Assassin's Creed Shadows' day-one patch removes blood and makes shrines indestructible following backlash

Assassin's Creed Shadows has a day-one patch that reduces the amount of bloodshed and destruction you can do in the game's shrines.

As reported by Automaton and confirmed by our own Features Editor Andrew Brown, the patch makes tables and shelves within the game's shrines indestructible. This is likely to quell the backlash that came after an Assassin's Creed Shadows preview showed that you could choose to do this in the game. It's surprising to me that people are taking issue with this in a series where you beat the Pope to a bloody pulp in the Vatican and assassinate a man in a church confessional booth.

The patch also reduces the amount of blood that's shown in shrines and removes any depictions of blood when you attack an unarmed NPC. This patch is live in the UK and is not limited to just Japan.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was discussed by Japan's Prime Minister earlier due to the ways you can interact with the in-game shrines. A politician notes that "freedom of expression must be respected," and the Prime Minister says, "defacing a shrine [in real life] is out of the question."

Ubisoft has previously stated that the game is not intended to be 100% accurate and is instead a work of fiction "inspired by real historical events and figures." It also apologized for using a flag made by a historical re-enactment group that it didn't obtain permission from.

If you want to know what other titles are coming out, have a look at our list of all the new games of 2025.