Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is No Longer The Only Big Open-World Samurai RPG Coming Out In March

Assassin’s Creed Shadows just can’t catch a break. Ubisoft’s big open-world samurai RPG isn’t the only one coming out in 2025, or even in March. In addition to Ghost of Tsushima’s sequel arriving later this year, Rise of the Ronin just got a date for its PC port and it’s only a week before Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes out.

Developer Team Ninja announced on Monday that last year’s PlayStation 5 console exclusive will come to PC via Steam on March 11, approximately year after it originally launched. While that’s great news for PC players who want to get a taste of the game’s deep combat and layers of political intrigue, it also potentially steals some of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ thunder.

Ubisoft’s very similar game currently has a release date of March 20 following multiple delays. It was previously supposed to arrive in the fall, before getting pushed back after the lackluster reception of the publisher’s other big 2024 blockbuster, Star Wars Outlaws. Then set to come out in February, it got pushed back a second time, ostensibly to dodge some of February’s heavy-hitters like Monster Hunter Wilds, and add even more polish.

FORGE YOUR FATE
The Steam® version of Rise of the Ronin will be available March 11th, 2025! Create your characters, explore Japan and shape your story as a masterless warrior.

Make sure to follow us here and check out the official website: https://t.co/ZAxP3RfwmT pic.twitter.com/0W1lldJj4b

— Team NINJA (@TeamNINJAStudio) January 27, 2025

One of the great ironies of the situation is that Assassin’s Creed fans have been asking for an entry that takes place in Japan for over a decade. The globe-trotting historical action game series is finally making that a reality, but long after competitors have adapted similar open-world-style gameplay for the setting. To be fair, Rise of the Ronin takes place over 250 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and across different Japanese cities. If you zoom out though, there’s more than enough subgenre crossover to put the games in direct competition with one another.

And currently, Assassin’s Creed Shadows needs all the help it can get. While recent previews, including Kotaku’s, came away with a generally positive first impression, there have been some high-profile naysayers as well. The open-world blockbuster arrives with Ubisoft on the precipice of potentially being sold or broken up, as it faces years of mounting struggles, and the fate of the game could have huge rippling effects for the publisher. At this point, another delay seems out of the question unless it wants to potentially end up coming out in the same month as Ghost of Yotei instead.