Assassin's Creed Shadows isn't even out for 6 months, but Ghost of Tsushima ate its lunch 4 years ago and the superb PC Director's Cut rubs salt in the wound

I've just finished writing PC Gamer's Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut review and the experience has confirmed one thing very clearly—right now, I couldn't be less excited for Assassin's Creed Shadows.

If Ubisoft had dropped Shadows 10 years ago, when gamers first started asking for a Land of the Rising Sun outing for the series, it might have set my heart ablaze, but in 2024? Not happening.

The problem? Ghost of Tsushima, as my replay of the game has driven home, already did an Assassin's Creed-style game set in Japan four years ago. And it set the bar so high, improving on so many of the typical flaws found in the long-running Ubisoft series and delivering a game of such immense class, that I can't see Shadows even approaching it, let alone improving on it.

Ghost of Tsushima offers everything good that an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan can hope to, and feels like it's already done it better. From the deep and brutally satisfying sword play, the slick and dynamic options for assassinations and ranged combat, through to the diverse collectibles and beautiful open world environment, and onto the cinematic historical narrative: Ghost of Tsushima is a thrilling, mature gaming experience that, from what we've seen, I just can't imagine Shadows matching.

PC gamers also get the complete experience with the Director's Cut, which as well as the main game includes the Iki Island DLC, alongside a smorgasbord of new graphical options such as unlocked framerates, ultra widescreen support, DLSS3 and FSR3 compatibility. This was always a beautiful game but, freed from the console, the old samurai is looking and running better than ever, and the PC version is inarguably the definitive gaming experience.

It should be said  that Ghost of Tsushima is blatantly indebted to the Assassin's Creed series, reappropriating large swathes of its open world third-person action adventure experience, tower climbing and all, but that's kind of the problem. It didn't just take huge