Ubisoft Amplaints the Awaji Claws for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, introducing a new strange island with a singularly excellent Bo staff and Twitch Drops for viewers of the live stream. The launch, on the other hand, was anything but smooth, with quite a few players mostly on Steam reporting that they cannot even get themselves into the new content they were promised.
The official Assassin’s Creed Twitter announced the expansion and asked players to tune in for the live stream to see the new location and weapon entrances. For a lot of players, this was a pre-order bonus for which they had been waiting to unleash. So much for excitement – now comes frustration for many.
First, the reply feed of the announcement tweet was filled with complaints. The most popular reaction? Those on Steam, the vast majority, cannot access the DLC on that platform. “Still not able to access this on Steam,” said @Haukk4, followed by many other voices like @us_utsab: “Pls fix ur game in steam…cant access the dlc yet.” This seems to be a widespread problem that Ubisoft either did not foresee or did not prepare for.
But there is not just access some are complaining about; game-breaking glitches are encountered by some who can get in. @johnndo39 said, “Choosing the disguise option crashes the game.” Another one reported, @NamsO341, “keeps crashing after the reunion.” So, for those who get beyond the first barricade, the experience isn’t perfect. The DLC everyone has been dying for can actually be ruined.
Then, confusion emerges about who is entitled to the DLC free. User @TheNerdyDan went off on Ubisoft directly, saying, “Weren’t the people who pre-ordered this game and have it delayed multiple times supposed to get this for FREE? I was one of those people and it still is trying to charge me like I never pre-ordered. What gives?” This implies that it seems one kind of fulfillment flaw owns Ubisoft leaving the paying customers with the feeling of being robbed. User @AliHObeidat1 tries to explain that pre-order customers should see it in the in-game store for free, although it clearly is not a universal fix.
Amidst the chaos, a few enjoy the content. User @bdonny94 says, “Loving it so far!! The puppet show segment was awesome and the Bo staff is hella fun!!” Another player, @RED_DYMIN, said, “Glad I pre-ordered it, having a blast.” Also, @TravellingPaddy posted a screenshot with the caption “Really enjoying it so far 😊.” So for those that can access it, the content strikes its mark. Seems one of the highlights of the new weapon for Bo staff.
Unfortunately, all but blessed praise is drowned in technical issues. In the meantime, interspersed among those draconian replies, unenlightening questions crop up. @RealChadzz wants to know “if it has Templars.” @Tukkitan_ asked, “Is main campaign completion required for Bo staff ?” And @LordPatriot445 was confused about Naoe’s eagle vision, saying “I could’ve sworn Naoe had eagle vision or an eagle to spot enemies through walls and such. Haven’t played the game in a while and hopped on last week to check out the new update and was really confused😅.” So just good, old-day confusions regarding game mechanics during launch woes.
There would still turn out to be some comments…well, pretty much gaming Twitter standard. @FitchettMicael demanded where the co-op was, a feature that was never promised for this expansion. And @Spitogatozzz had just escaped the debate by labeling the game as “Shit woke garbage.”
At the center remains the Steam broken launch. It’s one of the biggest platforms, and to have one of the biggest DLC drops basically non-existent for so many players sounds like a huge failure from Ubisoft. That said, Ubisoft is also known for rocky launches; this would just be another entry into the very well-crafted story. The pre-orders who backed the game early are all just left there to watch while some others on other platforms like PlayStation and Xbox are already on the new island, smashing everything in sight with the Bo staff.
Currently, those on Steam might just be slim out of luck. Best to keep tabs on Ubisoft’s official channels for a fix. For the rest who can get in, however, the Claws of Awaji expansion gives a new chunk of content to explore in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, with a rad new weapon and location to discover! Probably not the best idea to hype it just quite yet, though, unless all those bugs get wiped away soon. Ubisoft really needs to step up their PC launches for once; it’s getting quite tiresome.
