New Assassin’s Creed Shadows update lets you skip time, level up to 100, and dress up as Ezio, which is more than enough for me to reinstall this game before its Claws of Awaji DLC

Ubisoft has dropped the complete changelog for Assassin’s Creed Shadows patch 1.1.1, and—wouldn’t you know—Ezio’s threads plus a stealthy kitten are precisely the excuses I required to slam the download button before next week’s Claws of Awaji add-on lands.

The 1.1.1 patch arrives across every platform on 11 September and it’s anything but petite. PS5 owners will sacrifice 12.94 GB, Xbox Series X users 33 GB, Mac players 24 GB, Steam customers 17 GB, while other PC stores demand a hefty 42 GB.

Ubisoft markets 1.1.1 as groundwork for Claws of Awaji, yet that label feels modest. Yes, it bumps the level ceiling to 100 and hands everyone a free Bo staff ahead of the expansion, but the patch also packs unrelated bonuses that absolutely deserve the spotlight.

Foremost, I need that vintage Ezio outfit in my wardrobe right now. Unlock the throwback attire by launching the fresh Sanctuary task and clearing Anomalies; doing so also nets you the Rooftop Cat companion for your hideout—arguably the most adorable pixelated furball I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Legacy robes and killer kitty are hard acts to top, yet 1.1.1 keeps delivering. Expect brand-new Mythic and Artifact gear tiers, “sharper scouts” capable of disclosing viewpoints and safehouses, plus two extra enhancement stages that “speed Hideout expansion, streamline crafting by showering you with Gold, and directly buff Naoe, Yasuke, and their cohorts, sharpening both battle prowess and exploration.”

This seems like a feature that ought to have shipped on day one, yet Shadows 1.1.1 finally grants time-skipping once you boost the Nando to tier 2 and meditate—letting you fast-forward to the next 6 AM or 6 PM at will.

Lastly, after you sync every viewpoint in a zone, the patch will scrub away every last wisp of fog—something fans have begged for since launch.

All told, it looks like a beefy appetizer intended to stoke hunger for Claws of Awaji. Granted, I assumed nothing short of DLC could drag me back into this sprawling epic—yet here we are; I’m powerless against feline charm.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ expansion hides a Metal Gear Solid-flavoured boss fight that instantly crowned me the deadliest assassin on Awaji

Once I’d wrapped up an English degree at ASU, I spent weekdays copy-editing in corporate-land while moonlighting for outlets like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG. My foothold here began with a freelance news stint in 2019; I went full-time as GamesRadar’s West Coast Staff Writer in 2021, which now sees me steering the site’s western regional executiv