This interview has been edited for clarity.
Ubisoft’s 18-year-old Assassin’s Creed franchise has long been praised for its ability to transport players across captivating historical settings, and while the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows is poised to continue that tradition with its focus on feudal Japan, it’s also making one crucial change to the franchise – one of the two main characters in the game’s dual protagonist system isn’t an assassin.
Having two protagonists for players to choose from may not be new to the franchise (2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate introduced it), but to not have both armed with the skills of the franchise’s tenet? The fourteenth major installment of the series introduces female shinobi, Fujibayashi Naoe, as well as Yasuke, an African samurai inspired by the historical figure of the same name. Each offers different controls and abilities, offering players the option to approach quests in multiple ways, according to each character’s gameplay style.
During a special preview event in Kyoto, Japan, Geek Culture caught up with Jonathan Dumont, the Creative Director for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, to shed light on the team’s approach to balancing fan expectations, and the need to craft a unique and authentic Assassin’s Creed experience.
While combat-focused Yasuke may lack some of the traditional assassin abilities compared to his stealthy shinobi counterpart, the creative team work diligently to ensure that his connection to the Assassin’s Creed lore is maintained, and players will understand his role in the larger narrative arc as they advance deeper into the storyline.
“In the case of Yasuke, I think we really wanted a character that was combat-oriented. Even though, if it means taking away some of the stealth things, he can still stealth a little bit with his bow and arrows. You’ll be surprised how much you can hide and snipe people with him,” explained Dumont.
As for Naoe, who is more vulnerable in open combat especially when she’s up against five or six opponents, makes up for it in terms of speed. As a parkour master armed with a grappling hook, she is able to clear out an area quickly with swift takedowns, and also disappear just as fast. This makes her the the fastest assassin the team has ever worked noted Dumont, who has been working on the franchise since Syndicate.
“We clocked her, she’s the fastest. Yeah,” he acknowledged.
“Naoe’s a little bit more of a fiery character, and then Yasuke is a little bit more of the calmer character who tries to be a little bit more respectful of how things are working. You do have a fire and ice type of character dynamic. Both of them do believe in community and rebuilding, so that’s where they sort of join up and connect.”
Given the Japan setting, the team also worked with Japanese actor Mackenyu, best known internationally for playing Roronoa Zoro in the 2023 Netflix series, One Piece, who will be making his video game debut by lending his voice (both in Japanese and English) and likeness as non-player-character (NPC), Gennojo, who crosses paths with the game’s protagonists.
But why feudal Japan, and why now, especially since the Asian country that set the gold standard for video games quality and popularity recently inspired several successful ancient Japan-focused titles, including Nioh (2017), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) and Ghost of Tsushima (2020), which means the bar is much higher for games set during that time period, which Dumont acknowledges.
“Feudal Japan has been one of the most requested eras for Assassin’s Creed, and there’s been many solid games set during the era,” explained Dumont. “We knew fans would have very high expectations, and it was up to us to try to deliver on those expectations.”
To meet those lofty goals, the Ubisoft Quebec team immersed themselves in extensive research, ensuring that the systems and gameplay mechanics they designed truly captured the essence of the Azuchi-Momoyama (1568 to 1600) period This pivotal era in Japanese history, marked by the story of the three great unifiers and the growing influence of the Portuguese, provided a rich tapestry for the team to weave the game’s narrative and also marked a departure from the usual Bakumatsu era commonly used in other feudal Japan games over the years.
Bringing this dynamic historical backdrop to life was further enhanced by the capabilities of the new game console generation. “It’s quite a good moment for being able to produce the Japanese world that we wanted to produce,” Dumont remarked.
“We put pressure on ourselves to try to deliver the best we can, and I do think that we managed to do really interesting work with the shinobi fantasy and the samurai fantasy, and having those two characters and trying to make a world that takes the technology that’s now available to have seasons, to have a world that moves and is taken by the weather effects and everything, so that it makes it much more credible.”
But Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t simply resting on the laurels of its setting. The team has implemented a host of gameplay enhancements and new features aimed at resetting player expectations and providing a fresh, yet familiar Assassin’s Creed experience. (Read more on our preview of the game from an extensive hands-on session last month that covers two substantial portions of the game).
“Yes, it’s a large open world with some RPG mechanics, but it’s not as complex with the RPG mechanics, like what we had in Odyssey, for example,” Dumont explained. “And it’s a story that can be done faster as well. If you decide to focus more on the story, you do have that stealth depth on the gameplay, and that games will remember that feeling from the earlier Assassin’s Creed games and are gonna go – ‘Oh that’s cool, and that’s really fun.’”
Additions like enhanced stealth mechanics such as light and shadow detection, a revamped exploration system, the ability to prone, and the inclusion of a grappling hook work in tandem to deliver a more nuanced and engaging gameplay loop. Crucially, the team has also sought to strike a balance between the classic Assassin’s Creed stealth and parkour elements, and the more recent RPG-influenced open-world design.
“It’s the ultimate Assassin’s Creed game. It bridges those two fan bases [open-world exploration with RPG elements and stealth/parkour], and I think it makes for a very interesting combo.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (via Ubisoft Store, Steam and Epic Games Store) on 20 March 2025.
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
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