The first trailer for Assassin’s Creed Shadow has been released, showing two characters available to the player. One of them is the first black samurai in the history of Japan, Yasuke, an associate of Oda Nobunaga. The other is the more traditional shinobi assassin Naoe.
It seems that the characters of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be on opposite sides of the conflict, but will unite together against a common enemy. Yasuke and Naoe will work to gain trust in each other, and the samurai will adapt to a completely different world around him.
From the trailer, we can understand that Yasuke favors the samurai fighting style, while Naoe’s stealthy work is more reminiscent of the traditional AC series origin. It seems that Ubisoft is trying to find a balance between the old and new Assassin’s Creed gameplay, and will try to give the player the opportunity to use both styles of play. Having two heroes will allow you to switch between stealth and more brutal style depending on the situation.
«This immediately creates such a distinction. Yasuke can fight using all his advantages; his physique, he’s a big guy. He can break down doors, he can fight multiple enemies, he can pierce armor. Compare that to Naoe. Her character and her clothes, it’s really about being invisible and unrecognizable. She’s the only one with hidden blades, so she has a distinct advantage that allows her to hide and fight, even though she can do both,» said game director Charles Benoit.
Assistant story director Brooke Davis described Naoe as a very active, passionate and determined woman who is set on her goals: «She kind of wears her heart on her sleeve and she’ll say what she feels in the heat of the moment, and there’s this intensity that she brings as a shinobi, but she’s also present in relationships». Davis described Yasuke as thoughtful and calculating in contrast to Naoe.
Earlier in the week, Ubisoft inadvertently revealed the game’s release date: a placeholder video for today’s trailer, which was quickly removed by the publisher, showed the November 15 date, which was confirmed by the trailer today.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be the next major game in the franchise from Ubisoft Quebec, following the success of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 2020. Developer Marc-Alexis Cote, who has been the creative director and producer of some Assassin’s Creed games, described Shadows as «Ubisoft’s next premium flagship and «the future of our open-world RPG games in Assassin’s Creed».
Creative Director Jonathan Dumont spoke about the Assassin’s Creed Shadows map, which occupies a part of 16th century Japan. This region is roughly the same size as part of Ancient Egypt in Origins, but it is based on a more realistic scale. Dumont explains that the «environment seems wider than the» in Shadows compared to Origins. Ubisoft «really wanted the mountains to feel like» mountains, and the same goes for the Japanese castles. Game director Charles Benoit says that the castles are so big that each one is a level in itself. Each one is a separate big adventure.
It is known that the game will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. Prices for PC and PS5:
Sources: Ubisoft, GamesRadar, IGN