Enabled with the “Advanced Parkour” option in the settings, it does exactly what the name says, allowing players to jump wherever they want. While that may not seem like a big deal, combining this with Naoe’s other parkour techniques provides even more freedom to the game’s various vertical playgrounds than before.

Other new additions with the update include detailed stats. That’s right – you can finally see everything from damage and posture damage to cooldown reduction and vulnerable damage. Even niche stats like the number of health segments removed from specific assassination techniques are covered. Finally, critical hits will cause the enemy’s health bar to flash, providing more visible feedback.

Ubisoft also confirmed that Claws of Awaji will launch on March 10th for Nintendo Switch 2. Released in September 2025 to mixed reviews from critics and players, the expansion continues the base game’s story with Naoe and Yasuke venturing to a new location. You can check out our review here.

“As of now, at this moment for Year Two, there is no expansion on the size of Awaji that is planned, currently. We’re still working on content for post-launch and supporting it, but it’s not a full-on DLC the way a season pass would have had in previous years,” he told YouTuber JorRaptor in a new interview.

Given the mixed reception to Assassin’s Creed expansions over the years (including Claws of Awaji), it’s probably not the worst action. However, there will be sparse but “chunkier updates that shake things up.” For instance, next year’s update will be comparable to the recent Attack on Titan update “at minimum.” Alongside the limited-time collaboration quest, it added a new Isu-focused quest called “A Puzzlement,” with players unlocking a mysterious door.

Granted, the response to both pieces of content (especially the AoT quest) was fairly underwhelming. However, if plans are allegedly still in place, we could see the arrival of a dedicated co-op mode, codenamed League, early next year. One would assume that the Quebec team would have some new content and mechanics alongside the same.

Whether you like the “overperforming” Shadows or not, Year 2 could be the final year of support, according to rumors. Assassin’s Creed Hexe is allegedly slated to launch after, which could mean a release sometime in 2027.

Along with this, Ubisoft has also noted that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to reach an even wider audience thanks to the upcoming December 2 launch of the title on the Nintendo Switch 2. Aside from Shadows, the older games in the franchise have also seemingly performed quite well.

Sales and player numbers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows were helped by the fact that Ubisoft has continued to release free updates for the title, complete with new additions like the New Game+ mode. Along with this, Ubisoft has also credited the release of Claws of Awaji back in September as contributing to continued player interest in the game.

“[Assassin’s Creed] Shadows benefitted from the launch of the New Game+ mode, which was widely anticipated by the community and introduced greater difficulty and new challenges for players,” said the company in its earnings report. “The Claws of Awaji expansion released on September 16 and contributed to re-engaging players. It was praised as a solid addition to the base game, offering new unique boss fights in a beautiful and dark atmosphere. Looking ahead, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will reach a broader audience with its launch on the Nintendo Switch 2 on December 2.”

When it comes to the future, Ubisoft has great expectations from Assassin’s Creed Mirage picking up steam again thanks to its recently-released Valley of Memory update. The company noted that initial feedback has been quite positive, and has confirmed that the title managed to grow its “player activity” by double, and hitting the 10 million players mark.

The company has spoken quite positively about the performance of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as The Division 2 and the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Star Wars Outlaws. However, it also noted that Rainbow Six Siege has seen a dip in player activity and spending. The company has attributed this to “a temporary surge in cheating”, and has confirmed that it has established a plan to tackle the issues that have been discovered.

In the same earnings report, Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot also spoke about the deal that the company had made with Tencent, which is valued at €1.16 billion. As part of this deal, Tencent will become a minority stakeholder in the recently-established subsidiary Vantage Studios, and the deal is set to close “in the coming days”.

“The transaction with Tencent is on track to close in the coming days,” wrote Ubisoft in its earnings report. “All conditions precedent have been satisfied. At closing, the €1.16bn investment will deleverage the Group. It will also enable the acceleration of Vantage Studios’ IP growth, support selected investment opportunities across the rest of the Group, and facilitate ongoing reorganization efforts.”

For more details about Assassin’s Creed Shadows – available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S – check out our review. Also check out details about Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s Valley of Memory update while you’re at it.

Of course, it doesn’t include the recently released expansion Claws of Awaji. That’s launching for Switch 2 next year and includes over ten hours of new content, from a new region with fresh threats to a brand new weapon type, the Bo staff. The latter is free for those who own the base game as well, but you can discover higher-rarity variants on Awaji.

