Out of the shadows (Ubisoft)Ubisofts decision to delay Assassins Creed Shadows appears to have paid off, as the Japanese themed entry hits a major sales milestone within 24 hours.The lead-up to Assassins Creed Shadows was filled with overblown controversies, troubling delays, and the weight of Ubisofts future thrusted upon it, but it seems like it has emerged out the other side in relatively good shape.The setting of feudal Japan features two protagonists, with shinobi Naoe and samurai Yasuke, as they navigate turbulent clan wars during the Sengoku period. The game has been been met with largely positive reviews, and currently hold an 81 score on review aggregate site Metacritic.And now, less than 24 hours after Assassins Creed Shadows launched on March 20, Ubisoft has announced that its already surpassed one million players across PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.The vast majority of these players appear to be on console, where its more difficult to track exact numbers.However, according to SteamDB, Assassins Creed Shadows hit an all-time peak of 41,412 players on launch day, and while that may seem low in comparison to the likes of Monster Hunter Wilds and GTA 5, its largely in step with past Assassins Creed games.At the moment, Assassins Creed Shadows is just behind Assassins Creed Odyssey (62,069) and Assassins Creed Origins (41,551) in terms of the series highest peak on Steam, but theres a strong chance itll surpass both of those over the weekend.The game has been met with largely positive reviews from fans, particularly for its visuals. I am nine hours into Assassins Creed Shadows, and its definitely the best RPG Assassins Creed, wrote EliteGamer04 on X.Both Naoe and Yasuke are fun to play, this game looks quite great on my base PlayStation 5, and its definitely the most challenging in terms of combat.Casual Gamer Doc added: Assassins Creed Shadows is definitely worth playing. The game is absolutely a standout graphically. Best Assassins Creed game in a long time.More TrendingUsers on Reddit have sung its praises too, at least in regards to the opening hours. Shadows probably has the best opening to an Assassins Creed game since Odyssey, and the cut scenes themselves so far have been stellar, writes DanielG165.It remains to be seen if this enthusiasm will continue in the weeks to come, but for now at least, it seems like Assassins Creed Shadows has largely confounded the cynicism around it.The big question moving forward is how it will impact Ubisofts future. After a string of titles failed to meet financial expectations, including Star Wars Outlaws and XDefiant, the company is apparently considering a buyout with Tencent, or shifting its IP to an entirely new entity.The continued success, or lack thereof, for Assassins Creed Shadows will have large part to play in how all that shakes out. Feudal Japan looks pretty wonderful (Ubisoft)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy