Building a Character – Assassin’s Creed Shadows

A few weeks ago, our own Kevin Austin took a run through Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and thoroughly enjoyed his time with the game. Ubisoft Canada was nice enough to share an additional code on the PlayStation 5 for myself to play the game, and I was instantly blown away by the character building the team did early on in the experience.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows starts pretty slow, and doesn’t really unleash you on the massive world for well over an hour. This hour is spent building out the character of Naoe, who has so many layers and might be one of my favorite characters in an Assassin’s Creed title to date. There is so much to like about Naoe, but more than anything, I just wanted her to win.

While the game does provide two character options to players – and players can swap freely between them after a certain point – there is an obvious over-emphasis on Naoe. Yasuke, while interesting in his own way, as his backstory has him coming from a different country, isn’t as fleshed out early on as Naoe, and I never had the connection to this character like I did to Naoe. Whether on purpose or not, the game seems to drive the story of Naoe early on, almost encouraging players to invest more in her story and experience as opposed to Yasuke.

Personally, I’m a bit tired of the brawny, tank-like nature of recent protagonists like those in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Having a character like Naoe that really does harken back to the days of Altier and Ezio is fantastic. Sure, there are moments where I wish I could use the brawns-over-brain approach – and remember, you can swap between the two prior to taking on quests and areas – but overall I think I’m enjoying the experience of Naoe so much.

The hour you spend learning about Naoe might feel long as moments, but the payoff is amazing. Understanding how Naoe went from innocent child to fledgling assassin is so interesting – learning about her trials and tribulations, her joys and victories. It all creates a likeable, very relatable, character. And I don’t think you can always say that about Assassin’s Creed games.

It’s still early for me in my adventure, but I’m excited to figure out more about Naoe. I’m sorry Yasuke, you are second fiddle here!