Assassin's Creed Shadows
Snuff candles, grapple rooftops as Naoe, then swap to Yasuke to cleave patrols—dynamic seasons shift the battlefield.
The wait-for-the-complete-edition play just expired: Ubisoft shipped its closing patch this month and never cut the $69.99. Overpriced at list, sharp on sale.
For you if
- Feudal Japan is the whole draw — the dynamic seasons, weather and light are the best-looking world Ubisoft has built
- You play stealth-first: Naoe's grapple, prone crawl and light-snuffing make a real assassin kit again after Valhalla's warrior sprawl
- Sixty-plus hours inside one open world reads as value to you rather than homework
Not for you if
- Story is why you play Assassin's Creed — critics and players agree it is the weakest part, and Ubisoft itself conceded it didn't land
- Third-party launchers are a dealbreaker: Steam still requires a Ubisoft account plus Denuvo, and July's reviews are full of login failures
- Paying list price matters — it is still $69.99 with no discount 16 months in, and the Claws of Awaji expansion is another $24.99
Feudal Japan itself — the seasons, the light and Naoe's stealth kit keep 100-hour players exploring long after the story stops mattering.
A thin story, an open world that repeats itself, and a launcher that locks them out — and the Claws of Awaji expansion made the first two worse.
Latest patch
Patched 1 weeks agoMedia
What critics say
- TheGamer
Ubisoft is officially wrapping up Assassin's Creed Shadows, but its final update is less of a goodbye and more of a bridge to the franchise's future.
- PC Gamer
It has the same disease of all modern AC games—it's just too damn big to hold my attention.
Before You Play
Refreshed monthlyIs Assassin's Creed Shadows worth buying in 2026?
It is a finished game at an unchanged price, which is unusual for Ubisoft. Sixteen months after launch Steam still lists it at $69.99 with no discount, and the Claws of Awaji expansion is a further $24.99 on top. The all-time Steam score is 75% positive across 34,155 reviews, but the last 30 days read Mixed at 63% of 1,106 — and those recent complaints are about Ubisoft Connect login failures and the forced Yasuke sections, not the pre-launch controversy. Buy it for feudal Japan and for Naoe, whose stealth kit is the sharpest the series has had in years. Wait for a sale if the writing is what you play Assassin's Creed for.
Source: Steam
Will Assassin's Creed Shadows get any more updates or expansions?
No. Ubisoft billed Title Update 1.1.11, released 16 June 2026, as "this last major content drop" — it added the free Black Tides story quest, the Domains endgame mode and the final Horizon rift. Title Update 1.1.12 followed on 28 July 2026 and is described as "this closing Title Update 1.1.12 for bug fixes". Of the two protagonists Ubisoft says "for now, this is the end of their story". There was only ever one paid expansion; the pre-launch season pass was scrapped and no second Awaji-sized expansion was planned. Whatever you buy today is the complete version — there is nothing left to wait for.
Source: Ubisoft
Is the Claws of Awaji expansion worth the extra $24.99?
It is the worst-received thing attached to the game. Released 16 September 2025, Claws of Awaji sits at a 70 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic with only 38% of critics recommending it, across 22 reviews. The base game scores 81 with 82% recommending. That is a 44-point gap in the recommend rate between a publisher's own game and its only expansion, in the same year. Steam buyers agree: the DLC's own store page is Mostly Negative, 37% positive across 698 reviews. Long-haul players raise it unprompted — one 163-hour reviewer calls the base game solid and the DLC repetitive and grindy. Play the base game first and treat Awaji as optional.
Source: OpenCritic
Did Ubisoft ever fix the ending of Assassin's Creed Shadows?
They added a new one rather than changing the old one. The free Black Tides quest in the final update runs about two hours and is positioned as the real ending for Naoe and Yasuke. Ubisoft was unusually direct about why, conceding there were "some story elements from the main game that the community didn't resonate with as much as we hoped". Two things worth knowing before you count on it: it is gated behind finishing the main story plus the post-launch quests A Critical Encounter and A Puzzlement, and Ubisoft confirms you do not need Claws of Awaji to play it. The original ending is still there — this sits after it.
Source: GamesRadar+
Do you still need a Ubisoft account to play Assassin's Creed Shadows on Steam?
Yes, and it is still a live complaint rather than a formality. The Steam store page lists "Requires 3rd-Party Account: Ubisoft Account (Supports Linking to Steam Account)" alongside "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-tamper" with a five-a-day machine activation limit. Negative reviews from July 2026 are dominated by this rather than by the game — buyers reporting they "can not log in most of the time to play" and that the launcher "keeps causing authentication errors". If you have bounced off Ubisoft Connect before, nothing here has changed.
Source: Steam
Dig deeper on this game
If you liked this
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The other feudal-Japan open world, and the real alternative
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The other AC here, and a far smaller time commitment
Dragon’s Dogma 2
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