Thanks to a new focus on the ideas the series was originally built, Shadows has felt the most satisfying assassin beliefs over the years. Thanks to the best parkour system since unity, you can move fluidly from the ground to the castle rooftop. And the grappling hooks make your journey to a great vantage point even faster. Sitting on a tightrope walk above the enemy, you just stop by from gaining the perfect kill… If you’re playing as Naoe, that’s it. Control Yasuke, the second hero of Shadows. It’s a completely different game.
Yasuke is slow. He’s clumsy. He cannot kill quietly. And he climbs like a grandpa. He is the antithesis of the main character of the Assassin’s Creed. He is one of Ubisoft’s most inexplicable design choices and one of the most appealing ones. Because when I play as Yasusuke, I don’t feel like I’m playing Assassin’s Creed anymore.
I initially found this Bay incredibly frustrating between Yasuke’s ability set and the basic philosophy of the series. What is the point of the hero of the Assassin’s Creed, barely able to climb and not make a quiet takedown? However, the more I played as him, the more I saw the benefits of Yasuke’s design. He is definitely flawed, but I think he is working on some very important issues that Assassin’s beliefs have struggled over the past few years.
Aside from the brief starring role in the Shadows prologue, you won’t be able to play as Yasuke for a few hours in the campaign. That means that your entire period of calm will be spent controlling Nae, a quick ninja who is better than having the “assassin” part of the Assassin’s belief for ten years. After playing for a long time as Naoe, switching to Yasuke is jarring.
This towering samurai is too big and too noisy to effectively sneak into enemy camps, and barely can climb anything higher than his own head. He cannot find his handheld on the protruding roof lined with Japanese streets, and when you find something he can climb, he becomes very slow and painful. On the rooftop, he balances unsteadily at the top, carefully looking forward and standing upright for all. These obstacles to Yasuke’s climbing ability present friction. Scaling environments are the structures needed to make great progress in structures like scaffolding and ladders, and can feel like a chore.
All of this isn’t exactly force Yasuke is to stay on the ground, but it certainly encourages it. This denies his vision. Without easy access to high vantage points, it is difficult to map area threats and plan accordingly. And if the grounded Naoe has at least the enemy’s highlight Eagle Vision, Yasuke has nothing. Take his blade and you agree to sacrifice almost everything but raw strength.
If this sounds like an assassin’s belief, then that’s not the case. The series has so far been built around parkour-driven exploration. Even if you dig into the realm of history, where buildings are rarely one or two stories tall, verticality remains a central part of the flow. The fact that the series’ traditional climbing freedoms are deprived of and forced to follow the more prescribed routes is that Yasuke is much closer to playing Tsushima’s ghost than the Assassin’s creed, so he spends his time spending time. Embodying Yasuke is first and foremost about intense combat, playing the game, Tsushima is remembered fondly, and the Assassin’s beliefs are often criticized.
Playing as Yasuke means you’ll be asked to rethink how you play Assassin’s Creed. Historically, this series has been able to climb anywhere. The former assassin is the knife-happy Spider-Man, armed with sticky hands so that he can scale everything from the tower to the glacier, as if it were a ladder. It’s easy and, as a result, it offers no challenge at all. Yasuke changes this. It is true that there is much beyond his grasp, but careful observation of the environment reveals hidden paths specifically constructed to allow Yasuke to reach his goals. For example, tree trunks that tend to protrude from overclaps can lead to sync points that are not accessible without a grappling hook. The castle has open windows on the second floor, and is easy to enter by following the stairs-like arrangement of the exterior walls of the courtyard. Such a pass is undoubtedly more interesting for Decipher than the virtually thoughtless scramble of past games.
These routes are just he takes Yasuke needs But that’s true. When it comes to general exploration, he has far less freedom and it is difficult to gain high ground to observe enemy patrol patterns. However, Yasuke really doesn’t adhere to the traditional assassin belief approach of assessing security guard movements and planning ahead. His only real stealth ability is his “brutal assassination” skill, and involves thrustling his enemies into the sword and screaming three feet away from the ground. Isn’t it completely inconspicuous? Not a takedown, it’s the opening move for the battle, and quickly gets killed and kicks things. And when things start, things get better. They get Really good. Shadows boasts the best swordsmanship Assassin’s Creed has had for over a decade. From brutal rush attacks to satisfying counterargument, each strike has a purpose and a variety of techniques rich in. The finishing move is to tear the head from the shoulder. This is an image that creates a clear contrast between Yasuke’s capabilities and Naoe’s stealth approach.
But there’s more to it than contrast here. The separation into two characters, combat and stealth, means there is less bleeding between the two styles. In Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, too many quests used direct conflicts as their default interactions. So action has become their main language. In Shadow, the twin hero system protects against it. Naoe’s relative vulnerability means that she won’t be in full genocide mode, so once the battle breaks out, she is ultimately forced to escape from the stealth loop, reposition and reset. When you want a break from that tension, Yasuke’s strength ensures you can survive the worst shadow you can throw at you. It is the power he brings to the party that makes him such an appetizing prospect in combat, especially once his flashy skill tree, full of abilities, is unlocked over time.
Yasuke’s design has strong intentions. But nonetheless, it is difficult to see where he fits into the Assassin’s beliefs. This is a series based on stealth skills and vertical exploration, ideas that Yasuke directly opposes. It is true that things like Bayek and Eivor have gone too far into the realm of action, but they still managed to carry out the basic actions of the hero of the assassin’s beliefs. They climbed to the top of the temple and wielded their hidden blades. It is thematically appropriate that Yasusuke, a samurai rather than an assassin, is not a good at stealth and climbing, but his design means that he cannot play the assassin’s creeds like the assassin’s creeds while controlling him.
The real problem facing Yasuke is his side. NAOE is just a good option. She is, mechanically speaking, the protagonist of the greatest assassin beliefs of many years. Her stealth tool kit is complemented by Japan during the Sengoku era. When combined, these elements allow for an experience that truly fulfills the promises of the assassin’s beliefs.
Naoe also benefits from the design changes that form Yasuke. She can climb anywhere in the world in practice, but the series’ “stick to every surface” mantra was discarded in favor of something a little realistic. This means you need to evaluate the climbing route and find the anchor point for the grappling hook, but you can jump even further and climb faster. These are the basics that turn an open world into a Creed Sandbox of Assassins. And when you’re on the ground and on that thickness, Naoe’s battle flow feels as ruthlessly violent and shocking as Yasusuke. She benefits from all the swordsmanship enhancements he enjoys. All of this raises the question: Why do you play as Yasuke when you can play as Naoe?
With the stunning intention of offering two different playstyles, Yasuke and Naoe, Ubisoft created a double-edged sword. The African samurai plays with very different rules than the protagonist of the classic assassin beliefs. But he is undoubtedly directly against the ideas that these games were built on. This is an idea that remains largely unique in the open world genre. So, I always find time to go back to Yasuke’s shoes and enjoy the vicious thrills of his blades, but through Naoe’s eyes, I’m really exploring the world of Shadows. When I play as Naoe, I feel like I’m playing the beliefs of assassins.
Matt Purslow is Passthecontroller’s senior feature editor.
