Assassin's Creed Shadows Receives Major Free DLC Update and Quality-of-Life Improvements

By  Published Apr 8, 2026, 5:30 AM EDT James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

The series has been through some very high peaks and some very low troughs over the years, but it remains very popular and a solid way to spend a weekend for those who are into action adventure games.

is the most recent mainline entry in the series, finally taking players to Japan after years of requests from the community, and allowing them to play as dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke.

If you haven't played it yet, it's one of the better games in the series in terms of gameplay, and the landscape you'll be exploring on a minute-by-minute basis is pretty beautiful. It's well worth jumping into if you haven't yet, and if you do decide to do so, you'll have access to a very fun item that was previously locked behind a DLC paywall.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Just Made Paid DLC Completely Free

One character wearing full armor on the left while holding a large sword and another character on the right wearing a hood and holding throwing stars in Assassin's Creed Shadows

As first by TrueAchievements.com, the April update for Assassin's Creed Shadows has just rolled out, and it gives players the chance to find the unique weapon type, the Bo, in-game, without purchasing the DLC that it was previously locked behind.

Outside of that, Ubisoft has also rolled out plenty of improvements and quality-of-life changes at the same time, so if you've already played with the Bo, you should at least notice that the experience is more fun to play. The headline acts in that regard are support for PSSR 2 on the PS5 Pro, as well as the addition of mouse and keyboard controls for those playing on the .

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Latest Update Is Huge

There is an extensive list of changes outside of that, with the full published patch list from the developer as follows:

Bug Fixes and Changelog

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue with fast travel points being unavailable.
• Enemies can now suffer up to 5 afflictions at the same time.
• Fixed an issue with extra Rations being obtained from Claws of Awaji not being visible under maximum Rations in stats sheet.
• Fixed an issue with damage increases not applying while unarmed.
• Fixed an issue with various stat sources capping at +100%.

UI

• Fixed crashing issue when checking add-on content.
• Resolved an issue where total progression remained at 97.89% after all content was completed.
• The Detailed Stat Sheet now shows Combo Ender damage and correctly reflects any damage issues.
• Detailed Stat Sheet adjusted to now display capped and uncapped stats more clearly.
• Fixed an issue after updating, encountering a 'Missing Content' error causing the player to lose all gear earned from the expansion Claws of Awaji.

Weapons & Perks

• Corrected an issue for Yasuke's Samurai passive ability "Defensive Break Level 3" showing +50 instead of 150% damage on enemy collisions.
• Fixed an issue with the "Critical Insight" heighten senses upgrade being nonfunctional.
• Fixed an issue with the "Hidden Onslaught" hidden hand upgrade being nonfunctional.
• Fixed an issue with "Extended Duration" Tenzutsu Burst upgrade, from Claws of Awaji being nonfunctional.
• Fixed an issue where the "Defensive Breach" upgrade would not show +50% damage on enemy collisions once upgraded to rank 3.
• The "Oni's Rage" Kanabo's perk now specifies it spreads 25% bleed buildup on kill.
• Fixed an issue with some trinket perks requiring the inventory to be closed before visible in Detailed Stat Sheet.
• Fixed an issue with "Underworld Emissary Horns" helmet perk's bonus damage not vanishing after entering a smoke bomb’s radius.
• Fixed an issue with "Claws of the Tides" long Katana perk sometimes failing to make the next attack postured.
• Fixed an issue with affliction conversion perks being nonfunctional.

Localization

• The "Hurricane Stance" Naginata ability from Claws of Awaji now specifies how much ability damage is dealt.

Quests (SPOILERS)

• "Brothers In Arms": Fixed an issue where players are unable to loot corpses to progress in the mission.
• "Lost and Found": Fixed an issue after defeating Sentinel Boss while remaining in the arena.
• "The Winter Raiders": Players can now complete the mission after defeating all the Winter Raiders.

The update has already been rolled out, so just make sure to patch your game and all of the changes above should be automatically applied to your game.

7/10 Like Follow Followed Stealth Systems Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 81% Released March 20, 2026 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language Developer(s) Ubisoft Quebec Publisher(s) Engine AnvilNext 10 Images Close

Genre(s) , Stealth, Expand Collapse

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