Although Ubisoft’s game did not receive a tangible award, it was still recognized, though the meaning of this is questionable.
Despite criticism from all corners of the internet, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows overcame negative sentiment to achieve decent commercial success. It was the best-selling non-shooter and non-sports game in the United States this year and dominated sales charts across Europe. Analysts have praised the action-adventure title from a technical standpoint, considering it one of the most visually impressive games of 2025. Now, Digital Foundry has granted Assassin’s Creed: Shadows another technical distinction, naming it one of the best PC ports of 2025.
In its year-end overview of PC ports, Digital Foundry praised the PC version of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, calling it an exceptional port in a year filled with poor PC optimizations. Analysts highlighted additional options such as reflective lighting, super resolution support for all upscalers, and dynamic resolution, which helped push the game’s visuals beyond console-level quality. What truly set the PC port apart for Digital Foundry was its excellent performance across a wide range of hardware, proving that Ubisoft invested real effort into optimization, as the game runs smoothly with minimal stuttering. Analysts also commended Ubisoft’s decision to delay the release twice, stating that the extra development time is clearly visible in the quality of cutscenes and shadow rendering.
DOOM: The Dark Ages and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 were also highlighted as standout PC ports in 2025, while The Outer Worlds 2 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered received heavy criticism for inconsistent PC performance, which resulted in significant frame rate drops in open-world environments.
So why are we skeptical? The PC port may be technically solid, but the use of Denuvo DRM makes long-term preservation impossible. After a short period, the game will inevitably “phone home,” making offline play impossible.
Source: Tech4gamers
