AC Shadows Enters Its Final Year With Claws of Awaji

The 2025 flagship winds down

While Black Flag Resynced grabs headlines, Assassin's Creed Shadows continues its own journey into a final support phase. Shadows launched March 20, 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Mac, and in 2026 it shifted to smaller, less-frequent updates alongside parkour refinements based on player feedback. Even as it winds down, it received a substantial send-off expansion.

The Claws of Awaji expansion gives players a meaningful new chunk of content, extending the feudal Japan adventure well beyond the base game.

What Claws of Awaji adds

The expansion, developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, brings a full new region and more:

• A new open-world area, the island of Awaji beyond Osaka Bay, with 10 or more hours of content.
• Returning protagonists Naoe and Yasuke, in a story pitting players against the Sanzoku Ippa clan to reclaim a lost treasure.
• Legendary bo weapons for Naoe, plus new skills, outfits, and perks that transfer into the main game.
• Access requires completing both characters' main arcs and the Out of the Shadows quest; it was free for pre-order buyers and otherwise paid.
• A Nintendo Switch 2 version of Shadows launched with Claws of Awaji and a Premium Edition on March 10, 2026.

Why it matters

The Switch 2 release is a notable milestone, bringing a graphically demanding modern Assassin's Creed to Nintendo's new hardware and capitalizing on the console's strong launch year. For players who prefer portable play, it opens up one of the series' most ambitious recent entries on a platform that historically could not run such games.

Claws of Awaji itself is a robust expansion rather than a token add-on. A brand-new island region with 10-plus hours of content, a fresh antagonist clan, and new gear that carries back into the main game gives Shadows players a genuine reason to return. The requirement to finish both protagonists' arcs first positions it as endgame content for dedicated players.

Ongoing extras, including a time-limited Dead by Daylight collaboration and a cosmetics shop, keep the game active even as major updates slow. Ubisoft also released a 60 FPS patch for the older Assassin's Creed Unity on current consoles, a small but appreciated gesture to the back catalog.

As Shadows transitions into its twilight, Claws of Awaji ensures it goes out on a high note. Combined with the Switch 2 release, it shows Ubisoft continuing to support its 2025 flagship even as attention shifts to Black Flag Resynced and the franchise's future.