Yasuke, co-protagonist of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is not one of the titular assassins, which means that he’ll play a bit different than you’re used to.
For the most part across the Assassin’s Creed series you do, in fact, play as an assassin, but there are occasions where you don’t even if they’re few and far between. You do still get to be on in the upcoming Japan-set Shadows, as the game’s other protagonist Naoe is one, but in a recent interview with GamesRadar, game director Simon Lemay-Comtois made it clear that Yasuke isn’t one, and took the time to explain why, and what difference that makes. “Yasuke is not an assassin, because the narrative makes sense that he is not,” Lemay-Comtois said.
While Lemay-Comtois didn’t go into story specifics, the developer did make it clear that Yasuke “works with [fellow protagonist] Naoe, but he’s not an assassin, and he doesn’t have to be.” We already know Yasuke won’t play the same as Naoe, meaning combat will be different depending on who you are, but it obviously means he won’t have the same stealth tools as her. This difference in design meant that Ubisoft had to “always embrace” the fact that they are so different.
In turn, that meant they couldn’t just give Yasuke something like the iconic Eagle Vision just because – “No,” Lemay-Comtois explains, “he needs to not have it so you play different with him than you play with Naoe.” As mentioned, there are some major characters other games, like Haytham Kenway in 3, Black Flag and Rogue, who isn’t an assassin, or like Barnabas in Odyssey, but unlike him Yasuke is “much more involved in the story” of Shadows, with Lemay-Comtois noting “he doesn’t have to be an assassin, he has his own motivation and core beliefs that align with Naoe’s, and off they go.”
Shadows received yet another delay earlier this month, with its new release date a month later, now March 20 this year, but our own Dom did say in a recent hands-on preview that the dual-protagonists might be offering a much needed refresh for the series, so perhaps the wait will be worth it.