Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ tiny patch adds manual jump and a smart Animus shortcut

Why this small patch actually matters

This caught my attention because Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched with slick ideas but a handful of quality-of-life quirks that kept bubbling up in player threads. Patch 1.1.8, released on February 17, 2026, doesn’t add new missions or characters – instead it fixes the little inconveniences that make a big difference if you spend dozens of hours parkouring, re-building loadouts, or swapping projects between sessions.

• Manual vaulting returns – enable it in Advanced Traversal settings.

• Equipment now has a detailed stats screen, reachable by pressing the right stick in inventory.

• A new Animus portal sits in your player HQ so you can jump straight to Projects and Archives without slow menu navigation.

• No gameplay content in this update – it’s pure QoL, aimed at smoothing the core loop ahead of promised supplements.

Breaking down the practical fixes

These are the kinds of changes that don’t make headlines but change daily play. Manual vaulting is the headline here: players complained that automatic context-based jumps were inconsistent when you needed a precise hop or a deliberate miss to avoid detection. Reintroducing a manual input and placing it in Advanced Traversal means you can choose whether you want old-school control or the game’s auto-assist. That’s a clear accessibility and precision win for both speedrunners and stealth purists.

The right-stick equipment stats screen feels overdue. Rather than guessing whether a sword or armor piece actually improves posture damage, affliction buildup, or adrenaline gain, you can now call up detailed numbers while you’re shopping, comparing, or tinkering with builds. For a game that encourages mixing stealth tools, weapons and perks, readable stats are the difference between trial-and-error and informed optimization.

Finally, the Animus portal in the HQ is the kind of small UX fix that reveals how developers think about player flow. Instead of diving through the world map and layered menus to check Projects or Archives, you interact with a single object and keep momentum. It’s not glamorous, but it removes friction for the same handful of repetitive actions you do between missions.

Why now — and what it implies

Patch 1.1.8 lands at a moment when Ubisoft has promised supplemental content in the coming weeks or months. This looks like housekeeping: polish the core systems so new content doesn’t amplify existing annoyances. That’s sensible — a new mission or gear drop lands better when traversal is reliable and players can immediately compare the new loot against clear stats.

There’s a secondary strategic angle: small QoL updates keep the community talking and alleviate pressure while larger pieces are finalized. It’s the kind of attention that keeps returning players engaged without spending development time on another hotfix the day an expansion drops.

The gamer’s perspective — what to do now

• Enable manual vaulting in Advanced Traversal and try it in a safe area to relearn timing — it changes rooftop routes and chase escapes.

• Press the right stick in your equipment screen and run through your usual builds; you’ll spot weak synergies and redundant perks faster.

  

• Use the new Animus portal in HQ to jump between projects and archives — it shaves minutes off routine management and keeps you in the action longer.

Is this update the sexy, headline-grabbing content drop some players want? No. Is it a practical set of changes that improves how Shadows feels to play right now? Absolutely. Small fixes like these rarely get the praise they deserve, but they reshape dozens of micro-decisions that add up to a smoother play session.

TL;DR

Patch 1.1.8 for Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a tidy quality-of-life update: manual vaulting returns, equipment gets a readable stats view via the right stick, and an Animus portal in HQ cuts menu tedium. No new missions or content are included — but these fixes make upcoming additions land better by fixing the fundamentals.