Games

Assassin’s Creed Shadows update 1.1.7 on Switch 2: crash fixes, performance checks, and what to test

30 December 2025
Nintendo Switch 2
13 min.
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows update 1.1.7 on Switch 2: crash fixes, performance checks, and what to test

Summary:

We finally have a practical turning point for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Nintendo Switch 2: Title Update 1.1.7 is the kind of patch that’s built to make the game feel dependable again. When crashes show up, they don’t just interrupt a fight – they mess with trust. You start saving like you’re writing a diary, fast travel feels like rolling dice, and long sessions turn into a “please don’t explode” prayer. This update directly targets that frustration with stability improvements, while also calling out performance and visual fixes, plus touchscreen improvements. The key thing to remember is that patch notes rarely spell out every tiny change you can feel in your hands, so we need a smart way to judge results without guessing.

We focus on what’s confirmed, then turn that into a real-world checklist. We’ll cover what the Switch 2-specific notes actually say, why a 30fps target can still feel shaky in busy areas, and how visual fixes usually show up in handheld versus docked play. We’ll also walk through how to confirm the update is installed, where to stress-test so we’re not tricked by “it felt fine for five minutes,” and which settings tend to improve consistency without turning the game into a blurry soup. And if crashes still happen, we’ll move from panic to process – what to try, what to avoid, and what to capture so troubleshooting becomes faster and less annoying.

What Title Update 1.1.7 changes for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Switch 2

We don’t need a mystery novel here – the Switch 2 notes for Title Update 1.1.7 are short, direct, and aimed at the pain points players actually feel. The update calls out improved FPS issues, fixed crashes for stability improvements, fixed various visual issues, and an improved touchscreen experience. There’s also a specific fix for an annoying behavior where the game could ask you to connect a controller when docking or undocking, even when controllers were already connected. That combination matters because it targets the whole “triangle of misery” that ruins sessions: stability, smoothness, and clarity. Even if we only changed one of those, the game would feel better, but improving all three is how we get from “playable” to “comfortable.” The big takeaway is simple: we can now judge the game based on repeatable tests, not vibes, because the patch is explicitly meant to reduce crashes and improve performance behavior on Switch 2.

Why crashes happen – and what stability fixes usually touch

Crashes tend to feel random, but they often follow patterns. Open-world games juggle a lot at once: streaming new areas while you sprint into town, loading NPC behaviors, swapping weather and lighting states, and keeping combat logic from tripping over itself. On a console, one weak link can trigger a hard stop, especially if memory use spikes during fast travel, busy crowds, or rapid menu switching. That’s why a stability-focused patch is usually a mix of fixes rather than one magic switch. We can think of it like tightening bolts on a bicycle – one loose bolt might not throw you immediately, but hit enough bumps and the wheel starts arguing with you. If you’ve been seeing crashes in repeatable spots, that’s actually helpful, because it gives us the best chance to confirm the patch is working. After 1.1.7, we should expect fewer hard stops during the exact moments that previously felt risky: longer sessions, heavy traversal, and rapid transitions.

Framerate targets – what “improved FPS issues” can mean in real play

When a patch says “improved FPS issues,” it usually doesn’t mean every scene is suddenly silky. It often means fewer dips, fewer stutters, or fewer moments where the frame pacing turns movement into a mild headache. On Switch 2, Shadows is built around a 30fps target, so the goal isn’t to chase a bigger number – it’s to keep that target feeling consistent. In practice, that means busy streets, dense foliage, and complicated lighting are the usual troublemakers. The game can look fine most of the time, then stumble when multiple systems peak at once, like sprinting into a crowded area right after fast travel while a scripted moment triggers. If we want to judge improvement fairly, we should test the same routes and scenarios before we declare victory. A stable 30fps feel is less about the raw target and more about rhythm – camera turns should feel predictable, combat inputs should feel responsive, and traversal should stop feeling like it’s occasionally wading through wet sand.

