Assassin’s Creed Shadows leaks have reached a new high, with copies being sold early and streams of the game already appearing on Twitch. As one of the most anticipated releases of the year, many eyes have been on Shadows. It’s persisted in popularity through numerous controversies and a major release date delay, and is now due out on March 20, 2025.

In a thread on NeoGAF, user Draugoth claims to have seen a post by a user who purchased a copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows a month early via an online secondhand retailer. In a detailed outline of the player’s unofficial review, they corroborate much of what we already know about the game, while also revealing some new information.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is Being Streamed A Month Before Launch

Some Players Already Have Their Hands On It

Apparently, this isn’t the only person who’s been able to play early. Multiple listings have allegedly already appeared online, with some sellers asking for as much as $100 for their advance copies of the game, according to IGN. It’s unknown how they received these copies so far ahead of launch, but multiple reports and video footage seem to corroborate that multiple players received their copies of Shadows early.

It’s clear that these players haven’t been able to access the full release version of AC Shadows as of yet, which is likely still in active development – the NeoGAF post claims that, in some cutscenes, NPCs’ mouths are not yet animated. However, it’s clearly a much bigger, more open version of Shadows than what we’ve seen at early previews.

In addition, according to a Reddit post by KvasirTheOld (first spotted by IGN), some players have already begun streaming Assassin’s Creed Shadows gameplay via X (formerly Twitter). IGN also claims that several streams of AC Shadows appeared on Twitch, although they were quickly taken down.

Several Assassin’s Creed Shadow Leaks Have Been Removed, With More Following Suit

What The Leaks Tell Us

Custom Image by Ben Brosofsky

Of course, Ubisoft has been quick to respond to these leaks: streams have rapidly gone offline, and almost every piece of leaked content has been hastily scrubbed from the internet. Listings offering advance copies of Shadows have also been taken down. Still, it’s clear that quite a few people got an early look at Assassin’s Creed Shadows this week, for better or worse.

Leaks have confirmed that the game’s dual protagonists are split up at the beginning: the player in question claims to have started as Yasuke, and then switched to Naoe, and that they haven’t been able to switch characters again nine hours in. They also claim that the plot revolves around the murder of Oda Nobunaga, who’s portrayed as a villain here. And they’re quite positive about the game, comparing it favorably to both Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Ghost of Tsushima.

Earlier leaks suggest massive DLC coming to AC Shadows after launch.

Alleged gameplay footage streamed on Twitch over the weekend shows a pretty large, open map, as well as a more freely structured character-swapping mechanic, likely captured further into the game. It doesn’t, however, show much of the combat or stealth mechanics.

This latest leak comes after a series of discouraging updates out of Ubisoft, which most recently closed its UK studio, impacting 185 employees. Although this studio isn’t associated with Assassin’s Creed, it signals hard times ahead for Ubisoft, which is likely leaning on Shadows to be a major earner this year. These leaks of Assassin’s Creed Shadows are surprisingly positive on its quality, but we’ll have to see whether that holds up at launch.