Ubisoft confirmed on Thursday that Assassin’s Creed Shadows players will be able to experience the game offline. The clarification was necessary after a recent miscommunication made some believe that a constant connection was mandatory.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows needs an internet connection to install but is not always online
“Assassin’s Creed Shadows will not require a mandatory connection at all times,” Ubisoft clarified in a statement. “An online connection will be needed to install the game, but you will be able to play the entire journey offline and explore Japan without any online connection.” This was also the case with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and will be with the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws.
It appears that the Assassin’s Creed Shadows page on the PlayStation store initially stated the game requires an internet connection. This led some to believe that the game would be always online. This is especially a problem for players with unreliable internet connections. Additionally, reliance on a central server also means the game is at risk of eventually shutting down, as recently happened to Ubisoft’s The Crew.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ PS Store page now lists online play as optional. One could argue that requiring a day-one patch defeats the point of buying a physical disk. Still, it’s better than making a single-player game always online.
The next mainline installment of the Assassin’s Creed series launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on November 15. Shadows takes players to Japan starting in 1579 and features two player characters, the ninja Naoe and African samurai Yasuke. While Naoe is fictional, Yasuke is based on a historical figure of the same name, who served the warlord Nobunaga Oda from 1581 until Nobunaga’s assassination the following year. He will also be the first playable historical character in an Assassin’s Creed game.
