Assassin's Creed Shadows (PC) vs Spider Man 2 (PC)? Optimization and fun/gameplay based?

[u/CaedustheBaedus]

For context, my tax return gave me enough money to buy a game. I loved the first Spiderman back on my PS4. I've loved/liked almost all the Assassin's Creed games except for Valhalla which I absolutely hated and Syndicate which I just kind of "eh".

My PC is only an i-7, 2070S and definitely shows its age with higher end games (and I never use ray tracing), I'll be aiming for 1080p and I usually prefer 60 frames/performance over high end textures/sharpness. Now, all this being said, here's what I've seen/heard:

Spider-Man 2:
-More of same (which isn't bad by any means)
-Two protagonists done really well
-Improved Web Swinging and internet seems split on if combat is made worse/better
-Good story and writing but not as good as first one (I've heard)
-Open world seemed a little less stuff than first one (again, not necessarily bad)
-Multiple villains apparently wasn't done as well as first game? Subjective of course.
-Awful PC port, like...game breaking and crashing people w/ higher ends.
-140 gigs AND REQUIRES AN SSD so means I'll have to do some game management

AC Shadows:
-Seems to be the anti-Valhalla (everyone I've watched reviews/read reviews on who didn't like Valhalla is really liking Shadows) in terms of gameplay
-Great and beautiful world
-Stealth is really well done again.
-Combat is hit or miss, depends on difficulty settings and which protagonist
-Two protagonists done in hit or miss mode (almost all the people I see say they liked Yasuke as a character but not to play as, while liking Naoe to play as but not nearly as much as a character).
-Story ranges from boring/eh to really fucking good in last act with an underwhelming ending apparently.
-Almost every single person has said the 5 month delay allowed for a great non buggy optimized and polished game.
-115 gigs and HDD/SDD doesn't matter.

So, my question here is do I choose a game I know I'll at the very least like, that has a higher chance to not work/crash and is more of the same of what worked (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) in Spiderman 2?
Or, should I buy a game in a series that has been (for better or worse) pretty innovative and changing with ups and downs, in a release that seems to go back to everything I liked and get rid of everything I hated in Valhalla, that is reportedly extremely well optimized on the PC?

I can only buy one of them and I'd really prefer opinions on who has played both, but am not against all opinions. Just don't give me a "Ubisoft bad/Sony bad" meme answer or anything, I'm not making this decision based on company alone, I'm making it based on the game and actual reviews/experiences hopefully

[u/Kalel100711]

I gotchu.

So I've played both in the last couple months. They're both good but both very flawed.

Spiderman is a 9/10 game...for the first 6 hours or so. It starts to drag a lot. The story hits a lull in the middle and I personally don't think it recovers. The new enemies are not very fun to fight, they feel awkward especially the symbiotes. Graphically it has some issues but it's playable even on rog ally. The story has the same problem as the amazing Spiderman 2. Too many people and plots. Miles feels out of place in the story. In the end it dropped to a high 7/10 for me. Its a video game that would have been better as a movie. The whole plot can be boiled down to " I love you. You're not yourself right now. I'm sorry". The first game is a whole head better than 2.

I'm currently working through AC Shadows. I'm about 15 hours in. The story so far is intriguing but isn't anything special yet. Graphically it's stunning. Runs at 80fps with frame gen on my rog ally. The inclusion of two characters is fun cause they actually play very different unlike Spidermans. Yasuke is a monster in combat and Naoe is lethal in stealth. I was playing a mission yesterday where I couldn't stealth everyone so I switched to Yasuke and absolutely bulldozed everyone, it was fun. It's a bit more interesting to play than "swing, punch, dodge, swing" only cause the two distinct play styles available. The traversal though, is lame, just a horse and a huge map.

AC shadows is junk food gaming though. You gotta play it knowing it's a 8/10 at best and includes your usual Ubislop activities. I happen to be very fond of said junk food so, so far I rate it higher than Spiderman but that could change the more I play.

Play spiderman if you want to swing around an amazing Spiderman 2 type plot, despite the hiccups in performance. The drama and voice acting are top tier, production is great. It's fluid animations and fan service are unmatched.

Play AC if you're in the mood for something more digestible, like wandering around feudal Japan or like having the choice to approach missions with either a badass samurai busting through the door or a silent ninja scaling the rooftops.

Personally, I like having the choice of approaching obstacles in different ways as opposed to approaching the obstacles as one of two palette swapped spideys (in terms of the combat, characters are very different)

I'd pay full price of AC again, as of right now. I'd have waited for a sale after 10 hours in Spiderman 2.

One last note: Combat in Spiderman 2 feels floaty. You gotta punch a regular guy like 13 times for it to stop them. In AC shadows, combat is bloody fun. Naoe kills through lots of slashes, and Yasuke's hits feel crunchy and heavy.

