Ubisoft has a lot riding on “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” as the company faces an uncertain future after several flops and misfires. The first-person competitive shooter “XDefiant” and the open-world sailing adventure “Skull and Bones” failed to take off while “Star Wars Outlaws” didn’t sell as well as predicted.

With ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows,’ Ubisoft has made a visually stunning, mechanically uneven entry — including its best stealth gameplay in years.