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I put about ninety hours into Assassin's Creed Shadows and I still can't tell you whether Naoe or Yasuke was the better half of it. That split is the whole trick. One turns Sengoku Japan into a stealth playground, the other into a battering ram, and whichever you leaned on decides what comes next. Year one closed on March 20, 2026, so the well is officially dry. Ten games that fill it back up, sorted from closest to weirdest. Updated August 2026.
Table of Contents
- 1.Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT
- 2.Rise of the Ronin
- 3.Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition
- 4.Assassin's Creed Mirage
- 5.Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition
- 6.Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- 7.Assassin's Creed Origins
- 8.Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
- 9.Assassin's Creed Valhalla
- 10.Nioh: Complete Edition
- 11.What next?
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT does the one thing Shadows never dares: it deletes the quest markers, and a gust of wind points you at the next objective instead. Jin Sakai spends about 25 hours shoving the Mongol invasion of 1274 back off his island, plus ten more if you sail to Iki. It's been on PC since May 2024, and Legends mode puts four people in the same missions online.
Rise of the Ronin
Structurally, the closest thing here. Rise of the Ronin swaps the 16th century for the 1860s, when foreign warships forced Japan's ports open, then hands you a grappling hook and a glider for the rooftops of Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto. You pick a side between the shogunate and the rebels, and it lets you spare or kill real historical figures. 18 to 22 hours mainline, 30 with side work, three-player co-op throughout.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition
No difficulty options, no gear to fall back on, nothing between you and the deflect timing. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition is the hardest game here by a comfortable margin, and its grappling hook makes Naoe's feel slow. Roughly 30 hours at a normal pace, 60 to 80 for everything. The GOTY version throws in four boss-rush arenas, a strange sort of gift.
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Spent all of Shadows crouched in a bush as Naoe? Assassin's Creed Mirage is your next one. Baghdad in 861 fits into a handful of districts, there's no gear grind and no levels to climb, and it's built around rooftops and sneaking like the early games. 20 to 30 hours. A free expansion arrived on November 18, 2025, sending Basim to the valley of al-Ula for six more.
Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition
Same studio as Rise of the Ronin, much nastier. Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition drops you into Sengoku Japan crawling with yokai, the demons of Japanese folklore, and lets you tear their abilities out and use them back. You build your own character, pick missions off a map instead of riding across open country, and it runs 30 to 40 hours. The whole campaign works in online co-op.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Ancient Greece, 431 BCE, a war where both sides want you on the payroll. Assassin's Creed Odyssey gives you Kassandra or Alexios, dialogue choices that stick, and several endings. It's 44 hours for the main story alone and around 136 to see everything, easily the biggest time sink here.
Assassin's Creed Origins
Everything Shadows does today started with Assassin's Creed Origins back in 2017, when the series bolted on levels and rebuilt combat from scratch. Bayek and Aya cross the Egypt of 49 BCE avenging their son, about 30 hours of story. There's also Discovery Tour, which strips out every fight and leaves 75 guided walks of three to 25 minutes, narrated by historians.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
The odd one out. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun looks at 1615 Japan from above, in real time, with five characters carrying different tools. A straight fight kills you in seconds, so it's all planning, helped by a mode that queues five actions and fires them together. Around 30 hours including the Aiko's Choice expansion, and a Switch 2 version turned up in spring 2026.
Release: 6 Dec 2016
Metacritic:
85
8.4
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
If Yasuke kicking the front door in was your favourite part, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is 60 hours of exactly that. Eivor sails from Norway to 9th century England, builds a settlement, raids monasteries and haggles with Saxon kings across 16 regions of three hours each. 40 hours if you sprint it, 80 at a human pace. Longest game in the series, for better and worse.
Nioh: Complete Edition
Oldest pick here, 2017, and it still bites. Nioh: Complete Edition casts you as William Adams, the English sailor who really did wash up in Japan around 1600. Combat runs on three stances you swap mid-duel plus a breathing trick that hands your stamina back. 30 hours for the main missions, double that with the three expansions included, and co-op is in there too.
What next?
Anything obvious I've missed? Comments are open. There's a longer rundown of games similar to Assassin's Creed Shadows if ten isn't enough.
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