Assassin’s Creed is finally heading to Japan. It needs to hit the mark

From spartan-kicking assailants off cliffs to assassinating them silently from the trees, and from examining the politics of child hostage swapping to exploring the collision of urbanisation and ornate traditional architecture, it’s safe to say there’s a lot here for series fans to look forward to. Bringing ninjutsu to the Order of Assassins is just inherently cool, not to mention samurai arts, and there’s also the question of how Nobunaga’s quest to unify Japan ties into the series’ ongoing narratives about shadowy organisations and DNA secrets.

That said, a lot has changed since players first expressed interest in a feudal Japan Assassin’s Creed. This particular period – the late Sengoku, an era of civil war, unification and the arrival of foreigners to the island nation – is beautifully recreated here but was also recently seen in games including Rise of the Ronin and Ghost of Tsushima, plus the TV show Shogun.

But Shadows′ level design director Luc Plante, in Australia to preview the game for local media, said the team didn’t consider whether the setting was overexposed; they used the same process they usually use to narrow in on an era.

“A lot of time periods would have made for a great game, but this one was such a pivotal point, with the unification of Japan,” he said.

“We’ve always been pushing for historical events when we’re looking at the setting and which ones had the most impact on that country, so this is why we settled on this particular time.”

The political climate has also changed significantly. While earlier entries in the series were celebrated for their historical settings, the reception to Shadows was dominated by a noisy minority of fans arguing that a female ninja and an African samurai were not accurate representations of the era and were included as the result of woke ideology.

While this may be the kind of criticism that’s best ignored (and a reminder here that evidence supports the existence of Yasuke as well as female warriors, while the armchair historians were far less bothered by the appearance of Atlantis in previous entries or of Leonardo da Vinci selling weapons), any portion of the fan base being upset was likely cause for some stress at Ubisoft, given the must-hit status of the game. For his part, Plante said the series’ approach to history had evolved but remained focused on balancing facts with fun.

“As a game we always need to tweak [history] to make it scalable in terms of game mechanics, in terms of all the constraints,” he said.

“But it’s always been a key pillar for the franchise, and as we can reach more people it’s made us want to be more respectful and more accurate.”

Shadows was originally due to release in November 2024 but has since been delayed twice, likely as a reaction to the mixed reception of last year’s Star Wars Outlaws. Some criticisms of that game – which features a female protagonist – were along similar lines to those taking issue with Naoe, but most were to do with the game’s under-baked systems. The game received several updates, including a total overhaul of its stealth mechanics, but Ubisoft had spent its one chance to make a big first impression.

“As a developer, always more time is more beneficial, so [the delays] were a happy surprise. But I know it creates some questions and some different reactions. From our perspective, it allows us to make sure we have the best experience possible,” Plante said.

“The business has changed, and you have less room for error. That’s why we really need to make sure that we have the best example possible at launch.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows releases on March 20 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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