To pass time in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, build the Nando at your Hideout, upgrade it to level 2, then stand somewhere safe and hold Up on the D-pad (L on a PC keyboard) to meditate. Meditation fast-forwards the clock to the next 6 o’clock, either 6 AM or 6 PM, so it moves you between morning and evening rather than letting you pick an exact hour.
The option did not exist at launch. Ubisoft added it in Title Update 1.1.1 in September 2025, and every version since has it, including Nintendo Switch 2. Below we cover the unlock, the inputs, what blocks meditation, and how it differs from changing seasons.
How to Unlock Meditation: Build and Upgrade the Nando
Meditation is tied to a Hideout building, not to a skill or a story quest. Ubisoft’s patch notes put it plainly: “By upgrading the Nando to level 2, the player will gain the ability to meditate and skip time forward to the next 6 o’clock (AM or PM).”
- Travel to your Hideout in Izumi Settsu. Ubisoft says it opens after the prologue, once you meet Tomiko.
- Enter Build Mode and open the Themed Rooms category. Ubisoft describes the Nando as “a kind of barracks for sleeping and storing personal items.”
- Build the Nando, then upgrade it to level 2.
Each build and upgrade costs Hideout resources (wood, minerals and crops) plus mon, the in-game currency. If you are short, our guide to getting resources in AC Shadows covers smuggling stockpiles and every other source. The Nando is worth building early anyway: Ubisoft says it also makes recalling used scouts cheaper, which our scouts guide explains.
How to Meditate on PS5, Xbox, PC and Switch 2
Once the Nando is at level 2, there is no menu to open. Ubisoft’s instruction is to “find a safe location and hold the up button (L on keyboard).”
- PS5: hold Up on the D-pad.
- Xbox Series X|S: hold Up on the D-pad.
- PC: hold L on the keyboard, or Up on the D-pad with a controller.
- Nintendo Switch 2: hold the Up directional button.
Keep holding until the clock jumps. Where it lands depends on when you start. In the afternoon, the next stop is 6 PM. In the middle of the night, the next stop is 6 AM. You cannot pick a specific hour, so if you want deep night rather than early evening, meditate to 6 PM and let the natural cycle carry you the rest of the way.
Why Meditation Won’t Work
If you hold the button and hear a refusal sound instead, something is blocking it. Ubisoft only says the spot must be safe, but a thread on the game’s Steam community forum, where Ubisoft support staff also replied, narrows down the usual causes:
- You are crouched. A player there reports that meditation refuses while crouching. Stand up and try again.
- You are wanted or in a fight. The same player says an active alert suppresses it. Break line of sight and let the alert end. If Guardians are on you after a provincial alarm, turning the season clears it, as our season change guide explains.
- The Nando is not at level 2. When a player reported the problem, Ubisoft support first asked them to show “a level 2 Nando building at your hideout.”
- You remapped your controls. Ubisoft support also asked whether the controls were default or customized, so check the binding if you changed your layout.
Players on that thread also describe meditation failing on and off, and one said it came back after more story progress. Ubisoft support asked for a bug report, so if none of the fixes above work, report it and keep a recent manual save. Our AC Shadows save guide covers the slots.
Day or Night: When Skipping Time Is Worth It
Time of day matters most for Naoe. In Ubisoft’s stealth overview, the developers say Naoe “is a perfectly capable shinobi in broad day light,” but that darkness gives her a remarkable edge over her enemies, especially on higher difficulty settings. At night, “any pocket of shadows becomes a dynamic hiding spot,” and you can make more darkness by knocking out lanterns with a shuriken. Ubisoft pitched meditation the same way in the patch notes: as a way to prepare a nighttime assault on a castle.
That makes meditation useful in a few situations:
- Night infiltration with Naoe. Meditate in the afternoon, arrive at 6 PM, and approach as the light fades.
- Daylight for sightseeing and open fights. If it is night and you want to explore or bring Yasuke into a straight brawl, meditate to 6 AM. Our guide to switching characters covers swapping between the two.
Changing Time of Day vs Changing Seasons
Shadows runs two separate clocks. Meditation moves the hours. The season (Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter) is a much longer cycle that you change from the World tab of the menu, and only after you finish the story quest An Unpayable Debt.
The two also do different jobs. A season change sends scouts home, pays out flagged stockpiles, clears provincial alerts and refreshes merchant stock. Ubisoft does not tie any of that to meditation, which it describes purely as a way to skip time forward. If you want night, meditate. If you want your scouts back or winter gone, change the season. For everything else in the cluster, see our Assassin’s Creed Shadows guides hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you skip time in AC Shadows without the Nando? No. Ubisoft ties meditation to a level 2 Nando at your Hideout. Until you build and upgrade it, the only way to reach night or day is to wait for the natural cycle.
Can you choose what time it becomes? No. Meditation always jumps to the next 6 o’clock, 6 AM or 6 PM, depending on when you start. For full darkness, meditate to 6 PM and wait from there.
Does meditation work on Nintendo Switch 2? Yes. Ubisoft’s Switch 2 launch post says that version shipped with the post-launch updates (only the Claws of Awaji expansion came later), and meditation arrived in one of those updates. Hold the Up directional button.
Do you need the Claws of Awaji expansion to meditate? No. Ubisoft lists meditation among the Title Update 1.1.1 changes and ties it to the Nando, a base-game Hideout building, so the base game is enough.