine the little extremity of Deck longevity standard successful immoderate case. But it’s par for the people wherever giga-fidelity AAA games are concerned, and that’s 1 country of PC gaming that’s proving little funny successful Steam Deck compatibility with each passing year. Kudos to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, then, for making the effort.