Ubisoft on challenges of porting Assassin’s Creed Shadows to Nintendo Switch 2, DLSS and VRR confirmed

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be on Nintendo Switch 2 in just a few days, and Ubisoft has now gone into detail about the port – including confirmation that DLSS and VRR are supported.

Right out of the gate, all updates will be packed in with the exception of the Claws of Awaji expansion. However, that’s planned for February 2026. Cross-progression is supported across platforms and touch screen navigation will be available for menus, maps, and the hideout.

In the overview, we learn that “bringing such a large and detailed open world – originally developed for current-gen home consoles – to Switch 2 required one of Ubisoft’s most ambitious technical undertakings to date.” Project lead programmer Bruno (last name not shared) had this to say about the project:

“Bringing Shadows to Switch 2 was one of the toughest but most rewarding challenges I have ever tackled. We had to rethink almost everything, from the way the world is rendered to how systems interact, all while keeping the soul of the game intact.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows targets 30 frames per second in docked and portable modes. According to Ubisoft, a bunch of “code-level work has been done over the last few months to optimize and adapt the game architecture” for Nintendo’s console. “This includes modifying game assets to streamline certain technical aspects of the quality, without compromising the player’s experience or the richness of the game,” Ubisoft said. The team also optimized “certain elements for the ARM processor and downscaled simulation data where needed to reduce GPU load, all while preserving visual fidelity” for cloud and cloth simulation systems. Ubisoft decided to use its own solid baked Global Illumination system for RAM memory reasons as well.

Other adjustments were also needed. Ubisoft adjusted level of detail, draw distances, texture resolution, and element loading. Additionally, while environmental richness is “largely intact,” “certain NPC counts were reduced in highly populated areas to ensure smooth gameplay.”

DLSS and VRR are both supported for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Nintendo Switch 2. DLSS uses AI to produce a higher resolution image from a native resolution that’s internally lower.

In portable mode, VRR will be active “to give a smoother gameplay feeling to players.” However, since handheld play doesn’t have as much GPU power, adjustments were made to image quality, draw distance, and LOD settings to ensure smooth performance.

Bruno said the following about VRR integration:

“The lower framerate limit for VRR is typically 40 FPS, but Assassin’s Creed Shadows runs at 30 FPS on Switch 2. We didn’t want to compromise on that aspect, and so we built a dedicated algorithm that keeps VRR enabled even at 30 FPS, keeping the game as fluid and responsive as possible!”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows heads to Nintendo Switch 2 on December 2, 2025. View a trailer for the game here.