While the upcoming game should have been exciting, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been surrounded by controversies and huge delays. As such, many longtime fans have grown suspicious of it. Despite this, reports uncovered its first DLC, Claws of Awaji, showing they are still dedicated to their product. Given the troubled production of its base game, this expansion could be a chance for the game to reclaim fans’ goodwill. Here is a breakdown of the Claws of Awaji DLC and what gamers can expect.

The Claws of Awaji DLC

According to WCCFTech, details emerged regarding the DLC for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This news came from a now-deleted update to the Steam page. Players who pre-purchased the game would receive access to the titular “Claws of Awaji” DLC, which brings ten hours of content, a new weapon type, and many more abilities. Apart from these basic facts, Ubisoft officially released no other details.

In previous Assassin’s Creed titles, DLC has always added major story developments. For the recent Valhalla, each subsequent expansion pack shook up the story and even provided shocking pieces of lore. However, fans infamously criticized Valhalla for its bloated runtime of hundreds of hours. Therefore, it’s unknown how large a relative expansion this will be.

While most details of Shadows’ story have yet to be revealed, Claws of Awaji’s size implies this will be a major expansion. For those unaware, Awaji is an island in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture with strong ties to Shinto belief. Therefore, this will open up several possibilities for building the Assassin-Templar conflict and its ties to the First Civilization mythos.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Troubled Production

Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has quickly become the most troubled production of any game in the series. The game would follow the Shinobi Naoe and the African samurai Yasuke as the leads. Feudal Japan has been one of the most requested historical settings for the series because it fits the franchise’s style and philosophy well, especially with the ninjas’ code of honor and stealth. Unfortunately, several other controversies regarding historical accuracy bogged down the game’s discourse.

However, the game became infamous for its sudden, huge delays. It was originally intended to be released in November last year, but Ubisoft suddenly delayed it by several months to February of the following year. Fans were naturally upset by the sudden, unexplained length of this delay. Ubisoft announced another month-long delay a week ago, leading to further backlash. Therefore, Claws of Awaji will face an uphill battle to reclaim the franchise’s reputation.

The Future of Ubisoft

Besides Shadows’ delays and the upcoming Claws of Awaji DLC, Ubisoft has faced many hurdles and challenges as a company and creative team. Not only have their sales and games’ reception declined, but their stock price has plummeted recently, showing the corporation’s lack of faith. Furthermore, sites such as Forbes speculated that Tencent and the Guillemot family would buy the company. Unsurprisingly, it was one of the many game companies that laid off swathes of its workforce last year.

Ubisoft became infamous for popularizing the “vast empty sandbox” of video games. Originally, they made more original games like the cult classic Beyond Good and Evil and their former mascot, the Rabbids. However, franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry soon dominated their libraries. Soon enough, their formula got stale, and gamers moved on.

Conclusion

While Claws of Awaji remains shrouded in mystery, its upcoming base game’s reputation has been overshadowed by online controversies, massive delays, and the sinking reputation of its developer. Even if the game lasts long enough for the DLC’s release, it will reach a very different market than what it was made for. Despite this, Ubisoft still has faith in the project. While the delays disappointed many gamers, they show how Ubisoft still thinks they can fix the game and release a proper game. Hopefully, they can fully use Feudal Japan as an anticipated setting.