It has been a couple of months since Ubisoft let players loose in ancient Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but the team behind the latest franchise hit have not been resting. Consistent updates have added more to the game, including quality-of-life features and new characters, for good measure. And now, we have more details about the upcoming expansion, Claws of Awaji.

Claws of Awaji in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Bringing a whole new region to explore alongside new weapons and abilities, the Claws of Awaji expansion is poised to launch on September 16. Players can look forward to even more outfits to customise both Naoe and Yasuke, as well as legendary gear.

That will come in handy as the expansion is introducing a whole new enemy faction and bosses, further adding to the storylines of our protagonists in meaningful way. As the new content only unlocks after you have completed the main story of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you have a couple of months to catch up.

Ubisoft promises to share more details in the coming weeks, but that’s not all to look forward to.

New Game+ and More for Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Ahead of Claws of Awaji, the developers have also been hard at work on New Game+, with the mode arriving on July 29. Available as soon as you complete the final story mission and credits have rolled, players jumping in will see their campaign and objective board progression reset, together with discovered locations.

However, your character level, acquired gear, skill points, Knowledge rank and Hideout progression will remain untouched. Furthermore, there is the option to start things from the Tensho War in Iga, or jump straight to when the Hideout becomes available.

More Progression

At the same time, the level cap will be bumped up from 60 to 80 for all players. To make it worth your while, new Knowledge Ranks, Mastery, and Knowledge Skill ranks are being introduced. The more you play, the more ways you will have to enjoy the world before you. The Hideout is getting new upgrades for all of the buildings too, including more for Heiji’s Forge.

That’s not all, Project 3 will also begin on July 29, rewarding players with new resources, data files, and Animus-themed rewards for the collectors out there. Similarly, there is no timer on this, so you can spend your time slowly progressing or attempt to rush it.

Quality-of-Life Tweaks

After the New Game+ update, there is one more update to check out before Claws of Awaji. This quality-of-life update is to address community requests, and will include the following:

The world map unfogging after completing viewpoint synchronization (per region).
The ability to skip time-of-day, jumping ahead to dusk or dawn.
A new Forge upgrade level to reach Mythic (from Epic) and Artifact (from Legendary) equipment rarities.
Hideout updates and upgrades.
Uncapped framerate for cutscenes (PC only).
Additional goodies that may be familiar to long-time series fans.
Further bug fixes and stability improvements.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.