Ubisoft has seemingly leaked the first expansion for Japan-set Assassin’s Creed Shadows following its announcement of another delay.
As reported by Insider Gaming, the game’s Steam page was momentarily updated to include information on a 10-hour piece of downloadable content called Claws of Awaji, which will add a whole new map to the open-world game.
“Pre-purchase now to get a bonus mission and the upcoming Claws of Awaji expansion,” the Steam page read. “Travel to a new region, get over 10 hours of additional content, and unlock a new weapon type, new skills, gear, and abilities.”
The phrasing is a little confusing, as it makes it sound as though Claws of Awaji will only be available to those who pre-purchase the game, similar to the previously announced “bonus mission” Thrown to the Dogs. This would be unusual, however, as major expansions such as this are usually reserved for Season Passes.
That being said, Ubisoft is ditching the Season Pass model for Assassin’s Creed Shadows following major practice shake-ups in the wake of Star Wars Outlaws underperforming. Alongside scrapping the Season Pass, which would typically let players access two larger expansions for an additional $30 or so, Ubisoft is cancelling plans to charge players more to play on launch day. It is therefore assumed DLC expansions such as Claws of Awaji will be made free for all players.
Though details are restricted to the brief paragraph published to Steam, the name Claws of Awaji does shed some light on what players will find in the DLC. Ubisoft quietly revealed Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ world map in the Collector’s Edition trailer, which showed nine detailed regions plus one small island left blank.
This island is the Awaji the Claws of Awaji title presumably references, meaning this currently blank area of the map should one day be filled in through DLC. Awaji Island is perhaps most famous for its prominence in the Japanese religion of Shinto, where it is said to be the first island created in the world through the legend of Izanagi and Izanami.
As Assassin’s Creed has delved further and further into mythology and not just history with recent releases, especially in the role-playing game series which Shadows belongs to, fans will perhaps get to delve into Japanese legends with the addition of the Claws of Awaji.
It will be longer than expected before this is possible, of course, as Ubisoft has delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows once again, this time to March 20. It was first pushed to February 14 from its November 12 release date.
A lot rests on the shoulders of Assassin’s Creed Shadows as not only the long-awaited Japan-set entry and the first full Assassin’s Creed since 2020, but a struggling Ubisoft needs it to perform well following recent flops and investor frustration.
It’s not enjoyed a particularly positive promotional period so far, however, with the development team having to apologize on separate occasions for inaccuracies in Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ depictions of Japan and using a historical recreation group’s flag without permission.
Yet another controversy came as collectible figure maker PureArts removed an Assassin’s Creed Shadows statue from sale over its “insensitive” design, and combined with the two delays, fans are growing increasingly impatient as a result.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
