Assassin's Creed Shadows' final PC specs suggest ray tracing and upscaling are the new standard

What just happened? You might not care much about ray tracing, but video game makers certainly do. The final PC requirements for Assassin's Creed Shadows have arrived, and, much like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, turning off ray tracing effects isn't an option. Also, the given resolutions are specified as "using dynamic resolution and upscaling."

AC Shadows' PC specifications come in three categories: selective ray tracing, standard ray tracing, and extended ray tracing.

For a game that appears very demanding, the bare minimum specs aren't too bad – though all the listed resolutions and frame rates are using upscaling. With graphics set to low, the game will work with a minimum GTX 1070 / Radeon RX 5700 8GB / Intel Arc A580 8GB (rebar on) and a Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600. You're stuck with 1080p at 30 fps, though.

The recommended setting with medium graphics at 1080p/60fps, likely the target for many players, requires at least an RTX 3060 Ti / Radeon RX 6700 XT / Intel Arc B580 12GB with a Core i5-11600K / Ryzen 5 5600X.

High settings with selective ray tracing at 1440p/60 fps asks for a minimum RTX 3080 /Radeon 6800 XT with a Core i7-11600K/Ryzen 5 5600X.

If you're lucky enough to own an RTX 4090 and a Core i7-13700K, you can enjoy the highest setting: extended ray tracing with Ultra graphics settings at 4K.

A quick look at the Steam survey shows the most popular card is the RTX 3060. There are three 4000-series in the top five, though the GTX 1650 is still hanging on in fourth place.

Here is Assassin's Creed Shadows' full specs list:

SELECTIVE RAY TRACING

MINIMUM

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1080P at 30 FPS

• Visual Settings: Low
• CPU: Intel Core i7 8700k/ AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB/ AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB/ Intel Arc A580 8GB (REBAR ON)

RECOMMENDED

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1080P at 60 FPS

• Visual Settings: High
• CPU: Intel Core i5 11600k/ AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB/ AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB/ Intel Arc B580 12GB (REBAR ON)

ENTHUSIAST

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1440P at 60 FPS

• Visual Settings: High
• CPU: Intel Core i5 11600k/ AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB/ AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB/ Intel Arc B580 12GB (REBAR ON)

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 4K at 60 FPS

• Visual Settings: High
• CPU: Intel Core i7 12700k/ AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3D
• GPU:Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB/ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB

STANDARD RAY TRACING

MINIMUM

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1080P at 30 FPS

• Visual Settings: High
• CPU: Intel Core i7 8700k/ AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB/ AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB/ Intel Arc B580 12GB (REBAR ON)

RECOMMENDED

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1440P at 60 FPS

• Visual Settings: High
• CPU: Intel Core i5 11600k/ AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB/ AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB

EXTENDED RAY TRACING

ENTHUSIAST

• Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 1440p at 60 FPS
• Visual Settings: Ultra
• CPU: Intel Core i7 13700k/ AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB

EXTREME

Resolution/FPS Using Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling: 4K at 60 FPS

• Visual Settings: Ultra
• CPU: Intel Core i7 13700k/ AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB

Elsewhere, an SSD will be mandatory, which is pretty standard these days. You'll also need 16GB of RAM and Windows 10 or 11 with DirectX 12.

Ubisoft has listed some of Shadows' PC-specific features. Beyond the ray-traced global illuminations and reflections, there's support for all three upscalers – DLSS 3.7, FSR 3.1, and XeSS 2 – ultrawide support, and an in-game benchmark tool, among others.

The failure of Star Wars Outlaws worried Ubisoft so much that it decided to postpone the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows from its original launch date last year to February 14, then again to March 20.

Pre-orders for Shadows are open now, priced at $70 for the standard edition, $90 for the Digital Deluxe Edition, and $230 for the Collector's Edition. All pre-orders include the Claws of Awaji expansion.