This update brings the first of several free story packs along with new codex lore entries for main and side characters and a large number of bug fixes.
Table of contents
Update Size and Availability
Update 1.0.4 for Assassin’s Creed Shadows released today, on Thursday May 6, 2025. Its size varies on each platform where the game is available:
- PS5: 4.67 GB
- XBS: 20 GB
- MAC: ~9 GB
- PC: 17 GB
- Steam: 8.5 GB
Everything in this update is free and every owner of every game edition and platform can install and play it.
New free mini story pack
The new mini story arc, titled “The Works of Luis Frois” is available for free as soon as you update your game to 1.0.4.
An encounter with Luis Frois at a Jesuit Mission turns into an opportunity to help an old friend. Retrieve lost notes, protect Lady Satoko and learn more about the Jesuits in this new Free Story Pack playable with both Naoe or Yasuke.
The Works of Luis Frois is a short series of quests where we learn more about the Jesuit’s interactions with Japan. As Father Frois writes about Japan’s culture and performs baptisms, some see his presence as a threat and wish to harm him.
You can play this series of quests as Naoe or Yasuke and must complete Yasuke’s personal quest, The Path He Walks, to start this story pack. You’ll find Father Frois in the Merchant’s Quarters in Azuchi, Omi.
The Works of Luis Frois WalkthroughCodex Update: Characters
Nearly every character no matter how small, that you meet during your adventures in Assassin’s Creed Shadows now has their own codex lore entry.
Ubisoft did this in a response to a popular demand from players, who complained that there are way too many characters, and it can be overwhelming to try and remember each one along with their personal story and perks.
The codex entries are added retroactively. As soon as you launch the game with patch 1.0.4 (or newer), you will see a pop-up in the top right corner of your screen letting you know that new character entries are available in the Codex tab’s Database module.
The game splits them into Main Characters, Main Antagonistts, Supporting Antagonists, Allies and Supporting Characters.
Notable Bug Fixes
The list of bug fixes is quite large and if you want to read every single one, we have the full patch notes available below. In this segment, I will focus your attention to a few popular and/or curious fixes that you should know of.
Gear and Visualizations Access
There were some trinkets that you could not access in the Forge. I personally never experienced this, but I didn’t use every single trinket I ever looted. I didn’t have any troubles finding and using all legendary trinkets and amulets.
You may have noticed that some weapons could not be properly and fully customized. This has been resolved and if your favorite weapon was bugged before, you should give it a try again and customize it to your liking.
Religion buildings are now safe from vandals
It was a popular topic, and it did yield result on Ubisoft’s side. After even officials gave voice to the concerns about the freedom you have in the game to destroy things as you please, Update 1.0.4 made it so all props near an altar or a religion building will be static. You can no longer break and destroy them.
Combat Fixes
A number of bugs have been fixed in the stealth combat gameplay. The list includes Ground Assassination, which now works properly;Yasuke’s Brutal Assassination (the only type he can do) now triggers always and at any (appropriate) distance from the character.
An interesting bug, one I was actually not aware of, was the one involving Naoe’s ability to use smoke bombs to trigger Guaranteed Assassination on boss encounters. I bet if you stumbled on this by accident, you felt like cheating.
Igan Sunset Tanto‘s perk has been adjusted to have its effect go up after, not on: “Slow down time after Escape Strike interrupts enemies”. This fix was made to prevent the occasional endless slow-down when using the ability repeatedly.
The curious case of the missing blacksmith
The Blacksmith at the hideout might have gone on an undocumented vacation sometimes. He will no longer be missing from the Hideout after you unlock him, that is of course.
Remember that he can still walk around the Forge, so check both inside and around the building when you need to upgrade, engrave or dismantle something.
Enjoy VRAM usage during benchmarks
If you enjoy benchmarking your machine often or have recently upgraded your GPU and wanted to see the VRAM usage during benchmark, here it is, in its full glory. You will find it at the bottom of the stats panel and at the very end of the stats on the right side in your results screen.
We are in the process of testing and updating our database of guides and all of the content that we have created for the game. The most notable updates would likely be in our Engravings guide, but we will need some more time to properly test to see if some or all of the previously flagged as bugged engravings are now working as intended.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Update 1.0.4 Full Patch Notes
Below are the full patch notes as posted by Ubisoft on Steam on on May 6th, 2025. We may update this post as we find any new undocumented changes.
Patch Highlights
New Free Story Pack: The Works of Luis Frois
An encounter with Luis Frois at a Jesuit Mission turns into an opportunity to help an old friend. Retrieve lost notes, protect Lady Satoko and learn more about the Jesuits in this new Free Story Pack playable with both Naoe or Yasuke.
To meet with Luis Frois and start the quest arc, head to Azuchi. Luis will be located south of the Merchants’ Quarters. The quest will be available upon completing “The Path he Walks”, in Yasuke’s Board.
Codex Update: Character Entries
As requested by many, we have added character bios in the Codex database to help you keep track of the many allies and foes you will meet throughout your journey in Japan.
List of Bug fixes
General
• Fixed an issue when pressing “Go to board” for “Complete Yasuke’s personal journey” does not redirect the player to Yasuke’s quest board.
• Fixed an issue where some trinkets could not be accessed in the Forge.
• Fixed some issues where visual customization could not be applied to certain weapons.
• Fixed a visual issue with the Red Bull trinket swapping between Yasuke and Naoe.