Stay tuned for more details on Assassin’s Creed Shadows before it launches for Switch 2 this Winter. It’s currently available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review for the base game and the expansion in the meantime.

The negative user reviews for Claws of Awaji largely seem to revolve around technical issues, with some players stating that they have been facing several game crashes, and others reporting bugs where they can’t even trigger the quest to begin the DLC quest. That’s not to say that players don’t have complaints about the content of the DLC as well. There are several negative reviews that are calling Claws of Awaji underwhelming or too short.

Claws of Awaji was released for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on September 16, and is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While it is available to purchase, it is worth noting that the DLC is free as part of a pre-order bonus for the base game. The story in Claws of Awaji takes dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke to Awaji Island and explores the events surrounding Naoe’s mother.

Among the new content added to Assassin’s Creed Shadows with its DLC is the new Bo staff weapon for Naoe, which brings with it a new style of combat that revolves around various stances and how attacks made in those stances can have different effects on enemies. Ubisoft has also confirmed that the DLC features more than 10 hours worth of content for players to discover and experience.

Aside from the new region and the various challenges it offers, Assassin’s Creed Shadows content director Simon Arsenault also spoke about how it might be a challenge to bring back players who have already spent 50, 70 or 100 hours in the base game. To do this, he noted that the DLC offers a unique setting that isolates players from the base game’s zones while also offering its own challenges.

“We really liked the idea of an island region, with natural boundaries all around, it’s compact, there’s a seclusion we like, something where you’re a bit isolated,” Arsenault explained. “It brings increased tension to the experience, increased danger. As soon as we added a new faction in there, it’s their world. As players you’re coming into their land. You’re not in control anymore, not as much.”

Arsenault also spoke about how the new boss fights in the DLC can also prompt players to try out new things to take on their unique challenges.

“What should I do? Should I find a new strategy? Should I avoid sending scouts or should I send them somewhere else? That’s what’s interesting with it,” he said. “You take something that has been learned and has become kind of a routine and you just add a small twist. And we did that with a lot of systems. You’re used to civilians [needing help], or merchants, but now some can attack you — that didn’t happen.”

For more details about Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji, check out our review of the DLC.

The premise of Claws of Awaji promises to be interesting right off the bat. Our protagonists have learned that Naoe’s mother, Tsuyu, is still alive and is being kept prisoner on the eponymous island of Awaji. Both Naoe and Yasuke decide that it’s up to them to bust her out, with Tsuyu seemingly having a pivotal role in the ultimate fate of Japan in the shadow war against the Templars. The main antagonists this time around are the Sanzoku Ippa, complete with their own hierarchy of captains, generals, assassins, and a spymaster, working under the primary villain for much of the DLC’s story, Yukari, who has her own grand designs for Awaji.

"The story generally has a short runtime, especially when compared to the base game."

Throughout the time you spend on Awaji, the story keeps a relatively breakneck pace, with events seamlessly guiding you from one objective to the next. Sure, there are a few dips in the pacing, but that’s not a bad thing, since it gives you time to catch your breath as you plan out who from the Sanzoku Ippa you want to target next. Keeping in line with the general mission structure from Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Claws of Awaji also gives you a fair bit of freedom when it comes to deciding your next target, as well as the methods you choose in doing so. The story generally has a short runtime, especially when compared to the base game. This also adds to the feeling of Claws of Awaji offering a more focused experience where unnecessary fat has been trimmed off.

The island of Awaji itself also feels like a more refined take on the more expansive landmass we get to explore and play around in the base game. At first glance, the gloomy island looks quite small, especially compared to some of the larger zones from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Appearances, however, can be deceiving, and despite its relatively smaller area in terms of raw square footage, the island of Awaji has been expertly designed to make sure that exploring it is still fun and rewarding without the excitement passing by too quickly. This largely comes down to the fact that the island has been designed with verticality in mind.

