Review by Jon Donnis
Assassin's Creed Shadows has changed a lot since its 2025 release. Initially, the game felt rushed and uneven, with delays and criticism about pacing, narrative, and character execution. Now, with multiple updates and the first paid DLC, Claws of Awaji, the game has matured into a more polished and engaging experience. Ubisoft has added meaningful content and quality-of-life improvements that make revisiting the game worthwhile.
You can read my original review at https://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2025/06/review-assassins-creed-shadows-2025.html
Claws of Awaji, released in September, takes players to Awaji Island with Naoe and Yasuke. The new region is distinct from the main Japanese provinces, offering fresh environments, hidden treasures, and a story campaign lasting around ten hours. The DLC introduces ambushes from enemies hiding in bushes, traps along roads, and missions that require more tactical attention, making travel between areas far less passive than in the base game. New gear and abilities, including a new weapon type for Naoe, expand combat options and give the expansion its own identity. The missions feel more challenging than the base game, and the combination of exploration, combat, and narrative keeps the experience engaging.
Updates to the base game have also improved the core gameplay. New Game+ allows players to restart the main story with all gear, hideout progression, and skills intact while facing tougher opponents. The level cap has been raised, and skill trees have been expanded, pushing players to experiment with more advanced combat tactics. The forge system has been upgraded, allowing weapons and equipment to be enhanced beyond previous limits. The "Corrupted Castles" activity provides replayable zones with altered enemy patrols and stronger foes, offering meaningful rewards and making revisits feel worthwhile. Combat animations have been expanded with new finisher moves for both protagonists, giving encounters more variety and visual flair. Updates to the Animus meta-layer, including rifts and projects, add small puzzle-like challenges with their own rewards. Access to story logs and the Vault has been streamlined, while quality-of-life improvements like skill tree resets, quieter horse auto-follow paths, clearer visual options, bug fixes, and stability improvements have refined the overall experience.
Despite the improvements, Shadows is not without flaws. The Claws of Awaji DLC introduces Nowaki, a boss that is arguably the trickiest and most frustrating in any Assassin's Creed game. The fight is designed in a way that tests patience rather than skill, and its mechanics are widely irritating. Yasuke remains a mixed experience. Playing as him can be chaotic fun, allowing players to smash through enemies, but the historical liberties taken with his character are hard to overlook. Naoe remains the more enjoyable and classic Assassin's Creed experience, with refined stealth and combat options that feel true to the series' roots.
Since release, Assassin's Creed Shadows has shed much of the criticism it initially faced. While there are narrative choices and "woke" elements that some players may not enjoy, these can often be navigated through player choice. Naoe continues to embody the series' core gameplay, and even Yasuke, despite being over-the-top and historically inaccurate, can be entertaining if approached casually. The main drawback remains that five years earlier, Ghosts of Tsushima offered a similar setting with arguably stronger execution, although Shadows benefits from being available across all platforms rather than restricted to PlayStation.
With the updates and Claws of Awaji, Assassin's Creed Shadows is far stronger than at launch. The game feels more stable, rewarding, and replayable than it did in 2025. While it may never surpass Odyssey or the series' most beloved entries, it is now a solid and entertaining game, deserving of recognition for the improvements Ubisoft has made. My original score of 6 out of 10 now feels outdated. In 2026, a score of 7.5 out of 10 reflects the game's growth, its expanded content, and the enjoyment it offers through both the base game and its DLC expansion. Shadows is no longer a disappointment but a worthwhile addition to the Assassin's Creed catalogue, proving that patience and continued support can turn a flawed launch into a genuinely rewarding experience.
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