Can you ever have too much of a good thing? Ubisoft certainly don’t think so. After providing players with over one hundred hours of Shinobi-lurking-in-the-shadows action in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, they’ve returned with another 15-hours or so of DLC Samurai shenanigans. This time, Yasuke and Naoe head to the island of Awaji – an entirely separate environment, comparable in size to a region in the main game – to kill a whole load more people in as gloriously gory over-the-top manner as possible.
Spoiler warning: This DLC review will contain copious spoilers for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
Beyond the above spoiler warning, it’s important to note that the Claws of Awaji can only be accessed after you’ve completed Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and I mean completed it. You’ve got to have polished off both Yasuke and Naoe’s personal stories, as well as the various Junjiro-related quests before you can visit the shores of Awaji. As such, this DLC really isn’t worth buying until you’ve done so, as whilst you’ll get access to the new Bo staff – satisfying but hardly revolutionary – and some hideout upgrades – reasonably useful, but certainly not essential – from the get-go, most of the content is locked behind the main game’s end credits.
As you’re no doubt aware, Shadows ended in something of a ‘meh?’ moment. It was slightly akin to the infamous ending of The Sopranos with a big build up and then… the credits. Naoe had discovered her mum is still alive, Yasuke had learned that his enslavers, The Templars, are active and up to no good, and so you were ready for an exciting finale, all the storyline strands coming together in a bombastic conclusion. What you were instead greeted with was a very, very long list of everyone who’d made the game. It was a wet rag of an ending, and one that the Claws of Awaji attempts to rectify, though to only partial success.
So, after being teased for fifty or so hours, Naoe finally gets to meet her mum. However, their cut-scenes together are oddly stilted and flat, lacking the emotional pay off that I was anticipating. Yasuke meanwhile doesn’t get a lot to do narrative-wise in this expansion, being generally relegated to the background. Not a problem particularly, but with the lack of thrills in Naoe’s story, it falls to Yasuke to deliver the emotional beats and he’s too busy hacking off heads to help out.
Where Claws of Awaji does deliver is in providing one of the best regions in the whole game. Awaji is a rich and varied landscape, one that is imbued with atmosphere. Sweeping mists, ancient woods, spooky ruins, and rocky outcrops, this is the best-looking environment in all of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and considering the quality of world-building in the rest of the game, that’s certainly saying something.
Even better is the structure of Awaji. It’s ruled over by the generals of the big bad that you’ve been sent to kill: a samurai, a shinobi, and a spy. As you roam the island, these generals react to your presence. The samurai tasks warriors with defending key areas, the shinobi sets up numerous traps to take you by surprise, and – ingeniously – the spy reacts to the scouts you utilise, sending hordes of reinforcements to await your arrival.
In a delightfully free-form approach, you can attempt to eliminate each of these generals whenever you wish. Doing so removes their influence on the island. For example, get rid of the spy and you can scout to your heart’s delight, free from reprisal. This mechanic is a whole lot of fun and ensures that it feels as if the game is reacting to your actions, rather than the world remaining exactly the same, no matter what you do.
Unfortunately, the manner in which you eliminate the generals is rather staid. Lengthy boss fights against damage-sponge villains that go on and on were done to death in the main campaign. The fact that there’s even more of these slugfests to endure here will certainly induce a few yawns. It’s worth dropping the difficulty and just smashing through them, I say. The exception to this tedium is the encounter with the Shinobi. This thrilling battle of wits delivers the stealth-focused showdown that fans have been clamouring for, if only there was more of it.