With Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced right around the corner and Codename Hexe still brewing (mostly) in secret, Ubisoft is finally saying goodbye to last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Its very last content update has now been released, and while its focus is on wrapping up Naoe and Yasuke’s storyline, it’s a big one, leading directly into next month’s pirate remake.

Update 1.1.11, as it’s known, introduces the Black Tides story mission, which directly ties into the Templar menace seen in other series instalments, and even connects with Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway’s adventure somehow. Players will need to complete the entire main campaign – which isn’t a breezy affair – plus the ‘A Critical Encounter’ and ‘A Puzzlement’ post-launch quests first.

Beyond that, new “crossover projects” reward players with outfits, weapons, and trinkets if they can complete all-new Animus anomalies – optional challenges tied to Assassin’s Creed’s larger meta-narrative. Since these include Black Flag Resynced content, they aren’t available for Switch 2 players, but those on Nintendo’s console have instead received a new pass of “GPU performance improvements” in handheld mode, which is great news.

Update 1.1.11 isn’t only about adding to what was already in the game, as it also introduces a new type of activity: Domains. They’re five simulations generated by the Animus – as in, they don’t exist in the regular game world – with ten challenge levels. Players can tackle them after reaching level 30, and they mix RPG build-crafting and raw skill. “The higher the difficulty, the more gameplay modifiers will be applied,” explains Ubisoft. “The goal is to push you out of your comfort zone and make you rethink your loadouts.” Assassin hacker MOD – a new NPC connected to Domains – will reward players’ performance with exclusive rewards that will never be part of the regular in-game store or exchange rewards.

In many ways, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ swansong feels like a big push to return to the series’ weirder aspects, perhaps preparing fans for whatever July’s Black Flag remake is doing with its modern-day narrative. As a fan who’s been around since the very first Assassin’s Creed – which may also get remade sooner rather than later – I don’t have a lot of patience for that side of the franchise anymore, but regardless, it’s fascinating to see the series’ creatives fully commit to off-beat post-launch journeys.