New games sometimes demand newer PC hardware for a stable experience. Thankfully, Pierre F, Technology Director of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, confirmed that older graphics cards will still be able to run the game.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows uses ray tracing and likely mesh shaders in its graphics, which is starting to become a staple of the industry. Unfortunately, games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Indiana Jones And The Golden Circle can’t run on GTX cards because they lack the hardware features.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will support several technologies to improve performance, such as DLSS, FSR, and XeSS, which lets players tweak settings according to their hardware. These features can work together with dynamic resolution scaling to keep a steady frame rate.
However, since Ubisoft is using its own Anvil engine, which uses a system called “Micropolygons” that helps it display more detailed graphics without slowing down performance. Although ray tracing is mainly used in the game’s Hideout area because of its detailed customization, the developers created a special software solution for computers that don’t have hardware for ray tracing. This means that older graphics cards, even those made before the RTX series, should still be able to run the game.
On PC, three different ray tracing modes (Selective, Standard, and Extended) let players choose how much ray tracing effect they want. Players can customize things like the HUD, controls, and accessibility features. There are options for colorblind modes, subtitles, control remapping, and different difficulty levels for stealth and combat. Additionally, the game supports various advanced audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for a more immersive sound experience.
Unfortunately, Assassin’s Creed Shadows won’t be certified for Steam Deck at launch because of hardware issues. Still, it has been successfully adapted for macOS and is available on multiple platforms, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (through Steam, Epic Games Store, and Ubisoft Store), Ubisoft+ Premium, Amazon, and Amazon Luna when it releases on March 20, 2025.
Source: Ubisoft
