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Assassin’s Creed
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji DLC launches to ‘Mostly Negative’ rating on Steam, with players citing bugs, “forgettable” story, and “tons of crashes”

Scott McCrae

18 September 2025

Even the positive reviews are saying, “Only get it for full price if you’re bored AF”

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(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Claws of Awaji DLC has launched to “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam as players cite bugs and an underwhelming story.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched back in March, but now Ubisoft has launched the first major DLC expansion of the game with Claws of Awaji, which sees the duo of protagonists embark to a mysterious island in an attempt to find a lost treasure. One of the main events of the new DLC is the new weapon for Naoe, the Bo. However, the cool new weapon isn’t enough, as players are reporting issues with the DLC.
Looking at the Assassin’s Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji DLC’s Steam Page shows a “Mostly Negative” rating, with only around a third of the reviews being positive. First off, many players are reporting that they are unable to even access the DLC in the first place (with Ubisoft developers responding to try and troubleshoot this for players). However, the players who did get through aren’t faring much better.

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ DLC wraps up 2 storylines left open in the base RPG, but devs aren’t closing the door completely: “You can always reopen things”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows lead admits Valhalla was a “monster game” even at the start, and became unwieldy with all the DLC piled on: “It was getting more messy”

One review reads “TONS of crashes (e.g. playing disguise options or playing Yasuke in certain cases) and TONS of bugs such as weapon customization with newly added weapons have inconsistent coloring.” While another reports “too much bugs in the current DLC.”

Meanwhile, others aren’t having issues with bugs, but are instead disappointed with the content of the DLC, calling it “underwhelming.” Even the rare positive review is calling the story “forgettable” and saying “Only get it for full price if you’re bored AF.”
“You have to design with the time you have”: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji had to be a tighter, more focused expansion than anything its devs had made before.

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Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He’s typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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Claws of Awaji is an ambitious expansion that hides a little too much of its shine behind Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ familiarity

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ DLC wraps up 2 storylines left open in the base RPG, but devs aren’t closing the door completely: “You can always reopen things”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows lead admits Valhalla was a “monster game” even at the start, and became unwieldy with all the DLC piled on: “It was getting more messy”

“You have to design with the time you have”: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji had to be a tighter, more focused expansion than anything its devs had made before

Ubisoft unveils “updated” Assassin’s Creed Shadows roadmap with New Game+ and level cap boost, again vindicating my plan to wait months if not years to play new Ubisoft games

Two years and one Assassin’s Creed Shadows later, Ubisoft is giving AC Mirage a “surprise” free DLC after saying it was done with the game

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