I turn my back for one second and now Assassin’s Creed Shadows has Critical Role in it

Assassin’s Creed Shadows released 56 years ago: last March, and since then has kind of slipped out of the discourse as hype cycles for new games have been born, ripened, and died. But it keeps trundling on, getting patch after patch after content update after content update, and today marks the game’s 1.0.6 patch.

Which brings, you know, patch stuff. Have you been desperate to fix the bug that makes the Onryo Mask visible even when you’ve ticked the ‘hide gear’ option? Have you been gnashing your teeth over missing Mastery Points? Have you been lying awake at night, turning over the bug where “tracking the ‘Temple Stories’ quest only showed a progress bar with no text” in your mind to the point of madness? Then rest easy, comrade, patch 1.0.6 fixes all this and more. Also, try mindfulness.

But in keeping with the AC Shadows roadmap, there are some more dramatic additions tucked in here. For instance, there’s a new Nightmare difficulty for the truly hardcore ‘ssassins out there, which kind of turns the game into a Kuro’s Charm-less run of Sekiro: either you pull off perfect parries or take damage.

There’s also a new cutscene headgear toggle and an expanded open-world alarm system, but most notable of all is that AC Shadows has now joined the massed ranks of games that feature the Critical Role guys in it somewhere.

Specifically, it now features Robbie Daymond in his role as Rufino—whom he played back in Critical Role’s sponsored AC Shadows one-shot—who you can unlock as another ally once you complete his associated quest. You can also get a Critical Role banner to hang in your hideout and some themed weapons. They loved CR back in feudal Japan; not a lot of people know that.

For me? The most exciting addition is probably the nightmare difficulty. I gotta confess, I really enjoyed the early hours of AC Shadows on Hard. Stealth felt meaningful and powerful, and getting caught was a genuine risk. Even when I unlocked super-tanky Yasuke, fights still felt dangerous in a way I’m not accustomed to in AC.

Then, well, I levelled up enough that I could steamroll everybody in my way regardless of the character I was playing, and I ended up losing interest in the game. Could Nightmare pull me back in? I’m eager to see. Also, I could see in just a few hours if I weren’t at work: patch 1.0.6 is out today at 2 pm UTC / 10 am EDT / 7 am PT.