Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Free Updates Feature New Game Plus and New Story Content

Okay, so Ubisoft is like totally hyped about their new Assassin’s Creed Shadows updates. They’re saying we’ll get “free updates on the regular” — whatever that means, right? Guess we’re getting things like new game modes, quests, story bits, and just stuff the community wants. They announced this on a Wednesday, which feels kinda middle-of-the-week anticlimactic, but hey.

So here’s the deal with Shadows’ first expansion, Claws of Awaji. It’s dropping later this year. They’re adding Awaji Island to the map. Technically, it’s already there — spotted it like lying west of Sakai, doing nothing. But now we get to wander around there, which is cool.

Continuing the story of Naoe and Yasuke from where Shadows’ epilogue left off. They’re throwing in about 10 hours of playtime with a new weapon for Naoe: the bo staff. Fun fact: it’s this Japanese martial arts thing. Pre-order folks get it as a bonus, but no clue on the price otherwise.

And there are these free updates that Ubisoft calls Story Drops, starting May. First up: “The Works of Luis Frois.” Frois — this Jesuit dude who hung out with Yasuke in the beginning of the Shadows game — gets a little spotlight. Another one’s coming in June, adding some ally for your Hidden Blade league. Each drop supposedly gives more backstory, impacting the game permanently. Permanent might be a strong word — games find ways to surprise you.

Developers are also doing quality-of-life stuff. Like, we got an update recently for an auto-follow horse feature. Neat. More parkour moves are on the horizon too — yay, jumping and flipping is always fun. Additionally, after a bug fiasco with selling/dismantling items in April, fingers crossed, they get it right next time.

Oh, and let’s not forget basic stuff like jumping to grab ledges — thank goodness that’s incoming. Plus, they’re adding headgear for cutscenes and some bigger features like a new game plus mode (raising the level cap), and, drumroll, new difficulty settings to make stealth and combat trickier. Because why not make things super frustrating, right?