Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Game Experiences, (No Spoilers)

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Player Observations and Updates.
94:49 hours played, characters level 58 - 60.
Ok Awaji is pretty cool, some different things happen in the world.
I spent some time just riding around the island unlocking shrines and doing viewpoints.
This activity was actually part of a bigger objective I didn't realize at first.
A few castles trying to improve my combat for a big fight coming up.
Been awhile since I upgraded gear so back to hideout at 58 to upgrade both.
Finished Awaji some vague details in the spoilers below.
So now characters at level 60, game goes back to main land with a ton of stuff left to do and more objectives.
Not sure what I am gonna do now, but in the last ten levels I learned better combat very late.
Lots of gear and upgrades to do, all kinds of stuff.
Well game is still adding new stuff to the objectives screen, wow.
Tried a New Game+ save, pretty cool but deleted it soon after, happy playing with same game save for now.
Just a opinion of mine, Claws of Awaji DLC is packed full of content and still has lots to do after its story is done.
Well worth the money, what an amazing game.

SPOILERS BELOW

Spoiler: Awaji Spoilers

So I killed all but four of Tomejis Captains, finishing today there are many of them not all shown at first.
Killing this group off weakens his backup once you get to his main fight.
I did try fighting Tomeji already but he had more than half of his captains alive, nope don't do it.
Now after killing Yasuhira pretty easily it was time for Nowaki in bird mask, I think this is one of my all time favorite fights in a game.
Nowaki gets found at a shrine we find out from leaked info and we approach her, she runs off asking you to follow.
She has you enter her very own hunting grounds with many clone statues of her, she moves around unseen mainly.
You can dodge her first shot in cutscene so don't get hit move immediately once it shows her aiming,
This one was wtf at first, after 3 or 4 tries I was able to hit her. You have really got to pay attention.
Observe each statue and once one is red you can attack for a little bit of damage. She sits still like a statue btw.
I had the gear where I vanished after two seconds crouched on, so I would walk out until she sighted me then stop.
This told me where she was much easier, then I would sneak around disabling traps and get up behind her.
Observe the statues, one will actually be her and turn red. She will taunt you the entire time.
It took about 5 hits, each hit she will move away and you must find her again. Go high and look down.
Finally about the 6th try she was dead after about 5 hits, really liked this one.
All captains now dead, helping people gave me the intel on locations,
Well time to have Yaske fight Tomeji, but I did get note on last captain telling me of something in castles.
On the fourth try I beat Tomeji, just use your low posture and payback to heal a little.
Had a teppo with poison but it didn't do much, run around setup rinse and repeat.
I did change my amulet to ‘Howl of the Dragon’ since using long katana.
I was level 59 Tomeji was 61 for the fight.
Finally the fight with Yukari, she was probably tougher than Tomeji when she has dual blades and moves fast.
Same tactic though, posture and strike, and special abilities when charged. Took me four tries.
Posture spam hits break their guard but low damage, safer and help charge adrenaline.
After this Naoe finds her mother and stuff happens, return all the regalia to emperor to cutscene end of Awaji.

 

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Main Story and Claws of Awaji Complete​

Player Observations and Updates:
99:27 hours played, characters level 60 - 62
I really love chilling out with this game even more now,
Well now is the time do all the other stuff, and there is a ton plus my knowledge rank is still low.
Starting with Yokai objectives, guy was grumpy not believing that some supernatural enemies exist.
Also going to try Kanabo weapon on Yasuke, all the stuff never used on both characters.
Plus since my knowledge is still rank 6 and way more mastery points to earn mean many powers still locked.
When I tried the New Game+ something else I noticed was character models seemed graphically better.
Mainly the faces looked more detailed in the intro scenes with Naoe quite a bit.
I am wanting to start AC Odyssey soon, but Shadows has so much content and its still fresh so more playing.
Did a kofun right in a castle with only 1 Daisho, the kofun had a tricky part.
There was a moveable column Yasuke could move, had to place explosive ball on it then climb and throw it.
When you throw it aiming at a blocked doorway above a ladder. Then to shoot it had to climb an area across.
If you shot it from platform you threw it to, you would be too close and probably die, not sure its small area.
Woah this objective ‘The Overlap’ pretty trippy, looking for info about missing villagers.

Spoiler: The Overlap

I did this on Yasuke, but Naoe would finish this way easier due to climbing and stealth.
This is in Harima, a nightmare with a portal, this Oni aka a demon like being, hits real hard in his nightmare.
At first this seems pretty difficult, but it isn't just avoid the Oni and setting off the alerts in center areas.
Run around the edges, he has little detection lights around area that scream and he ports to them when alerted.
You can hide from him or even run to other side and set off alert then run back stealthy,
Cleanse 4 totems, a few have a tricky way to climb up then his portal unlocks you can escape.
One has a roof across that you can jump over from, another has tree you use to go up to roof.
After escaping he comes after you for a fight, thought it would be hard but nope easy.
After you remove all his armor and health it looks like he is starting another phase, but nope its over he disappears.
Still liked this different type of content, after this you go back to hide out to speak with Tomiko.
The rewards after talking with Tomiko were multiple Legendaries, one a damage reduction engraving.
I was reading comments about this objective, many found it hard and nerd raged lol.

 

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Player Observations and Updates:
103:05 hours played, characters level 63

SEKIRYU DUAL SET IS STILL MISSING, HELLO UBISOFT!!!

Well lately my gameplay has been exploring, so much to do.
Dealing with the ring of Pirates to unlock a cave with legendary loot inside.
Another new update Nov 25 2025, bought the new ‘Attack on Titan’ set myself.
I probably shouldn't have since stuff is missing from another set, Sekiryu,
Haven't played much in past few days, busy with other games too.
Really wanted to post most recent stats and rant about Sekiryu.
It vanished since the early November 2025 update.
Did I mention how I cannot ride my Sekiryu mount anymore?
No more dual character red gear set named Sekiryu, because it vanished,
Ok enough of this foolishness, but where my Sekiryu?

Spoiler: That Oni fight

My previous post has spoiler ‘The Overlap’ with more about this Oni fight in case you are wondering.
Reading even more posts online how many are having such a hard time with Oni fight.
I am surprised because it was not too difficult, Xbox LB + RT then RT + Y or A button.
Yasuke long katana low posture attack then payback (heals 10% too) attack spam.
Note I was incorrectly calling the payback skill riposte, it is payback I use, does 3 strikes.
This simple technique with dodging and running away from big attacks works for many fights.

 

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My opinion of Assassin's Creed Shadows after 100+ hours!​

I think the current state of the game is well worth buying now and in the future, it is packed with content and exploration. I have not even properly created builds with all the different skills or gear perks, honestly very much still a rookie. My only concerns for this game is missing gear set items from store (Sekiryu), also upgrading gear to your level is expensive and needs to be improved.

Recently its being published that there may not be anymore full blown DLC expansions for AC Shadows, but they will still add more bits of content in the current setup and updates. This is fine with me because I went into this game as a complete AC Series rookie, it was the first one. The game has New Game Plus and allows you to replay over and over, my map is still not fully explored and events all over are left to do on both the main and Awaji maps,

This is without a doubt the most beautiful world in a game I have seen on my Xbox Series S, I think the character faces could be improved still though while in the game, I highly recommend the game even if you can play it only 30 minutes every so often, its easy to pick right back up. The game has a very chill atmosphere and its calming, because of this game I purchased 5+ other AC games and looking to start Odyssey soon.