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The new and final Assassin's Creed Shadows story update, Black Tides, is here to bridge the narrative gap between Ubisoft's latest mainline open world behemoth and the story contained in the upcoming Black Flag Resynced, but the update has another purpose: it's the "real ending" to Naoe and Yasuke's story, and a remedy to some of the main game's lackluster storytelling, according to Ubisoft.
In the announcement writeup for Black Tides, Ubisoft acknowledges one of the most common criticisms of Assassin's Creed Shadows. While the game has largely been praised for its engaging open world, combat, and dual protagonists, GamesRadar+'s Assassin's Creed Shadows review echoes many in saying the story could use some work and in particular, its ending is "disappointing." Ubisoft all but co-signs that sentiment today, describing Black Tides as a story-focused update that ties everything together and leaves players with a more satisfying conclusion.
"We acknowledge some story elements from the main game that the community didn't resonate with as much as we hoped, so we're taking those elements and that feedback and trying to put them to good use and address them in this final chapter," says associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois. "I hope the community is satisfied with where we leave our two protagonists – and hopefully get even more excited for Black Flag Resynced in the process."
Lemay-Comtois says the Black Tides update is specifically geared toward "narrative-driven players looking for deep lore and more Templar action." The final mission, which can only be accessed once you've beaten the main campaign and the A Critical Encounter and A Puzzlement quests, is a "story-capper" with about two hours of new content "wrapping up Naoe and Yasuke's adventure." Crucially, Black Tides also adds Assassin's Creed Shadows' final Rift mission, titled Horizon, which Lemay-Comtois says connects Shadows' and Black Flag Resynced's modern day meta narratives.
Finally, Lemay-Comtois says to be on the lookout for "many" (his emphasis) Easter eggs in Black Tides, which include both "direct and indirect references to previous games" in the series. "The more you know about the existing lore, the more layers you'll find to enjoy and make connections with," he adds.
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