Assassins’ Creed Shadows Day 1 patch made changes to a controversial game feature and brings plethora of quality-of-life improvements.
The Assassin’s Creed Shadows Day 1 patch fixes one of the game's most sought-after issues. Following this update, shrines in the game have become indestructible, and unarmed civilians no longer bleed when attacked.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Day 1 patch addresses a sensitive issue
As first reported by Automaton, Ubisoft deployed this update following the global launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba commented on the controversial game feature during an official government meeting.
A fellow Japanese politician, Hiroyuki Kada, brought up Assassin’s Creed Shadows during the conference, talking about the gameplay feature that allowed players to destroy objects in the shrines and how it could encourage similar behavior in real life.
Ishiba responded to this by saying that “defaming a shrine [in real] is out of the question” and that “it is an insult to the nation itself.”
Ubisoft quietly addressed the situation via the Day 1 update, which is now live in the game.
You can read the full patch notes below, as revealed by IGN:
- Players no longer get stuck inside movable objects after dodging forward and interacting with Kofuns.
- Procedural weapons are no longer removed incorrectly when selling items.
- Proning against objects now prevents players from going out of bounds.
- Horse navigation is much better, with adjustments to issues related to turning and blocked paths.
- Lightning improvements to caves, kofuns, and architectural entrances and exits.
- Fixes to cloth clipping on Yasuke’s outfits while riding and Naoe’s outfits while crouching.
- Citizens without weapons no longer bleed when attacked.
- Tables and racks in Shrines are now indestructible.
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For those unaware, the Shrine issue stemmed from an Assassin’s Creed Shadows preview video shared by X user Shohei Kando earlier this year.
In it, Yasuke, one of the protagonists, is hurting monks and destroying barrels and other religious artifacts inside the real-life-inspired Itate Hyozu Shrine.
Not long after, a Japanese news media company reported that the Itate Hyozu Shrine officials were taking appropriate action against Ubisoft for its portrayal in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been subject to many controversies and topics of discussion since its reveal last year. Some players found it displeasing that an African samurai was one of the game's protagonists.
Others found it disrespectful that Ubisoft used a Japanese re-enactment group’s flag without permission in one of the promotional materials.
The studio has apologized several times since then. It even made claims that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is first and foremost a “compelling, historical fiction,” and deployed necessary updates to the game amidst strict feedback.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.
