There is always a difference between those who purchase a game before its release and those who wait for the user reviews. Ubisoft is well aware of the people who trust in their games, and Thrown To The Dogs is a little appreciation letter from the developers to the loyal player base of Assassin's Creed Shadows. It's a fairly small side quest in the starter region of the game, but the players need to discover its whereabouts themselves.

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As the name implies (and the promotional images teased), Thrown to the Dogs is a mission about a heavily wounded dog who will serve anyone who helps him to get rid of the people who annoyed his original owner. So, this is indeed a nice little mission for anyone with some love for pets!

How To Unlock Thrown To The Dogs In AC Shadows

The mission will only become available after the player unlocks their Hideout. This happens after the linear quests of Yasuke and Naoe, where the latter meets Tomiko at her house and gets to learn the basics of base-building in the Hideout.

After exiting the hideout, there are two ways to unlock the bonus mission. The easy way is to just head to the blue location marked on the map above. It is located southwest of the hideout, between the Osaka Castle and Tennoji Temple.

You will not have this map marker by default, so you just need to move on top of the small hill on the location and find the dog on your own. Interacting with the dog kicks off the mission.

The other way is to get the map marker on the mission. For this, you will first need to construct a Kakurega building in your hideout, so that you get scout slots. Once you have a scout to deploy, head to the Objectives panel on the map and track The Fatherless Monk from The Onryo. Now, go back to the map and send a scout to the southwestern coast of Izumi Settsu. This will reveal a number of quest locations on the map, along with the location for Thrown To The Dogs.

How To Complete The Bonus Mission In AC Shadows

The mission itself is fairly easy to beat, but it requires the player to find a hidden key. After petting the dog on top of the hill, follow him to a homestead. There, Naoe will talk to a woman, and you can decide to either end her life or let her flee. Either way, there is a key hidden inside the homestead. When entering from the southern entrance to the homestead, there is a small house on the east. The back wall of the house has a small hole that Naoe can crawl through, where she will find the key.

Now, head back to the same hill where you found the dog and open the chest next to the tree. This will reveal some more information about the owner of the dog, while also wrapping up the mission. The dog will become Naoe's pet as the primary reward of the mission. Other than that, the player will also gain 1,000 XP.

Thrown To The Dogs Rewards - Assassins Creed Shadows
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Assassin's Creed Shadows Tag Page Cover Art
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Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
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Released
March 20, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
Developer(s)
Ubisoft Quebec
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Engine
AnvilNext
Franchise
Assassin's Creed
Number of Players
1
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Steam Deck Compatibility
Unknown
PC Release Date
March 20, 2025
Xbox Series X|S Release Date
March 20, 2025
PS5 Release Date
March 20, 2025
Genre(s)
Action, Stealth, RPG
OpenCritic Rating
Strong
X|S Optimized
Yes