Two months in, Assassin’s Creed Shadows continues to trundle along quietly in the videogame background, presumably quite pleased with itself for pulling in a bunch of players and making such good use of its delays that Ubisoft now wants to delay a whole bunch of other stuff. The game’s 1.0.5 patch released today, bringing a new quest, some tweaks ‘n’ fixes, and—for reasons I am still turning over in my mind—a crossover with Dead By Daylight (and Balatro).
First up, the quest is called Thrown to the Dogs, and will task you with aiding “a loyal dog avenge his late master” in some sort of rollocking tale that will—here’s the crucial bit—unlock a new dog to plonk down somewhere in your hideout. This is what videogames are about, my friends.
Another thing videogames are about: hot brand collabos. AC Shadows is getting a Dead By Daylight-themed event, described thusly: “As villagers begin to disappear, Naoe becomes suspicious of the strange presence attacking the local people of Harima. To succeed, you will need to master unique mechanics and confront a formidable otherworldly threat.”
Also, there’s DBD-themed gubbins available in the AC store now, which I confess I regularly forget exists and will endeavour to keep forgetting in future. If DBD isn’t your style, there’s a new Balatro-themed trinket that Ubi isn’t telling you how to get, only that you’ll have to figure it out.
Patch 1.0.5 also marks another step forward in AC Shadows’ roadmap, bringing with it a buffet of parkour improvements like back and side-ejects that favour “foot landings over hand landings,” a new toggle that stops you from ceasing to sprint when you go into parkour mode, and—most importantly—a straight-up vertical jump. That one will let you jump straight up if you’re under some kind of overhang, because I bet they’d invented jumping by 1579.
I’ve enjoyed my time with AC Shadows—as did our own Morgan Park in his AC Shadows review—but I admit I’ve fallen off it a bit as the months have gone on. Just like Valhalla, I can’t help but feel like Ubisoft has just made too much game for me to ever get around to finishing. But who knows? Maybe some aspect of the roadmap will have me come freerunning back.
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