First leaked in September of 2022, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red has finally left the shadows as Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The trailer was released on May 15th, and was met with mixed reception from fans for various reasons. Ubisoft’s latest entry in the esteemed Assassin’s Creed franchise could make for an amazing game… if executed right.
Story-wise, Shadows will be set in feudal Japan, and follows the story of two noble warriors. The first is an Assassin’s Creed original character named Naoe, a female shinobi (ninja) raised by the real ninja Fujibayashi Nagato. The other is known as Yasuke, who was a real samurai under Oda Nobunaga and the only known samurai to have been born in Africa.
Unfortunately we have little-to-no gameplay footage at the time of writing this article, but we have received confirmation that the player will be able to swap between the two throughout the story (and presumably whenever). Naoe will be closer to a traditional Assassin’s Creed character, prioritizing stealth, while Yasuke will be closer to what we’ve seen in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey or Valhalla with a combat-heavy moveset.
As mentioned earlier, not many were happy with this trailer for a number of reasons. First and least importantly, many are upset that Yasuke was the samurai chosen for the game instead of including an Asian protagonist for the first time. As well, some point out that he was never specifically said to be a Samurai in old Japanese texts. This has been a topic of debate between internet historians for years now, but even if he wasn’t, this game wouldn’t be the first to exaggerate and change historical figures in the franchise. Although, it is unfortunate that we will not be seeing a playable Asian protagonist here, as we might not get another chance for a while to come
Another issue is that Ubisoft is already asking for gamers to pre-order the game, despite not having gameplay to display the game. As well, they have 3 editions available to pre-order, a $70 standard edition with just the game, a $110 “Gold” edition with the game and a season pass, and a $140 “Ultimate” edition with bonus cosmetics for the characters. According to Ubisoft, they are apparently successful so far too.
This has, unfortunately, become a pattern with the company as many criticized Star Wars: Outlaws for. Still, people are pre-ordering the game and their greedy practices will most likely continue far into the future. As well, they will not be releasing the game on Steam at launch, instead beginning on Ubisoft’s store and the Epic Games Store and will most likely release on Steam several years later like other Assassin’s Creed titles.
For now, Ubisoft has set Assassin’s Creed: Shadows to release on November 15th this year on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Unlike the prior title, Mirage, released earlier this year, last-generation consoles like the Xbox One and PS4 will not be getting the game. As well, Nintendo will continue to miss out on newer games because of the Switch’s inferior hardware.
