This guide will cover what happens when you start a New Game+ in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. You’ll learn what you get to keep from your previous journey and what gets lost when you start a new one.
What is New Game+ and how to unlock it
After completing the main story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and having the credits roll, your completed save file will gain the option to be used for a New Game+.
You’ll receive an on-screen notification when you can do this and can view the Codex to find more information about it. It will be categorized under Progression.
To start the New Game+, you’ll need to go to the Memories menu, select New Game+ and it will ask for a confirmation. If you haven’t already, be sure to make a Manual Save of your game in case you ever want to return to your previous progress.
Select the save file you wish to load from and you’ll get another confirmation prompt. It states that “Staring a New Game+ playthrough will automatically create a manual save from the selected save file, saving your main game progress“.
Continuing will create a new Manual Save File and it will not overwrite your previous Manual Save. Select Yes to continue and you can choose to replay it From Start where you get Yasuke’s and Naoe’s prologue, or Skip Prologue and you’ll end up at the part where Tomiko’s hideout is unlocked.
Last, you’ll get a chance to adjust your difficulty settings, toggle Guided Exploration, Canon Mode, and Immersive Mode.
Like the first time around, Canon Mode cannot be deactivated when turned on and starting a New Game+. Select Launch when you’re ready to begin.
What does and doesn’t carry over in New Game+
If you’re worries about losing your gear and mastery points in a NG+, then you can relax knowing you’ll keep those. Here’s what do get to keep from your previous playthrough:
- Character Level
- Acquired Gear (Armor and Weapons)
- Knowledge Rank and Mastery Progression
- Project Progression
- Hideout Progression
- Hideout Resources
- Heiji can be found instantly at the Hideout’s Forge
- Allies
- Engravings
- Mon
- Gold
- Codex Entries
Keeping your build and gear setup is great so you can replay your journey with more experience than your first time around. Unfortunately not everything carries over when you start a NG+. Here’s what does not carry over from your previous playthrough:
- Objectives Progression
- Discovered Viewpoints
- Kakuregas
- Activity Progress (Kuji-Kiri, Kofun, Kata, etc)
- Romances
The loss of progress in these areas was to be expected from a NG+, otherwise what’s the point? The tragic loss here is that discovered viewpoints and kakuregas are gone and have to be rediscovered.
If you liked playing any of the activities used to increase your knowledge rank, you can now replay them in NG+! If you need to refresh yourself on their locations, we have them below:
 | Temples |
 | Shrines |
 | Kuji-kiri (for Naoe only) |
 | Kata (for Yasuke only) |
 | Horse Archery (for Yasuke only) |
 | Kofun |
 | Hidden Trail (for Naoe only) |
Why start a New Game+
You can start a New Game+ for many reasons, but here are some good ones as to why you’d want to restart your journey:
New Rewards
You can receive rewards after completing a New Game+. These are two golden katanas, one for Naoe and one for Yasuke. They offer new legendary engravings and have special effects when activated!
Dragon’s Gold – Legendary Katana
Naoe gets access to the Dragon’s Gold Legendary Katana, a katana that lets her refill her tools upon use in exchange for 150 mon. This is very useful if you like throwing your kunai and shuriken frequently.
Stats Boost
+ Weapon DPS
+ Posture DPS
+ Ability Damage
+ Adrenaline Gain
Engraving
Tools auto-refund on use in exchange for 150 mon
When using her tools, mon will explode in front of her! Any weapon that has this Paid Consumption engraving will show this effect.
Whisper of Gold – Legendary Long Katana
Yasuke gets the Whisper of Gold Long Katana. While it lacks the filigree of Naoe’s katana, it makes up for it with its sheer size.
Stats Boost
+ Weapon DPS
+ Posture DPS
+ Ability Damage
+ Adrenaline Gain
Engraving
+50% Ability Damage in exchange for 150 mon on activation
With the Pay to Win legendary engraving, Yasuke’s Long Katana abilities will deal 50% more damage at the cost of 150 mon. Like the other engraving, mon flies out from Yasuke when this ability is activated.
We’ve got a more detailed overview of the two new legendary weapons in a dedicated guide that details everything special and unique about them.
AC Shadows New Game+ Rewards: Overview and Full DetailsGive yourself a challenge
With the addition of the Nightmare difficulty, you can replay the game and fight against the Shinbakufu at their absolute best. A simple commute between cities can become instantly deadly as the Shinobi that ambush you will actually pose a threat.
Starting a NG+ is a great way to relive your initial experience while providing a more challenging one. Defeating roaming ronin and guardians is fun and all, but it’s even more fun to fight the Shinbakufu and other antagonists.
Fixing Romances
Were you too busy sleeping around that you broke Rin’s heart? Or were you not sleeping around enough and messed up someone’s romance scenario? Did you give away Fuji-Maru to Lady Oichi’s kids and regret it? New Game+ is a great chance to right your wrongs in any of these scenarios!
More Enjoyable XP Farming
Options for endgame XP farming gets a bit dry. You may be hunting down random guardians, doing activities you don’t want to do, or wrapping up whatever remaining quests you have.
In New Game+, you can replay your favorite quests to gain XP. This is especially helpful as the level cap was increased from 60 to 80. Get back into the thick of things and enjoy your XP farming!
Get more Gold
When you replay AC Shadows in a NG+, targets on your Objective Circles will grant a gold chunk when assassinated. Any legendary chests you’ve found in your last playthrough will also give you gold chunks instead of gear!
With the level cap increasing from 60 to 80, these extra gold chunks will be very useful for upgrading all of your favorite weapons and armor.
There’s a lot to relive and rediscover in your NG+, so refresh your memories with our Assassin’s Creed Shadows guides here at VULKK!