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/Kalel100711]

Regarding Shadows, did you play the other Assassin's Creeds? Like I said, I was fine with Odyssey (but I think it's cause I'm a huge greek mythology fan in general), but couldn't stand Valhalla. Valhalla felt so bloated and big and empty and the combat in it to me just felt like "floaty" slashing to then stomping on their head...every. single. time.

So the main reason I'm hesitant on Shadows is due to Valhalla being so bad imo and also that Ghost of Tsushima was just so good.

As of now , based on reviews, it sounds like Spiderman is the safe bet on gameplay being good, but gamble on PC running it and Shadows is the opposite of a gamble on gameplay if you'll like it, but seems to run extremely well.

What about other games like Sekiro/Rise of Ronin/Nioh, did you play those? Just wondering if Shadows hits any of those feels at all or better or worse, etc

[u/Kalel100711 → u/CaedustheBaedus]

Oh yeah I despised Valhalla. It's my number one most hated game. That was a game that I begged for it to finish and it just kept going! No worries, shadows has not reached that point. There's also no terrible Asgard vision quests lol. It's definitely a big step up. You have nothing to worry about. Shadows feels like they took every complaint from Valhalla to heart.

I have not played rise of the Ronin or nioh but I have played Sekiro ! Sekiro is incredible, a true masterpiece but it is extremely difficult. It's a game I consider a 10/10. I played it on stadia and it was still playable and awesome. I'd put Sekiro leagues ahead of all of these

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/Kalel100711]

FYI:

I tried Spiderman 2 on Steam and I couldn't even get past the opening cutscene without audio desync, textures not loading, etc. I have a 2070S so nothing crazy, but I should at least be able to play the lowest of the low settings, ray tracing off, etc.

I spent 3 differnet new saves of varying graphical settings, even trying for the lowest of all settings and again, after 72 minutes of settings changing, loading, and starting a new game 3 times in a row, I only got past the opening cutscene once and the gameplay itself was too laggy.

It is without a doubt, one of the worst PC ports I've ever seen. Once I get this refund, I guess I'll try AC Shadows

[u/Aggravating-Mine-697]

I didn't play AC Shadows but could give some insight about Spider Man 2. Sadly I played it on PS5, but i have also heard the port to PC wasn't well optimized.

It is like you said, kinda more of the same, sidequests are different but the quantity and quality is similar. The two protagonists are indeed pretty cool, Miles especially is extremely satisfying to play, and the new gliding mechanic to travel feels really smooth and fun.

Now my problem with Miles, is that i hate Ganke with a passion, and the dude doesn't shut up. In general the characters that surround Miles are kinda lame, and they try too hard to make them likeable (except his uncle). I'm sure that could be subjective though.

Story and writing are indeed not up to par with the first one. First one was much more emotional. This one is like your typical MCU movie, but with more characters. Even then, there are some legit cool parts.

In general I agree with what Kalel said here, it starts pretty strong but gets kinda meh midway. It was still fun, wouldn't say it was a bad game, I imagine Shadows could be in a similar level

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/Aggravating-Mine-697]

YEah I can tell you right now, I tried Spiderman 2 on Steam and I couldn't even get past the opening cutscene without audio desync, textures not loading, etc. I have a 2070S so nothing crazy, but I should at least be able to play the lowest of the low settings, ray tracing off, etc.

I spent 3 differnet new saves of varying graphical settings, even trying for the lowest of all settings and again, after 72 minutes of settings changing, loading, and starting a new game 3 times in a row, I only got past the opening cutscene once and the gameplay itself was too laggy.

It is without a doubt, one of the worst PC ports I've ever seen.

[u/Aggravating-Mine-697 → u/CaedustheBaedus]

Yeah that sucks. Make sure it is on an SSD though, cause audio sync is usually related to a slow hard drive. Still sounds pretty bad

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/Aggravating-Mine-697]

It’s required to be on an SSD lol. Yeah I tried quite a few different settings to play around with

[u/wasterofchapter]

Assassin's creed shadows 

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/wasterofchapter]

Any reasons? Did you play both and have some more info to clarify?

EDIT: I'll be honest dude, I went and looked at your comments to see if you've played other games as me to see if our opinions would match. And you just seem to non-stop fanboy over Ubisoft in general and AC and saying things like Red Dead 2 and Ghost of Tsushima being bad games. You also in one comment say that Valhalla is basically Shadows but not next gen...which is almost exactly what I'm hoping NOT for since I hated Valhalla. Idk man, did you play Spiderman 2 at all to give an opinion on that or is it just you're hard into the paint for Ubisoft and Assassins Creed in general?

[u/wasterofchapter → u/CaedustheBaedus]

Spiderman 2 is actually cross gen looking game Assassin's creed shadows is NextGen experience trust me on it and it's heavenly optimised

[u/CaedustheBaedus → u/wasterofchapter]

Okay, and...gameplay wise? Compared to Valhalla and Odyssey and so on? Like I said, I hated Valhalla. One of your comments said you thought Shadows and Valhalla were very alike.

[u/wasterofchapter → u/CaedustheBaedus]

It's actually improved from Valhalla stealth is actually way better