Whenever you’re allowed to customize your hideout in a video game, your first question should always be: can I put pets in it?
Assassin’s Creed Shadows lives up to the hype by letting you collect dogs, cats and even monkeys, game and exotic birds to spruce up and add some personality to your Japanese farmstead – all you need to do is track down some suitable animals to befriend.
How to collect pets in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
There are two main ways to collect pets in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:
- “Pet” friendly animals as you go about your business in the open world
- Find them as a reward in rare chests found throughout hostile districts in towns, cities and rural bandit camps
The first time you pet a new animal, that type of pet will be added to your collection. There are different colour variations of each type of pet, as well as kitten and puppy versions of each colour.
Here are all of the pets we’ve found so far in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as well as where we found them:
- Golden Akita – Next to the ornament vendor in the middle of Sakai
- White Akita – Tofukuji Temple
- Black Akita – South of Sakai
- Golden Akita Puppy – Fukushima Ruins near Osaka
- Tabby Bobtail – Fishermen’s District Osaka
- Black Akita Puppy – Noda Village north of Osaka Castle
- Green Pheasant – Rare Chest inside the Military District of the main city in Omi (random drop)
- Calico Bobtail – Omi Cat Island
- Tabby Kitten – Omi Cat Island
- Calico Kitten – Omi Cat Island
Where to find your pets in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
So you’ve petted every furry friend, cat and pupper alike, you can lay your hands on to add to your pet collection – but where do you actually find them?
To place your pets in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, return to the hideout in Settsu and go through the main building until you can hold down the action button to “improve hideout”.
In the build menu, use the shoulder buttons to navigate between the different types of buildings you can create, then make your way all the way to the final category.
Here, once you’ve actually collected some cats, dogs and birds to add to the scenery, you will see the full list of pets you’ve collected throughout your journey.
These animals can be placed just like any other building or piece of furniture, and will roam around a little within the tile they’re placed in. However, at least at time of writing, it seems as if they will only ever stay within that tile, rather than roam the whole vicinity of your hideout.
Pets cost no materials to “build” and you can have multiples of the same type of “normal” pet – although you can only have one of any unique pets you’ve acquired, such as the dog you get from the pre-order bonus quest.