I enjoyed my time with Assassin's Creed Shadows but, much like I did with Valhalla, I had my fill long before I ever reached credits. These games are too big, and their content becomes familiar too quickly, for me to get all the way through them without a break of at least a year or two between sessions.
So it's with some alarm that I report that Ubisoft says the game is due to get its New Game Plus update this July 29, for anyone who made it all the way through everything it has to offer and is still voracious for more. I am very glad you are getting what you want. Also, you scare me.
The news is part of AC Shadows' just-revealed summer roadmap, which details all the myriad tweaks and additions that are set to hit feudal Japan in the course of the next few months. There's New Game Plus, sure, but also a level cap increase from 60 to 80, a new level for the forge, new upgrades for all your hideout buildings, and, hang on, the ability to change time of day?
I'll level with you, folks. I find this one a bit perplexing. Not because changing the time of day is a bad idea, but because it's such an obviously good one I'm confused it took this long to implement. AC Shadows makes heavy use of, uh, shadows in its stealth, meaning the time of day you break into a camp, base, or castle can have a huge impact on how well it goes. At night, there's no end to the dimly lit corner Naoe can slink into. At midday? Less so.
It makes me want to hear more tales of AC Shadows' development. There were a few small, quality-of-life-y features like this that just weren't in the game at launch, and I'm curious to know why. For instance, horse autopilot (that's what we're calling it now) and selling multiple items at stores had to be patched in after release. That's weird, right? That seems weird, to me.
Anyway, fast-forwarding the time of day is part of Shadow's gamut of September updates, which don't have a specific date yet but should come early in the month. Alongside that, you'll also get stuff like region maps properly unfogging when you complete all their viewpoints (incredible news for people whose brains are broken in the same way mine is), and uncapped cutscene framerates. Finally, I can lose track of who all these characters are at 144 fps.
But the furthest-out point on the roadmap is September 16, when Shadows will get its first expansion: Claws of Awaji. It'll be free for pre-order people and will only be playable if you've beaten the main plot, so hop to it. It adds all the DLC stuff you expect: a new storyline, new gear, new characters and, god help us, a new region. Please, Ubi, have mercy on us. I am just a small man and Japan is so large.
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