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One of the most progressive aspects of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the introduction of two protagonists – Naoe and Yasuke. Their stories run parallel to one another and are even intertwined. You’re also gives you the choice to hop between characters to adopt their very distinctive play styles: one a silent shinobi assassin, the other a powerful samurai. If you ask us, this sounds like the perfect setup for co-op play, which raises questions around whether AC Shadows features any sort of co-op or multiplayer component. 

The short answer is no, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is purely single-player. In this guide, we’ll give a quick primer on why Shadows is avoiding multiplayer and sticking to the franchise tradition of a single player experience.

Can you play Assassin’s Creed Shadows in co-op or multiplayer?

No, ever since AC Shadows was first announced back at Ubisoft Forward in September 2022 it has been billed as a single player game. Like previous AC games, the focus is on delivering a narrative-heavy experience that charts Naoe and Yasuke’s journey through the tumultuous later years of the 16th century Japanese Sengoku period. Alongside, the Assassin Brotherhood and its millennia-old fight against the Templars are woven into the story in keeping with the series’ time-hopping undercurrent.

All this doesn’t lend itself particularly well to multiplayer. In other words, it’s a game for the solo player that wants to explore the series’ first foray into feudal Japan and it’s important to understand that before pre-ordering. While Ubisoft hasn’t officially confirmed that there will or won’t be any sort of post-launch multiplayer or co-op features, there have been rumour mill rumblings of a co-op mode in development, presumably styled on the one in AC Unity. As always, take this with a pinch of salt, but there’s reasons to be hopeful if you’re hungry to duo as Naoe and Yasuke with a friend.

AC Shadows is releasing on PC, which naturally opens the door for modders to swoop in and fashion together some sort of multiplayer mod, but this is unlikely and not something we’ve seen done with any meaningful degree of success in the past. But, most of all, if this does happen, it won’t have the official nod of approval from Ubisoft.

About the Author

Tom Bardwell

Tom is guides editor here at VideoGamer.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

  • Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X
  • Genre(s): Action Adventure

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