Highlights

  • Assassin's Creed Shadows offers a long-awaited journey to feudal Japan with two distinct playable characters for fans to enjoy.
  • Naoe excels in stealth while Yasuke focuses on brute force, providing players with unique gameplay experiences and choices.
  • Players can switch between the ninja and samurai characters, ensuring the gameplay remains fresh and engaging throughout the experience.

What was once known simply as Assassin's Creed Red, the newest AC entry set in feudal Japan, is now Assassin's Creed Shadows, and it looks to be everything fans have been waiting for and more. The journey towards an Assassin's Creed game set in feudal Japan has been a long one, as many longtime fans have wanted a game that centers around the time period for the better part of a decade. Assassin's Creed Shadows looks to deliver on those wishes and then some, allowing players to take control of both a stealthy ninja and a samurai warrior.

The newest Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay reveal offered an extensive look at how these protagonists will work. Echoing the Frye twins from AC Syndicate, Naoe and Yasuke will have unique playstyles. Naoe's shinobi upbringing makes her best suited for stealth activities, sneaking through environments without making a sound and striking her targets with great precision. Yasuke sacrifices stealth for brute force, instead opting to muscle his way through the opposition. This makes for several enticing gameplay opportunities on paper, but it also has strong implications for how no two quests will be the same.

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"Vengeance is a Lonely Path" - Assassin's Creed Shadows Devs Talk Making Yasuke and Naoe

The developers of Assassin's Creed Shadows talk creating two protagonists with an intertwined story but very distinctive gameplay styles.

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Protagonists Make For Two Distinct Experiences

From a pure gameplay perspective, Naoe and Yasuke's differences are clear. When it comes to actually moving through Shadows' quests, however, they can affect how players experience the game in dramatic ways. The newest gameplay trailer and clips from previous promotions provided a taste of this, as the two assassins are shown to be distinct and not just two sides of the same coin. Whereas the aforementioned example of AC Syndicate had its protagonists play fundamentally the same aside from some quirks, Naoe and Yasuke's differences will substantially affect gameplay.

With Naoe, missions can feel much more tense and the pace much slower due to the need for strict adherence to stealth. Players must stick to the shadows and use Naoe's movement skills to their advantage, because if they're spotted, Naoe won't be able to handle a full-on assault the same way Yasuke can. On the other hand, Yasuke can greatly increase the tempo of a quest and inject more chaos into things. By taking adversaries head-on, Yasuke's approach is much more action-packed but loses the benefits of moving through an environment undetected.

Assassin's Creed Shadows' Dual Protagonists Give Players Meaningful Choice

Choosing which character to play in Assassin's Creed Shadows will be much more meaningful, offering players the choice to tackle a mission exactly how they prefer. With recent AC games receiving criticism for shying away from a pure stealth experience in favor of more direct combat, choosing between a ninja or samurai in AC Shadows looks to give fans the best of both worlds. It should also help ensure the overall gameplay experience doesn't grow stale, as players will always have the choice to switch things up if they decide they've grown tired of utilizing one assassin's playstyle over the other.

After years of trying to blend two types of gameplay into one character, Ubisoft may have struck gold by separating them into separate characters. Time will tell if Naoe and Yasuke's unique gameplay has a meaningful enough impact, but after Shadows' Ubisoft Forward appearance, there's a strong chance that the developer may have found a sufficient balance. Just as many fans waited years for Vikings to appear, Japan has been a long time coming for the Assassin's Creed franchise. Fortunately, the wait won't be much longer to explore feudal Japan as the time period's most iconic warriors.