Assassin's Creed Shadows to Offer Full Buffet of Frame Gen and Upscaling Options

Frame Generation and Upscaling Bonanza in Assassin's Creed Shadows

The buzzword on every PC gaming enthusiast's lips these days is "frame generation." Whether it elicits excitement or skepticism, this AI-assisted rendering technique is becoming increasingly prevalent in both GPUs and games. Case in point: Assassin's Creed Shadows, which will showcase a comprehensive suite of frame generation and upscaling options.

In a recent technical Q&A, Pierre F, technology director of Assassin's Creed Shadows, revealed that the upcoming game will offer a wide range of frame generation solutions, including DLSS 3.7, FSR 3.1, and XeSS 2. Players will also have the flexibility to mix and match these technologies with their preferred upscaler.

"DLSS 3.7, FSR 3.1, and XeSS 2 are all supported for both upscaling and frame generation purposes," said Pierre F. "Our own Temporal AA solution is also available. Note that a mix and match approach is possible. You may select one technology to upscale while using a different technology for frame generation purposes."

While AMD and Intel GPU owners will not be able to utilize Nvidia's DLSS upscaling or frame generation, the mix-and-match capability could significantly benefit Nvidia RTX 20-series and 30-series gamers. These GPUs can now employ FSR frame generation in conjunction with DLSS upscaling, for instance.

AMD GPUs can combine XeSS upscaling with FSR frame generation, but only with a version of XeSS that is inferior to FSR 3.1. Intel GPUs, meanwhile, will likely continue to rely on XeSS 2 frame generation, which is compatible even with Alchemist cards.

Speaking of Intel XeSS 2 frame generation, it has remained a somewhat rare gem. To date, only two games support it: F1 24 and Marvel Rivals. Assassin's Creed Shadows will become the third, thanks to Ubisoft's partnership with Intel for this game.

"As part of our partnership with Intel, we had direct and privileged access to XeSS 2 before it was made public, and we worked directly with Intel engineers to provide the best implementation possible," explained Pierre F. It will be intriguing to observe how Intel's frame generation technique fares against the established titans of FSR and DLSS in a wider range of games.

The wait for this showdown won't be long. Assassin's Creed Shadows is slated to launch on March 20, 2025, despite a disappointing delay. This latest installment in the series promises dual-protagonist gameplay catering to both stealth and hack-and-slash enthusiasts, providing ample opportunities for frame generation and upscaling to showcase their capabilities.