The next Assassin's Creed is once again featuring two playable protagonists. However, instead of having the choice of playing as a man or a woman (like in Odyssey and Valhalla), Assassin's Creed Shadows takes a page out of Syndicate's book and sees you play as two separate characters: a shinobi named Naoe and a samurai named Yasuke. Beyond the fact that it seems like Ubisoft is incapable of making an Assassin's Creed game with a woman as the sole lead, there doesn't seem to be a good reason as to why Yasuke (a real person from history--a first for a protagonist in the Assassin's Creed franchise) is also playable. Really, I can't see any reason as to why Assassin's Creed is doing two playable protagonists again, especially after seeing 40 minutes of the game in action.
Ubisoft has not done much to explain why Shadows needs two playable protagonists either. In marketing materials, the team has described the decision as its way to deliver both the shinobi and samurai experience, an argument that doesn't hold much water in a post-Ghost of Tsushima world. But I was willing to hold my judgment until I saw the game in action--perhaps the gameplay differences between Naoe and Yasuke are so large, it makes sense to separate them into two separate characters.
Having finally gotten a chance to see 40 minutes of gameplay at Summer Game Fest, I'm left more confused than ever--Shadows does not look like a game that needed two playable heroes. The preview that I saw began with a short mission in which Yasuke traveled to a village and took care of the samurai ruthlessly ruling over the citizens, only to then meet up with Naoe and discuss the best way for taking out the corrupt official in charge of said samurai. At that point, the demo covered the subsequent mission, but in three different ways. First, I saw Naoe infiltrate the official's castle under the cover of darkness and stealthily take out guards without raising any alarm. Next, I saw Yasuke go through the same castle but during the day, muscling through guards and breaking down locked doors like a raging bull. And finally, I saw Naoe once again go through the castle but this time during the day and taking a more direct approach that saw her fighting enemies out in the open rather than hiding in the shadows.
That last segment really baffled me because it provided proof that even though Naoe could not take on groups of guards as easily as Yasuke, it showcased that she could fight groups of enemies. And if Naoe can tackle the game from both a stealthy and open approach, then it questions why Yasuke is even in the game at all.
What makes it even weirder is that Naoe's gameplay just looks way better than Yasuke's. Yasuke seems to play like a generic action hero, smashing enemies with powerful slam attacks, cutting through their defenses with his katana, and blasting fools with a gun. Naoe, on the other hand, is designed with a lot more tools at her disposal, giving her multiple ways to solve problems. She has a grappling hook to flip between rooftops, uses throwing knives to shatter light sources and create patches of darkness to sneak through, can latch onto the ceiling to avoid the gaze of patrolling guards, uses a reed to breathe underwater, has a hidden blade to take out enemies silently, and is able to go prone and crawl along the ground to better hide her presence--her gameplay looks like a feudal Japan take on playing as Sam Fisher. It remains to be seen how smart the enemy AI is--Assassin's Creed is very hit-or-miss when it comes to that--but if it veers toward the more intelligent side, then playing as Naoe looks it will be way more fun than Yasuke. Her stealth gameplay seems geared toward looking at levels as if they're puzzles and the various tools you have on hand--some of which seem to have limited uses--are the building blocks you must use to construct a solution.
And like I said before, Naoe can clearly handle herself in a fight, so it's not like she has to commit to stealth for every mission. Unlike Yasuke, who can tank hits and smash through enemy armor, Naoe has to rely on parries and dodges to create openings in an enemy's defenses before quickly striking. It's tricky to tell without actually playing the game myself, but it looks like combat takes on a more intriguing strategic quality when playing as Naoe, as a misstep hurts her a lot more than Yasuke, so she has to be aware of where every enemy is at any given time. Like her stealth gameplay, Naoe's combat gameplay appears to be structured to make every enemy into a puzzle that you have to solve in order to defeat them. I don't get the same vibe from Yasuke, seeing as he seems so powerful that strategy doesn't appear to be a big part of his gameplay. If anything, Yasuke feels somewhat tacked on while Naoe looks like the clear standout.
All of that said, I should point out that sometimes Ubisoft keeps its reasoning for why there are two playable protagonists a secret for narrative reasons so that could be the case here--even if Naoe is the better gameplay option, it's possible Yasuke brings something to the table in a storytelling sense. Valhalla is the most-recent example of this. In the previews leading up to Valhalla's release, Ubisoft hid the reveal that Eivor Varinsdottir is canonically a woman (despite the last name clearly giving it away) but also the reincarnation of Odin (or "male Eivor"), thus explaining how Eivor technically has both a woman and man's DNA when someone relives her memories. Since Naoe and Yasuke seem like two entirely different people, that's probably not what's happening in Shadows. If I were to guess, I assume whatever new modern-day protagonist we're playing as is the descendent of both Naoe and Yasuke, meaning they'd be able to see the lives of both individuals leading up to whenever they conceive an offspring at the game's end. That's just my little theory though and even if it's true, it's not enough to explain why Ubisoft needs two playable protagonists to tell that story.
Again, maybe there's a story-driven reason for why we need to play as both Naoe and Yasuke, but just in terms of gameplay, Yasuke looks to be redundant. It's obviously way too late to change anything now with Shadows so close to release, but Ubisoft should have made Shadows to have just been Naoe's story. It looks like her gameplay could have easily carried the whole game all on its own. Here's hoping Shadows has you play as Naoe more often than Yasuke, similarly to how Syndicate had you play as Jacob more often than Evie.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is scheduled to launch for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on November 15.
