Hello @shallow_pie, thank you for bringing this to our attention and letting us know you only noticed this since the last update.
Do you happen to have any video recordings showing the game freezing but the sound and gameplay continuing?
Can I also ask if you have performed any troubleshooting on your PC, to see if this can resolve the issue? This guide contains the most common fixes for game crashes and it will help us rule out if your particular crashes are caused by hardware, software, corrupted game files, Windows settings and more > https://www.ubisoft.com/help?article=000061047
Should none of the steps work for you, please let us know, we may need you to try some additional connectivity settings, to rule out if this is caused by network issues also.