You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here
The time it takes to complete Assassin’s Creed Shadows really depends on how you approach the game. Your playthrough can be influenced by whether you focus on the main story, do all the side quests, or spend time exploring every corner of the map. While finding out all the secrets can take a while, completing the main campaign isn’t exactly a short journey either. In this guide, we’ll break down how long it might take to beat Assassin’s Creed Shadows based on your playstyle.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows game length
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is divided into a prologue, three main acts, and a final epilogue, as you can read in our review. The opening prologue and the first act take about eight hours to complete. After that, the game opens up with eight main assassination missions. These missions will take around three to four hours each to complete. If you aim to complete the main story, by the time you reach the credits, the total playtime on Normal difficulty will likely total just over 40 hours.
During this time, you’ll be able to explore a good portion of the map, complete all the main questlines, and recruit most of the allies by completing the most important side missions. While this will let you experience a lot of what Shadows has to offer, there’s still plenty left to discover – including mechanics like the Hideout upgrades, many more side quests, and secrets waiting to be uncovered.
If you’re aiming to 100% Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it could easily take anywhere from 80 to 100 hours. There’s a ton of side content, additional assassination missions, and upgrades to obtain. So, if you’re looking to complete everything in the game, expect to spend at least double the time of a regular campaign playthrough.
| Playstyle | Time to beat |
|---|---|
| Main questline | From 40 to 45 hours |
| Main questline + side quests | Around 80 hours |
| Completionist | 100+ hours |
The good news is that getting all the trophies and achievements isn’t as challenging as you might think. You don’t need to do everything in the game to earn the Platinum trophy, which makes completing it a bit more manageable, even though the game is pretty big.
What to do after beating the game?
After finishing the main story, Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers a few post-game experiences. You’ll unlock personal missions for Yasuke and Naoe, which in turn lead to the game’s epilogue. Once you’ve wrapped those up, you can still keep playing and freely explore the map, completing any remaining missions you may have missed during your initial playthrough.
Keep in mind, however, that many of the side missions and assassination targets during the main story may be too high level for you to complete until later in the game. That means you’ll likely have to dip into side missions during your playthrough to increase your power to tackle them. Nevertheless, there’s definitely more to do after the main story ends, providing a lot of extra content for players who want to finish everything.
About the Author