Visual fixes – what to look for in handheld and docked

“Fixed various visual issues” is broad on purpose, so we need a practical way to interpret it. Visual problems can be obvious bugs, like flickering elements, broken shadows, or odd pop-in behavior, but they can also be subtler, like unstable image reconstruction that makes fine details shimmer. Handheld play is where players tend to notice softness first, because the game often leans on resolution scaling and reconstruction to keep performance stable. Docked play can look cleaner in some scenes, then surprise you with heavier dips in others depending on how the game budgets its resources. The smartest way to check visual improvements is to pick a few consistent benchmarks: a busy street scene, a foliage-heavy path, and a dim interior with lots of shadow detail. We should look for fewer distractions – less shimmer on edges, fewer sudden texture changes, and fewer moments where the image “breathes” as it tries to keep up. If the patch truly improves visual stability, we’ll feel it as a calmer picture during movement, not just a prettier screenshot.

Image clarity basics – why some scenes look softer than others

We need to talk about softness without turning this into a tech lecture. In simple terms, the game is constantly making trade-offs: keep the frame rate stable, or keep every pixel razor sharp. On Switch 2, the game can scale resolution and use reconstruction techniques to make the image look better than the raw internal resolution would suggest. That’s why one moment can look surprisingly crisp, and the next can look a little foggy, especially in motion or in scenes packed with detail. The important part is that softness isn’t always a “bug” – sometimes it’s the system doing its job to protect performance. But visual issues can stack on top of that, like overly aggressive blur effects, unstable sharpening, or inconsistent upscaling behavior between scenes. After a patch that claims visual fixes, we should watch for consistency: does the picture hold together when we rotate the camera quickly, or does it smear? Do fine patterns on clothing and rooftops stay readable, or do they dissolve into mush when we move?

A quick way to spot resolution blur vs motion blur

Here’s a simple trick we can do in under a minute. First, stand still and look at a detailed object like a roofline, a sign, or patterned clothing. If it looks soft while you’re not moving, that points more toward resolution scaling or reconstruction behavior. Next, rotate the camera slowly, then quickly. If the scene suddenly turns into a smeary mess only during movement, that’s more likely motion blur settings or frame pacing behavior rather than pure resolution. Why does this matter? Because it changes what we test next. If the softness is mostly static, we should compare handheld and docked in the same location and see whether the patch made the image more stable. If the softness is mostly during camera motion, we should look at settings like motion blur and camera sensitivity, and we should also watch for stutters that can make blur look worse than it really is. Either way, we’re aiming for a clearer, calmer image while actually playing, not just when posing for screenshots.

Touchscreen improvements – why they matter more than they sound

Touchscreen support can sound like a side feature, until you’ve used it for maps and menus in a busy open-world game. When it works well, it speeds up navigation, reduces friction, and makes quick checks feel natural instead of fiddly. When it works poorly, it’s the opposite: missed taps, delayed responses, and that awkward moment where you poke the screen three times like it personally offended you. Title Update 1.1.7 specifically calls out touchscreen improvements on Switch 2, which suggests Ubisoft saw enough reports to treat it as a real problem, not a minor annoyance. The best way to test this is to use touchscreen interactions in stressful moments: quickly opening the map after a fight, tapping UI elements repeatedly, zooming and moving around a map region, and doing rapid menu switches. If touchscreen improvements landed properly, we should see fewer missed inputs and smoother interactions, which helps the game feel more like it belongs on the platform rather than merely running on it.

The dock-undock controller prompt bug – and why it was annoying

Some bugs don’t ruin performance, but they ruin the mood. Being told to connect a controller when you already have one connected is one of those “come on” moments that makes a console feel less seamless than it should. Switch 2 play is often a rhythm: dock, undock, quick resume, swap controllers, keep moving. If the game interrupts that flow with unnecessary prompts, it’s like a bouncer stopping you at the door to ask if you’re wearing shoes while you’re clearly wearing shoes. Title Update 1.1.7 specifically fixes this behavior, which is a good sign because it shows attention to real usage patterns, not just benchmark numbers. To test it, we should do repeated dock-undock cycles and controller swaps: Joy-Con style controllers, Pro controller style, and any setup you actually use day-to-day. If the fix holds, we should stop seeing false prompts and stop losing time to needless interruptions, which makes the whole session feel smoother even if the frame rate stayed identical.

