Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the 14th major installment in the series, and will continue its recent trend of post-launch with already-confirmed DLC. This latest installment is largely standalone, like much of the series, not requiring you to play any previous AC games before Shadows. It does, however, pick up events after the end of Assassin's Creed Mirage, even if the two are only loosely connected. Investing in Shadows seems to promise regular new content as well, since there is already word of an DLC called Claws of Awaji.

Despite the fact that there hasn't been too much information released about Claws of Awaji, AC Shadows' DLC will likely be of interest to series fans, as it's offering another new journey for new protagonists Naoe and Yasuke. It seems to be a rather robust new story, and is likely just the beginning of Shadows' post-launch . Assassin's Creed Valhalla saw great success with its many DLC expansions spread over the course of a couple years.

What Is Claws Of Awaji?

Know What To Expect From The New Island

Claws of Awaji will allow you to travel to the mysterious new island Awaji beyond Osaka Bay. According to Ubisoft's website, it will be a new open-world region filled with ambushes from a deadly new faction called Sanzoku Ippa, forcing you to constantly be aware of your surroundings. The main storyline revolves around Naoe and Yasuke's hunt for a local treasure. Claws of Awaji will expand Shadows' base game systems with the following:

• New abilities
• New skills
• New gear
• New weapon called the Bō

Notably, the new weapon, the Bō, is specific to Naoe, and cannot be used in Yasuke's kit. It seems likely that the latter may receive new weapons in future expansions, though nothing has been confirmed. The island is threatened by the new faction, so it will be up to Naoe and Yasuke to ensure its safety: "Hide from your trackers and outwit them, avoiding the traps and abmushes set by those deadly new foes, and hunt them down on your ."

Claws of Awaji is expected to add more than 10 hours to AC Shadows' runtime, when counting its side quests. Shadows' main campaign is already quite long, thought to take players roughly 30–40 hours to complete, so Claws of Awaji appears to be a significant expansion.

Is Claws Of Awaji Included In Any Assassin's Creed Bundles?

Gaining Access To The DLC Is Easier Than You Think

Those who pre-order Assassin's Creed Shadows will automatically have free access to the expansion once it is released. Anyone who hasn't pre-ordered the new Assassin's Creed game will still be able to purchase the DLC separately once it is released, though no price has been set for it. This pre-order entitlement is also valid for the Digital Deluxe edition, and pre-ordering also allows access to the "Thrown to the Dogs" quest.

When Claws of Awaji Might Release

Based On Confirmations And Previous DLC

Despite being announced ahead of AC Shadows' release, Claws of Awaji will not be available at the base game's launch, and there is currently no confirmation of a release date; the only release information Ubisoft has provided is a window of "later in 2025." With previous Assassin's Creed games, the DLC releases varied from a few months to over a year after the base game launched. The most recent game to have an expansion was Valhalla, which received DLC six months after its release.

A similar time frame seems sensible for Claws of Awaji, putting sometime in fall 2025, but considering the base game was delayed multiple times, release plans for the DLC getting changed isn't entirely out of the question. Regardless, to those already sold on Assassin's Creed Shadows, an apparently robust DLC is something exciting to look forward to, and this whole expansion being included in the pre-order bonuses is comparatively generous.