GDC 2025 Talk: Rendering Assassin's Creed Shadows

Technical Architect Nicolas Lopez discussed the challenges involved in rendering a large-scale world with a dynamic environment.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is a large-scale, systemic open-world game featuring dynamic time-of-day cycles, a weather system, and seasonal changes. It marks the first Assassin's Creed title developed exclusively for next-gen platforms, built on the next-generation iteration of the Anvil engine. Notably, it's also the first in the series to incorporate Ray Traced Global Illumination.

The expansive world and dynamic environment introduced significant rendering challenges. This session explores a typical rendering frame, guiding the audience through each stage of producing the final image. Key topics include a GPU-driven rendering pipeline, advancements in lighting, and other recent technological developments. The talk concludes with optimization strategies and best practices for rendering in open-world games.

This presentation is intended for graphics programmers, technical directors, and technical artists, and it's also among the first talks from GDC 2025 to be released on YouTube. Stay tuned for more, and check out the debut one, which features women from emerging regions around the world sharing candid conversations about game development from their diverse and unique perspectives: