Ubisoft unveils "updated" Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap with New Game+ and level cap boost, again vindicating my plan to wait months if not years to play new Ubisoft games

Ubisoft has revealed an "updated" Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap detailing what's to come for the open-world RPG this summer and beyond.

"This summer, it's all about progression," Ubisoft says on its official website.

Kicking things off next week, Assassin's Creed Shadows is officially getting its New Game+ mode on July 29. The mode will be available once you beat the main story and the credits roll, resetting your progression and discovered locations but letting you keep your character level, gear, skill points, Knowledge rank, and Hideout progression.

New Game+ will also give you the option to skip the game's prologue entirely, and you won't be bothered by any of the tutorial sections that were there in your first playthrough.

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Also on July 29, Assassin's Creed Shadows is getting its first level cap increase, from 60 to 80 for all players regardless of whether they're playing New Game+ or not. The "Progression Update" will also add new Knowledge Ranks, Mastery and Knowledge Skill ranks, and new upgrades for all Hideout buildings.

The July 29 update will also add the new Project 3 to the Animus menu, bringing along new resources, data files, and exclusive Animus-themed rewards.

Coming at the beginning of September, the game's newly revealed "quality-of-life improvement update" will add "some of the most requested features from our community" since launch. This update will let you skip time of day from dusk 'til dawn and vice-versa, and it'll unfog the map when you do a viewpoint synchronization. It'll also uncap the frame rate on PC, add some upgrades to the Hideout, add the new Mythic and Artifact upgrade levels to Forge, and add "additional goodies that may be familiar to long-time series fans."

Finally, there's no more guessing as to when the game's first expansions, Claws of Awaji, is coming out. Ubisoft has officially set a September 16 release date for the DLC, free for everyone who pre-ordered Assassin's Creed Shadows.

By no means is this sort of thing unique to Ubisoft games, but boy am I feeling mighty vindicated in my decision to hold off on playing Assassin's Creed Shadows at launch. It wasn't easy; a AAA open-world game set in feudal Japan is very much my jam; but I feel like a lot of these post-launch features could've, and maybe should've, been there day one. Or, maybe, that's just what I tell myself when I know I have a dozen great games in my backlog and simply don't have time for another 60-hour game.

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