Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a vast entry in the franchise, with plenty of regions to explore and two protagonists to get familiar with. We’ve got the lowdown on how long you can expect your playthrough of Shadows to take, whether you’re focusing on the main story or prefer to complete every available activity.

How long is the Assassin’s Creed Shadows main story?¶

If you’re focusing on the main story in Shadows, you can expect it to take anywhere between 30-40 hours. It’s not quite possible to only do the main story, as you’ll need to complete some side quests and other activities to keep up with the level requirements that increase between areas. Skipping cutscenes might trim this by a few hours as they’re fairly comprehensive, but we’d recommend indulging - the story is where Shadows really shines.

While we’ve played the game ourselves and can confirm this number, it’s further backed up by an AMA on Reddit in late 2024, where three developers working on the game at Ubisoft commented on the Assassin’s Creed Shadows length. Creative director Jonathan Dumont states, “I think Shadows’ main journey is comparable to Origins/Odyssey and Valhalla.” In our experience, the Origins story was around 30 hours, Odyssey was 45, and Valhalla took us a good 55 hours focusing mostly on the main quests and not completing all side missions.

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The dual protagonists of Assassin’s Creed Shadows

How long to 100% Assassin’s Creed Shadows?¶

If you’re the ultimate completionist who won’t be satisfied until you’ve achieved everything there is to do in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you can expect to spend in excess of 115 hours hunting down every collectible, completing every side mission, and absorbing the world of Feudal Japan as much as possible. There’s so much to see, collect, and fight in Shadows that it’ll take quite some time, but it’s more than worth it.