Our impressions on gameplay, story (no spoilers), and new features in the expansion!
We received a review copy of Claws of Awaji from Ubisoft so we can play and present our Review. This article represents 100% my own thoughts and personal experiences and is completely free of story spoilers.
A new story
This brand new story takes us to Awaji, a semi-isolated island that has its own government and military, which are completely independent.
Rather than being an additional story, Claws of Awaji is an extension of the base game. A continuation of Naoe’s story, to be specific, but not without also including some elements that are relevant to Yasuke’s storyline.
Claws of Awaji introduces new, unique characters that fit perfectly into the story. I won’t spoil things, but what I’ll say is that both Naoe and Yasuke finally have counterparts who are just as dangerous as they are.
While these characters are compelling, we don’t learn much about their background, which is a shame. I’d argue that one of them is the most unique enemy in the whole game, and getting to know more about it would have been fantastic.
The story is simple but enjoyable. The new antagonists share that “anime vibe” with the Shinbakufu but on a smaller scale. However, I must point out that it felt a little rushed.
This expansion is advertised as ten more hours of content, which is pretty accurate, but not having just two more hours to give more depth to the antagonists feels like a big miss. While I was slightly disappointed because of that, I think it’s a good sign that ten hours didn’t feel enough for me.
The hunter gets hunted
Awaji is the first and only region of the game where you feel like you’re being hunted. Previous updates of the game introduced a feature that makes enemies look for you if you’re wanted in a region, but I rarely encountered those enemies.
In Awaji, the enemy has infiltrated all places with a massive web of spies and informants. Everyone but the children is a potential threat. I lost count of how many times a random PC pulled a knife immediately after spotting me. This happens mostly in the main towns.
If/when this happens, regular guards will immediately attack as well. Normally, you could just kill all of them, and there would be no consequence.
In Awaji, a mini-boss could get alerted, and he’ll join the other soldiers trying to kill you. If you’re not quick enough, the number of enemies will increase really fast.
Not only that, but using your scouts in an area will alert the enemy scouts. The more you send, the more you’ll be in danger.
Being careful of where you go and how you gather information adds a lot of immersion to the whole theme of being hunted by enemy spies. I really wish the base game had this.
How much is there to explore
Awaji is a small region; one of if not the smallest one in the game, to be precise. The following image shows an overlay of Awaji over Izumi Settsu:
In terms of its landscape, there is no difference from the other regions of the game. It has castles, temples, shrines, bandit camps, main towns surrounded by a massive forest, beautiful shores, and mountains.
There are a few side activities you can do, like searching for legendary chests in the wild, hunting down specific enemies, or raiding castles and camps, but other than that, there is little to do in Awaji.
Most of the content is related to the main storyline. This means that you’ll spend most of the time in a town/castle or moving to the next one.
Going out of your way to explore the mountains and find something unique, like a legendary Sumi-e, isn’t as rewarding as it is in the base game. The sumi-e in the expansion are only three, and they are of landscapes.
This is one of the weakest points of the expansion for sure. I spent many hours exploring the whole island, hoping to find something unexpected. Even though I found a few things, the experience was underwhelming.
Enabling auto-exploration isn’t the best idea. There are tripwires on the main roads, which makes traveling without paying attention both annoying and dangerous.
This works for Awaji since this is a small region, but I definitely don’t want to worry about tripwires on the mainland. And that’s without worrying about the powerful enemies you can find on the main roads.
By the way, I suggest that you immediately upgrade the Kakurega building on your Hideout to level four. This reveals the whole map once all viewpoints in a region have been unlocked. Perfect if you don’t like walking through the whole map in order to remove the fog.
What’s different from the base game
There are a few things that really make this expansion stand out from the base game. The first one is the prologue mission.
It tells you the backstory of Awaji and how it came to its current state while incorporating a different narrative and visual style that make it a very unique experience.
The second one is the new characters. All of them have a set of traits that make them unique. The fun thing is that you use those same traits against them.
Having Naoe and Yasuke meet and fight their counterparts is something that I missed from the base game, so it’s really nice that we finally got them.
Last but not least are the boss fights. There are only three, but those are already better than anything we previously got. One gives you the possibility to debilitate your enemies’ forces or go berserk against an army of powerful enemies. By far the biggest challenge in the game for anyone who likes to be a one-man army.
Another one is the most unique and anime-ish fight of the game. It’s so different from your traditional boss fight that it took me a while to figure out what to do. Having to actually think to decipher the proper strategy was so refreshing. I have no doubt that many players will get stuck there for quite some time.
Even if you find the place where it happens by accident, you’ll notice that it’s very odd compared to every other place. Don’t worry, the following image is different from what you’ll find during said fight.
Last but not least is the last boss fight. This is the first time that I felt like a secondary character. The last boss has abilities that don’t feel like they belong in this game. You could get killed by a single strike of an ability that covers way too much terrain.
I wouldn’t mind if other bosses had similar fighting mechanics, but since this is the only occasion, it was very off-putting. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed fighting against this overpowered boss, even if I felt that the power of the script was against me.
Final thoughts
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji is a very fun but short expansion. The story is good and compelling while also bringing new aspects that make it a refreshing experience. I loved the new enemies, and the boss fights were a highlight for me.
Exploration and side activities are underwhelming at best. After completing the main story and quests, there isn’t much left to do. It’s very unlikely that I will return to Awaji after I 100% the expansion.
Players who pre-ordered the game are getting Claws of Awaji for free. For those who didn’t pre-order the game, the price tag is 25 euros/dollars. That’s not cheap considering that the expansion is only 10 hours of extra content.
If you loved Assassin’s Creed Shadows, then I think it’s worth getting its expansion. As I stated before, this is the continuation of the base game and not just a one-off story that’s unrelated. However, if you struggled to maintain interest in the base game, then this probably isn’t for you.
Overall, this was a pleasant experience. I was really skeptical after the “DLC” we got in Star Wars Outlaws, but Claws of Awaji is nothing like that. Hopefully, this isn’t the last Assassin’s Creed Shadows expansion.
If you are wondering what are the quest requirements or how to get to the new map, we have a helpful guide explaining how to start Claws of Awaji. We also have a walkthrough for all main quests.
