'Assassin's Creed Shadows' debuts with 'mostly positive' rating on Steam

The newest instalment in Ubisoft's blockbuster Assassin's Creed franchise received a "mostly positive" rating on Steam based on 359 user reviews, with 79 per cent of them being positive, about two hours after its launch on the game distribution platform on Thursday.

The twice delayed release of Assassin's Creed Shadows is Ubisoft's first major game premiere since the muted reception of Star Wars Outlaws in August last year.

On Sony's PlayStation Store, where the game launched at midnight, the newest Assassin's Creed received a user rating of 4.79 stars out of five based on 1,244 ratings.

The game's launch may be considered a "make-or-break moment" for Ubisoft as the French videogame maker grapples with falling revenue, a sinking stock price and takeover speculation.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is an open world action-adventure game set in feudal Japan, in which players follow the stories of a stealthy female assassin Naoe and an African samurai Yasuke, inspired by the real-life eponymous figure.

Ubisoft had said in February that pre-orders for the game were "tracking solidly", in line with those of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the second most successful entry of the best-selling franchise.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was released on PC and current-generation consoles, with the price set at $69.99 for standard edition and at $89.99 for the deluxe edition on all platforms.