• Addressed several AI issues.
• Addressed several audio issues.
World
• All props near an altar or a religion building will now be static, preventing any destruction.
• Fixed an issue where too many deer spawning and running on main roads. Oh dear, watch out!
• Merchants will no longer offer multiple instances of the same item in shops.
• Fixed an issue where buying and equipping head gear would kick you from the merchant menu.
Quests
• Fixed an issue where in the quest “Astray”, players could not talk To Nakamura Tadashige.
NOTE: Players will need to step away from Nakamura Tadashige (+500 meters) and then come back to speak with them.
• Fixed an issue where Nagato would sometimes not follow the correct path in the prologue during the “Fight of the Kakushiba Ikki” quest.
• Fixed an issue where Momochi Sandayu does not attack during the objective “Kill the Soldier” in the “Fight of the Kakushiba Ikki” quest.
• Fixed an issue where Nagato would despawn after a save/load during the quest “The Onryo Samurai”.
• A prompt will now properly appear to Observe during the objective “Reach a high place to observe the Onryo Samurai” in the quest “The Onryo Samurai”.
• Addressed an issue with enemy NPCs fighting each other after talking to Shotei during “Against the Koga-ryu”.
• Fixed an issue where Tokubei would start attacking anyone that enters conflict with the player during the “Confront Tokubei” objective of “Losing Hand” quest.
• Fixed an issue where quest directions do not match the quest location during the “Meet Katsuhime” objective of “Against the Koga-ryu” quest.
• Addressed an issue where Yasuke would recover all of his health upon receiving a killing blow from Marume Nagayoshi during the duel from “Nobutsaha’s Students”.
Stealth
• Fixed an issue where Improved Ground Assassination (Assassin passive skill) would not work properly.
• Fixed an issue where Assassinations would not remove any health from knocked-out enemies.
• Fixed an issue where, after performing a Double Assassination, Naoe could not swap weapons if she was using the Katana as primary weapon.
• Fixed an issue with Yasuke’s Brutal Assassination not triggering at a certain distance with NPCs.
• Fixed Guaranteed Assassination not working with the kunai.
• Fixed an issue where Naoe could use smoke bombs to trigger Guaranteed Assassination opportunities on bosses.
• Fixed an issue where crouching during a Sprint Dodge would increase the speed of the crouch state.
• Fixed an issue where Naoe had a delay when crouching after moving while aiming a tool.
• Fixed an issue where corner cover camera would not always trigger.
• Fixed an issue with alarm bells respawning after cutscenes. Please don’t ring. Please don’t ring. Please don’t ring.
Combat
• Adjusted the Igan Sunset Tanto perk (i.e. slow down time on Escape Strike) to prevent endless slow-down when using Escape Strike repeatedly.
o The perk now works as follows: “Slow down time after Escape Strike interrupts enemies”
• Fixed an issue with the Snake Bite ability (Kusarigama) costing more than one chunk of adrenaline. Two fangs. But one bite.
• Fixed an issue where the “Crescent Strike” ability (Naginata) did not deal any damage on its first hit.
• Fixed various issues with perks not functioning correctly.
• Fixed an issue where letters displayed on screen would not automatically close when the player would enter conflict. Listen I’m just trying to read here.
• Fixed an issue where Naoe cannot dodge if she first attacks the Ashigaru Swordsman with a posture attack during “Fight of the Kakushiba Ikki” quest.
• Fixed an issue where the ability wheel would still display the abilities from the previously equipped weapon when being unarmed.
Visuals & Graphics
• Fixed several animation, visual or misplacement issues.
• Fixed various rendering issues.
UI & HUD
• Addressed various UI/HUD issues.
• Addressed localization issues.
• Fixed an issue with the tutorial explaining how to use boats. How do you row this thing?
• Fixed an issue where the four targets of the Pirate Alliance were not aligned on the Objective Board.
• Fixed an issue where the drop-down list is missing for “Text Color” and “Background Color” options in the Captions menu.
Photo Mode
• Fixed various visual issues with Photo Mode.
• Fixed an issue where the last known position visual effect remained visible in Photo Mode.
• Fixed an issue where the Codex Orbs remained present in Photo Mode.
• Fixed an issue where the vignette effect size increases when decreasing the value in Photo Mode.
Hideout
• Fixed an issue where the blacksmith was missing from the hideout. I must upgrade my weapons!
• Fixed an issue where some trinkets could not be accessed in the Forge.
Stability & Performances
• Addressed various crashing and stability issues.
Platform-Specific issues
Xbox
• Fixed an issue where the “Balanced” mode was missing in the Performance options.
PC
• VRAM usage is now added to the performance overlay when using the benchmark tool.
• Improved description in the Scalability options to better reflect the impact on CPU and GPU.
• Addressed an issue with conflicting bindings for mouse & keyboard on PC.
• Fixed an issue where the VRAM meter doesn’t accurately update the VRAM usage when settings are individually changed.
• Addressed an issue with PC using Photo Mode with the Ultra-wide screen settings .
STEAMDECK
• Addressed an issue where there was a heavy loss of FPS in the opening animation before arriving at the Animus HUB (memories).
MacOS
• Fixed an issue where the resolution options are all “Custom” when the game is in windowed mode on macOS.
• VRAM usage added to the performance overlay.
• Addressed an issue with the PS5® DUALSENSE® controller lightbar not emitting the correct light on macOS.
