Hey all. I’m back with a review of the new expansion for the latest Assassin’s Creed title, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which I reviewed back in April when it released. It’s a great adventure that earned a 4.5 out of 5 GiN Gems review, so it’s wonderful to see new content being released to keep the fun going. You can get the new DLC separately on platforms like Steam, the PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, or if you purchased the season pass, it should automatically be added to your core game. So, let’s look at the Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji expansion.
Plot: This new adventure takes place after the end of the story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which means you do actually need to finish it to get to the new content. Not all DLCs are like that these days, so note that this one is. If you have finished the main adventure, you are ready to jump in here.
Gameplay: There is one small part of the DLC that is part of the main game, which is the new Bo weapon type for Naoe. There’s a quest in the main area right outside the hideout (the player’s in-game base) that looks to be available once Yasuke joins the team.
Speaking of that weapon, it’s pretty fun to use in combat although it does take some getting used to compared to the other armaments she carries. It’s a very different weapon type that I don’t really see much of in AC titles often. The closest is Yasuke’s Kanabo weapons, but the Bo is much quicker in combat, which is fitting given that it’s a tool for the much more nimble Naoe. Regardless, the new dynamic and ability to choose whether to strike high, medium, or low with posture (charged) attacks was neat.
As for the rest of the content, the story is pretty great and finishes up a rather large dangling plot thread, although it’s a real pity that players weren’t able to even see the items in the very important boxes you spend the whole game chasing after. I was kind of hoping players would get to use at least one of them, sort of like how the mythical sword Excalibur was available for use in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Regardless, Naoe arrives in Awaji and is tasked with finding the remaining box and its contents, but she quickly runs in to trouble and is captured until Yasuke arrives to rescue her. At that point the expansion begins to open up for real, although you could explore as just Naoe or Yasuke before that point with lots of new enemies to fight and take down.
Hindering you is the fact that enemies have now started laying traps along the roads while hiding nearby ready to jump. They have also erected checkpoints all over the island and will dispatch highly difficult enemies if you fight too long at any one time and now have enlisted “innocent” civilians ready and willing to attack you out of nowhere any time you are in a town as well as countering any scouts you may use. I actually really enjoyed this part, and it’s kind of a bummer that it does go away after you defeat certain major enemies in the expansion.
Even after clearing the expansion, I will still encounter the new traps all over the island ready and willing to make my day absolutely horrible by literally blowing up in my face. I got more desynchronizations in the expansion than I did playing the main game, and all of it was due to the various traps, whether they were trip wires, rigged chests, or caltrops.
Traps are nasty and you have to get really freaking close to disable the trip wires without making any noise. You can, of course, go for the loud option and hit them with either Naoe’s ranged tools the shuriken and kunai, or Yasuke’s bow and teppo, but doing so will alert any nearby enemies in a fairly large area that someone is around and to be on alert. The other two trap types are pretty unavoidable, at least once in the case of the rigged chests, and as Yasuke you are pretty much screwed if you want to avoid caltrops as they only show up in Naoe’s Eagle Vision unless you happen to have a particularly keen eye. Thankfully, I only ran into a few caltrop traps on the roads.
The rest of the DLC is all very similar to the rest of Shadows, with Yasuke and Naoe traveling around to gain intelligence on targets or setting up various plots to make taking them down easier. You are strongly encouraged to do so, but it isn’t technically required for most of the targets. I for one was glad I didn’t have to face 13 bosses all at the same time for one of the major targets.
Art: The art is generally just as good as the main game, although there were a couple times that I saw glitched visual effects like when Naoe kept a tanto drawn at all times even though I wasn’t using one.
Music: The music is also pretty good, but not very different from the main game.
Overall: Claws of Awaji is a very solid expansion with a good chunk of content for those wanting more Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
For those who like: Action, Adventure, Stealth, Drama, Assassin’s Creed, Ninjas and Samurai, Amazing Gameplay, Great Plot and Characters, Good Artwork, and Awesome Music.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but you really ought to give it a try regardless even if you haven’t enjoyed the more modern Assassin’s Creed titles after Unity. As I said in my original review of the core game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one of the best Assassin’s Creed titles to release in many years, and the Claws of Awaji DLC only enhances that gameplay even further.