New Assassin's Creed Shadows update puts you through your toughest challenge yet

The latest Assassin's Creed Shadows update is almost here, and it's got more than enough to keep you busy. Ubisoft is dropping yet another collaboration quest, a new difficulty mode, multiple improvements based on player feedback, and more general fixes.

Assassin's Creed Shadows 1.0.6 is a big one. First up is yet another collaboration, with a special Critical Role quest being added to the game in the wake of the recent Dead by Daylight collaboration. The new crossover includes a free quest, an ally to recruit, and another achievement to unlock, once again proving why Ubisoft's work on AC Shadows earned it a place on our best RPGs list.

To start the 'A Critical Encounter' quest, you'll need to have unlocked Yasuke as a playable character and head to the hideout. I don't want to spoil it, but if you've seen Critical Role's AC Shadows one-shot, you'll be in for a very pleasant surprise.

If you prefer putting yourself through the wringer instead, the new Nightmare difficulty setting will prove to be your toughest challenge yet. It impacts both combat and stealth, so whether you're playing as Naoe or Yasuke, you're going to need to be at the top of your game. Enemies deal more damage, your defensive options are less effective, parries require perfect timing to deflect a hit, NPCs are more aggressive, and combat resources are much harder to find.

Ubisoft is also finally adding another highly-requested feature: a headgear toggle in cutscenes. Going forward, if you want to show a hood or helmet during an in-game cinematic, you can, but certain sequences (including romance scenes) won't show them - that'd be a bit weird, after all.

If you've found the Assassin's Creed Shadows system requirements are too demanding for your rig, Ubisoft is introducing a few new features to help you out. You can choose the new Ultra Low mode to alleviate the pressure on your GPU, which should give you a better framerate as you play. There are also some VFX toggles, which you can enable or disable depending on your preference.

To round out patch 1.0.6, Ubisoft is making a couple of changes to how you explore. You've got three camera presets on your horse, helping you take in the splendor of the virtual world around you. Ubisoft is also expanding the regional alert system beyond castles to the whole province. This means that, if you repeatedly attack civilians or military units outside of a castle, an alarm will trigger and a group of guardians will start hunting you.

Ubisoft is releasing Assassin's Creed Shadows update 1.0.6 on Wednesday June 25. You can read the full patch notes courtesy of Ubisoft.

If you're diving back into feudal Japan and want some help, we've got all the best Assassin's Creed Shadows weapons and Assassin's Creed Shadows skills you need to know about.

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