Mini Review: Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji (PS5)

Only accessible after you’ve completed the main story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Claws of Awaji is a post-game expansion that’ll take you somewhere between five and ten hours to complete, depending on how thoroughly you explore the island setting.

In terms of narrative, the DLC wraps up several loose ends that were left dangling by Shadows’ various finales, and in that sense, it feels like a worthwhile outing.

However, Claws of Awaji faces the same obstacle that all modern Assassin’s Creed expansions struggle to deal with: it’s adding to an already massive open world game that may well have outstayed its welcome many hours ago.

That is to say, there’s nothing much new on this island. You’ll unlock fresh abilities, weapons, armour, accessories — the usual bits and pieces that’ll keep you ticking boxes across another icon-littered map, but your enjoyment will hinge almost entirely on whether you’ve had your fill of Shadows’ gameplay loop.

A loop that, arguably, already felt tired long before rolling the base game’s credits.

To be fair, Awaji does have some decent tricks up its sleeve. Having carved a campaign of blood across the mainland, protagonists Naoe and Yasuke are a known threat to the new bad guys, and so they’re hunted throughout the DLC.

Ambushes and sudden boss fights make the titular island feel quite dangerous even if you’re just partaking in some casual exploration. There’s a certain thrill to Awaji that isn’t present in the core release, and that helps it stand out.

Likewise, the main story missions tend to be fairly engaging, as the expansion makes better use of Naoe and Yasuke’s partnership. You’ll swap between the leads on a surprisingly frequent basis, pushing you to maximise their strengths depending on the situation.

Claws of Awaji is a decent expansion, but outside of some cool story moments, it never really elevates itself beyond the base game. There was room for improvement here, in Shadows’ stunted combat and stealth mechanics, and its open world structure, but ultimately, the DLC plays it very safe — for better or worse.