Awaji is an incredibly mountainous island, with plenty of hills, mountains, plateaus, and valleys. This means that getting from point A to point B seldom ends up being a straightforward journey. Rather, the paths will have you spiral along the sides of mountains, navigate paddy fields, and wade through thick forests as you try to get to your next objective. Even just travelling through the new island can also often be a more exciting affair than simply letting your horse follow a path to your quest marker. The paths are often lined with shinobi or even agents of the Sanzoku Ippa who are trying to swiftly and silently get rid of you. Along with regular ambushes, these enemies also often set up booby traps that, while avoidable if you spot them in time, can and will knock you off your horse if you trigger them.

"When it comes to the general atmosphere, Claws of Awaji does a great job of depicting a rather gloomy island that is under constant oppression by its leadership."

The island is split into four distinct territories, each with its own atmosphere and themes: Sumoto, Eshima Coast, Fukura Bay, and Yura. Since Claws of Awaji is essentially an endgame expansion, these zones aren’t really level-gated, since you are more or less expected to have hit the level cap and be equipped to take on the appropriate threats. This means that, after wrapping up the introductory quests, you’re free to leave the story behind and just explore the island, looting it for all its worth and getting some handy fast travel points under your belt to make the rest of the expansion fly by even faster.

When it comes to the general atmosphere, Claws of Awaji does a great job of depicting a rather gloomy island that is under constant oppression by its leadership. Military bases, like massive castles, feel like they were designed with more spartan uses in mind rather than the more lavish setups we see in the base game. Similarly, the roads also tend to have military checkpoints, with soldiers constantly harassing villagers.

When it comes to brand-new additions to the game, Claws of Awaji has one headlining new feature in the form of a new weapon type for Naoe—the Bo staff. Rather than simply being a weapon like any other in the game, however, the Bo staff has entirely new combat mechanics that players can learn through one of the earlier missions in the expansion. The Bo staff is a versatile weapon, allowing Naoe to switch between attack types by entering three distinct stances: high, neutral, and low.

"The skill tree adds more versatility to the weapon as a whole"

As you might expect, each of the three stances has its own unique uses. High stance, for instance, focuses on dealing as much damage as possible with its forceful thrusts. Neutral, on the other hand, is useful for creating some distance between you and your opponent, since it causes enemies to get knocked back. Low stance focuses more on controlling the fight, since its attacks can trip enemies to the ground, opening them up to a devastating ground attack. Learning how to use the weapon as part of the expansion’s story also leads to an entirely new skill tree to level through.

The skill tree adds more versatility to the weapon as a whole, since it also tends to expand on the weapon’s capabilities thanks to moves like a flurry of quick hits, a grapple that can throw an enemy onto another, and several passive nodes that give the weapon the ability to better take down enemy posture and even their armour. Generally speaking, the Bo staff feels like a great addition to Assassin’s Creed Shadows as a new, versatile weapon that still manages to feel relatively balanced. You might not be replacing your simple katana with a Bo staff, but you’ll likely end up finding a use for it alongside your primary weapon of choice.

Claws of Awaji also tends to experiment a bit with some of its mission design, with a notable one being a few large-scale battles you take part in early in the expansion. These experiments aren’t really expanded on over the course of the story, however, with the rest of it feeling quite similar to the base game in how it is designed and laid out. This also means that, aside from the inclusion of a brand-new weapon, not much has changed for the core gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

"The fact that the DLC doesn’t really expect you to spend any time grinding up levels or gear means that its pacing doesn’t suffer from any padding."

Since its original release earlier this year, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has seen several free updates that have brought with them a host of improvements over time. These same improvements can also be seen on full display in Claws of Awaji, since the expansion runs quite well when it comes to striking a balance between visual fidelity and performance. Running the game on a PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of DDR-6000 RAM, and an AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU with 16 GB of VRAM, I was able to max out Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Claws of Awaji on the graphics side of things while running at a resolution of 2560 x 1440. Keeping FSR 3 set to Quality, I was able to get decent frame rates between 70 and 80 throughout my time with the DLC, with zero problems such as stuttering or poor visuals.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji is an interesting take on an expansion. The base game itself is incredibly long, which could in turn make returning to it a difficult proposition for those that may have already spent hundreds of hours with it. However, the fact that the DLC doesn’t really expect you to spend any time grinding up levels or gear means that its pacing doesn’t suffer from any padding. The story also feels incredibly focused, and runs at a brisk pace with plenty of logical points where you can take a break.