How to confirm the update installed properly

Before we judge anything, we need to make sure we’re actually playing the updated version. That sounds obvious, but it’s the number one reason people argue online about whether a patch helped – one person tested the fix, another accidentally didn’t. On Switch 2, we should confirm the game is updated from the system’s software management options, then fully close the game and relaunch it rather than relying on a suspended session. That matters because some updates don’t fully apply until a restart, and cached behavior can linger in weird ways. After relaunching, we should play for long enough to hit the scenarios that previously triggered problems. A five-minute run where nothing happens proves nothing, because crashes often show up after multiple transitions or extended play. The goal is to remove doubt: confirm the version is current, restart the game cleanly, then run consistent tests in the same spots where issues were most common. That’s how we separate “patch helped” from “today was a lucky day.”

Where to stress-test after the patch

If we want real answers, we have to poke the bear gently, then poke it harder. Stress-testing doesn’t mean trying to break the game out of spite – it means recreating the exact patterns that previously caused instability or performance drops. The best tests are repeatable and practical: fast travel chains, long rides through dense areas, extended stealth sessions that keep lots of AI active, and menu-heavy moments where the game is loading new UI and world states quickly. We should also test both handheld and docked, because the performance profile and visual behavior can differ depending on how the game budgets resolution and effects. Pick a route that includes a busy hub, a traversal segment, and an interior or cutscene trigger. Run it twice. If things improved, we’ll see fewer stutters, fewer weird visual distractions, and ideally no crashes. If issues remain, we’ll at least know exactly where, which is useful for troubleshooting and for deciding whether to wait for the next patch.

City hubs, fast travel chains, and long sessions

City hubs are the classic stress point because they stack systems: crowds, pathfinding, lighting, streaming, and NPC interactions. If you previously saw frame dips or crashes around busy zones, that’s the first place we should revisit. Start in handheld mode, spend time moving through the same streets, and do repeated transitions like entering and exiting interiors. Then do a fast travel chain: jump between two or three locations in a row, open the map immediately after each load, and sprint for a minute in the new area. Finally, do the boring-but-important test: play for a long session. Crashes often show up after time, not immediately, because the game accumulates state changes and memory pressure. If the patch improved stability, long sessions should feel less risky. And if it didn’t, we’ll learn whether the crashes are tied to specific locations, specific transitions, or just time spent playing.

Cutscenes, menus, and map-heavy moments

Performance isn’t only about running around stabbing guards. Menus and cutscenes can reveal problems too, especially if the game has to load audio packs, switch lighting setups, or stream new assets during a transition. Title Update 1.1.7 even mentions a Switch 2 fix related to an infinite black screen after creating or logging into a Ubisoft Connect account when selecting an audio pack from the initial boot menu, which is exactly the kind of edge-case transition that can ruin a first impression. After the update, we should test the moments that used to feel fragile: opening the map repeatedly, zooming in and out, switching between tabs quickly, and triggering story transitions that lead into cutscenes. If the patch is doing its job, those moments should be less prone to hangs, less prone to odd delays, and less prone to that dreaded “everything froze, is it dead?” pause. Smooth transitions are part of stability, even when the frame rate looks fine.

Settings checklist to keep the 30fps feel steady

Patches help, but settings can still make or break how the game feels in your hands. The goal here isn’t to chase perfect visuals – it’s to protect consistency. If you’re sensitive to stutter or softness, we should start with the settings that affect motion perception: motion blur intensity, camera sensitivity, and any options that influence how the game smooths movement. Too much motion blur can make handheld play feel softer than it needs to, while too little can make frame pacing issues more noticeable in fast turns, so it’s worth experimenting. We should also be mindful of any options that affect heavy effects during combat or traversal, because those are the moments most likely to trigger dips. The best approach is simple: change one thing, test in a known stress spot, then decide. If you change five options at once, you won’t know what helped. We want the game to feel predictable, not like it changes personality every time you enter a busy street.

Display, motion blur, and camera tweaks that help consistency

We can make this painless. Start by adjusting motion blur if the image feels smeary during camera turns, especially in handheld. Then look at camera sensitivity: overly high sensitivity can make stutters feel worse because the camera covers more screen space per second, which exaggerates uneven pacing. Lowering it slightly can make the game feel steadier without changing performance at all, like slowing down a shaky handheld video so your eyes can track it. Next, check any sharpening-like options if available – some games use aggressive sharpening to counter softness, but too much can cause shimmering on fine details. Finally, test the same route in handheld and docked, because what feels great in one mode can feel off in the other. The goal is to land on a setup where movement looks stable, the picture stays readable, and your eyes stop fighting the screen during long sessions.

