Assassin’s Creed Shadows Delivers Major Visual Leap For Franchise Thanks To RTGI

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By Far The Best Looking Assassin's Creed To Date!

Story Highlight
  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ RTGI delivers a major visual upgrade, enhancing lighting and textures.
  • On Xbox Series X and PS5, RTGI is available in Quality and Balanced modes, while the Series S supports it only in the hideout at 30FPS.
  • Traditional baked lighting falls short, making Balanced mode the best choice.

With just a day before launch, Ubisoft aims to start yet another era of Assassin’s Creed, with the franchise heading to Japan for the first time. Reviews and impressions have thus far been favorable for the French publisher, implying one of the biggest releases of this year.

Adopting the next rendition of Ubisoft’s in-house Anvil Engine, Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks stunning and offers a generational visual leap for the IP. Ray tracing is also available now, offering dynamic and immersive lighting in the game.

Why it matters: With years of development and the first current-gen release, Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks stunning and utilizes ray tracing better than most titles.

Digital Foundry’s latest tech review explores Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ use of RTGI. On Xbox Series X and PS5, RTGI is available in Quality and Balanced modes. The 60FPS mode includes RTGI but only in the hideout.

This means that the Xbox Series S, limited to a 30FPS mode only, will not have RTGI enabled except in the hideout region. Anyhow, RTGI completely overhauls the game’s lighting and the textures that interact with it.

The diffused lighting outside shows a major change in the shades and colors of the open world. Moreover, objects outside will see a big difference in shades with the RGTI method on vs. off. Interior buildings also show a huge difference between day and night. 

With the setting turned off, however, baked lighting struggles to compete despite an impressive attempt to recreate lighting during different weather conditions and sun positioning. 

Despite being locked at 30FPS, Quality mode remains impressive with no frame dips. Balanced mode offers the best compromise, combining RTGI with a stable framerate for an immersive exploration of feudal Japan.

What are your thoughts on Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ ray tracing implementation? Let us know in the comments below or head towards the official Tech4Gamers Forum.

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