This, coupled with the fact that it’s got an ideal runtime of between 10 and 13 hours for its main story, makes Claws of Awaji feel like a refinement over what we saw with the base game. The Bo staff also serves as an excellent new addition to further flesh out Naoe’s toolkit and give her more options if she gets into a fight. Serving as a refinement over a game that was already considered to be a return to form is reason enough for us to recommend Claws of Awaji wholeheartedly to anyone that might have enjoyed their time with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. If you aren’t already a fan of the base game, however, you won’t find anything in Claws of Awaji to change your mind, especially since you also need to go through the base game to access it.

This game was reviewed on PC.

The story focuses more on Naoe, with Yaskue playing a supporting role, as she ventures to Awaji Island to reconnect with someone important. Unfortunately, the Sanzoku Ippa are keen on making things difficult, effectively hunting the duo with traps and ambushes.

Players will have to think more tactically (one boss fight is highly reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’s The End) and utilize the new Bo. Available exclusively for Naoe, it allows for a wide range of combos and mobility.

Claws of Awaji is free for those who pre-ordered Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but you can pick it up standalone for $24.99. A new Premium Edition is also available, containing the base game, expansion, the Sekiryu Gear Set, two weapons, and cosmetics for $109.99.

To achieve this, the company has taken cues from other popular and critically acclaimed stealth titles out there to shape some of the encounters that players will face in Claws of Awaji. One of these, as noted by IGN, was inspired by Metal Gear Solid. The fight revolves around the player tracking down Awaki, one of the four new antagonists, in a dense forest. The fight involves the player as Naoe or Yasuke trying to figure out where she might be hiding, since the latter is stated to be a “master of stealth and disguise”.

The description of the encounter invites comparisons with two of the more stealth-oriented boss fights from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – The Fear and The End. Both of the bosses have expertise in stealth, with The Fear even being able to essentially go invisible at the cost of stamina. How to deal with their abilities is left to players in a free-form arena. Much like The End, Awaki in Claws of Awaji is also able to make use of a long-ranged weapon against you from a vantage point if you’re spotted. Tracking her voice and discerning the real one among the decoys is crucial to success.

The encounter with Awaki also further amplifies some of the themes presented by the Claws of Awaji DLC, with an emphasis on isolation presented by the expansion’s island setting.

“We really liked the idea of an island region, with natural boundaries all around, it’s compact, there’s a seclusion we like, something where you’re a bit isoloted,” Arsenault explained. “It brings increased tension to the experience, increased danger. As soon as we added a new faction in there, it’s their world. As players you’re coming into their land. You’re not in control anymore, not as much.”

Subverting player expectations has also been a major theme for Claws of Awaji, especially when it comes to the major boss fights available in the DLC – Kimura Yukari, Imagawa Tomeji, Yasuhira, and Awaki. Arsenault spoke about spinning player expectations rather than countering them. This can take the form of new gameplay mechanics, like sending scouts to find the location of a target and ending up alerting the locals instead.

“What should I do? Should I find a new strategy? Should I avoid sending scouts or should I send them somewhere else? That’s what’s interesting with it,” he said. “You take something that has been learned and has become kind of a routine and you just add a small twist. And we did that with a lot of systems. You’re used to civilians [needing help], or merchants, but now some can attack you — that didn’t happen.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 16. For more details, check out how the DLC will have enemies disguised as regular citizens.

However, Awaji Island is also teeming with danger. Existing outside of the base game’s map, it offers new biomes like beaches on top of swamps and jungles where enemies could easily ambush and trap you, per Xbox Wire (beware of spoilers). Perhaps most intriguing is that they can disguise themselves as citizens and attack when least expected.

The duo must take on a “powerful and terrifying faction,” which also means “new, unique bosses” to fight. Thus far, we’re keen to see how it continues the story, especially considering how Shadows ended. Just make sure you finish the main quest to start the expansion immediately.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review of the base game.

Fans can expect more details later, but it was previously confirmed that Claws of Awaji features over 10 hours of new content. Naoe and Yasuke venture to a new region, the titular Awaji island, to reclaim a “lost treasure.” Along the way, they’ll deal with a new enemy faction and bosses, discover new gear, unlock new skills and even utilize the new Bō weapon type. Unfortunately, the latter is exclusive to Naoe.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and recently crossed five million players. Check out our review for the base game, which we gave a nine out of ten, and stay tuned for more details on Claws of Awaji.