What to do if crashes continue after 1.1.7

If crashes still happen, we don’t jump straight to despair. We switch to a process. First, confirm the update is installed and the game has been fully restarted, not resumed from a suspended state. Next, pay attention to patterns: does it crash after fast travel, after long sessions, during specific quests, or when opening menus? Patterns are gold because they help narrow the cause and help you decide what to avoid temporarily. If Ubisoft Connect is involved, test whether staying logged in or avoiding certain initial boot options changes behavior, especially if you previously saw hangs around startup or audio pack selection. Also consider storage health and free space – open-world games stream constantly, and a system that’s tight on space can behave worse in edge cases. If you can reproduce a crash reliably, that’s the most valuable clue of all, because it turns a vague problem into a test case. And if it’s still messy after the patch, the safest move is to focus on stable play patterns – fewer rapid fast travel chains, fewer long suspend-resume loops, and more clean restarts between sessions.

What to expect from the next round of Switch 2 patches

One patch rarely finishes the job, especially when a game is balancing visuals, performance, and stability on a new platform. Title Update 1.1.7 is a strong “first priority” fix because it directly targets crashes and calls out performance and visual issues, which are the big three complaints in most launch-window discussions. The next wave tends to be more granular: fixing specific quest triggers, smoothing out particular hotspots, and refining visual consistency across different environments. If you’re hoping for a single note that says “everything is perfect now,” that’s not how these updates usually read. Instead, we should watch for incremental improvements that add up: fewer risky areas, fewer stutters in the same stress scenes, fewer visual distractions during movement, and fewer weird UI behaviors. The good news is that Switch 2-specific callouts in patch notes suggest the platform is getting focused attention, not just generic fixes. If we keep testing consistently after each update, we’ll actually feel the progress instead of arguing about it.

Conclusion

Title Update 1.1.7 is the kind of update that matters because it targets the exact things that decide whether we relax or stay tense while playing. Fixing crashes changes everything – it turns long sessions from a gamble into something you can actually enjoy. Pair that with performance improvements, visual fixes, touchscreen tweaks, and a dock-undock annoyance getting resolved, and we have a patch that’s clearly aimed at day-to-day play, not just patch-note optics. The smartest move now is to verify the update, restart cleanly, and run repeatable tests in the same places that previously caused trouble. If things feel smoother, great – keep your stress route bookmarked for future patches. If problems remain, patterns are your best friend, because they turn frustration into something you can troubleshoot. Either way, we’re in a better place than before 1.1.7, because the fixes are now focused, named, and testable.

FAQs
  • What does Assassin’s Creed Shadows update 1.1.7 do on Switch 2?
    • We get Switch 2-specific stability improvements that fix crashes, plus notes for improved FPS issues, various visual fixes, improved touchscreen behavior, and a fix for a controller prompt that could appear during dock-undock changes.
  • How can we tell if the crash fix actually worked?
    • We confirm the game is updated, fully close and relaunch it, then replay the same crash-prone routines like fast travel chains, busy hubs, and longer sessions. Fewer hard stops in the same patterns is the clearest sign.
  • Why does the game aim for 30fps instead of higher?
    • We’re looking at a balance choice where the game prioritizes steadiness and visual features over chasing a higher frame target. A consistent 30fps can feel great when pacing is stable, which is why patches often focus on dips and stutter.
  • Does the patch confirm crowd density or handheld sharpness changes?
    • The Switch 2 patch notes call out FPS and visual fixes, but they don’t explicitly detail crowd density adjustments or specific handheld sharpness changes. The safest approach is to compare the same locations before and after and judge based on repeatable tests.
  • What should we try if crashes keep happening after 1.1.7?
    • We restart the game instead of resuming, reduce rapid fast travel chains, test whether certain actions like boot-time options are involved, and focus on finding repeatable patterns. Patterns help narrow the cause and make future fixes easier to verify.
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