Assassin’s Creed Shadows gets day-one patch that should limit temple and shrine vandalism, after Japanese politicians reportedly express concerns about potential real world copycats
Ubisoft has confirmed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has gotten a day-one patch, which brings a feww bug fixes, in addition to some noteworthy tweaks that should stop folks from vandalising any of the temples or shrines they run across while exploring Feudal Japan.
According to patch notes the publisher has shared with IGN, the patch renders tables and racks found in these locations indestructible, and also aims to reduce the chance of any “unintended blood spill in temples/shrines” by making sure that unarmed citizens won’t bleed if you attack them.
While the patch has been deployed for everyone, no matter which platform you’re on or where you are in the world, it seems likely that it’s Ubisoft electing to further insulate itself from any potential – that being the key word – issues when it comes to how the game handles Japan and its culture, now that it’s released. As you might be aware, there’s been a lot of chatter about this in regards to Shadows over the past year or so.
The latest instance of this was Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba being asked a question about Shadows by another politician – member of the House of Councillors of Japan Hiroyuki Kada – on March 19. “I fear that allowing players to attack and destroy real-world locations in the game without permission could encourage similar behavior in real life,” Kaba said, “Shrine officials and local residents are also worried about this. Of course, freedom of expression must be respected, but acts that demean local cultures should be avoided.”
“How to address this legally is something we need to discuss with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ishiba replied, “Defacing a shrine is out of the question – it is an insult to the nation itself. When the Self-Defense Forces were deployed to Samawah, Iraq, we ensured they studied Islamic customs beforehand. Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them.”
IGN notes that it seems unlikely that anything further will come of this, with IGN Japan staff suggesting that the concerns raised by the politicians here are linked to a surge in tourism Japan’s experienced post-lockdown that’s allegedly been linked to a rise in antisocial behaviour. Kada’s concern is that Shadows players theoertically might be inspired to vandalise real life shrines during visits to the country, a similar argument to the usual ‘video games cause violence’ ones we’ve seen in the west.
Alongside those two tweaks, the day-one Shadows patch also includes some of the more usual kinds of bug fixes you’d expect in a day-one patch for a game. There are some aimed at ensuring you don’t get stuck or end up out of bounds when going prone or interacting with stuff after dodging, as well as some clipping you could see with Yasuke and Naoe’s clothes during certain animations.
Ubisoft’s also packed in some lighting adjustments that sound like they probably intended to make entrances and exits more easily noticeable, and it’s “improved horse navigation, reducing issues with turning and blocked paths”. Less riding into trees and ending up galloping in place hopefully, not that that’s something unique to Shadows – hello, all of my Witcher 3 playthroughs where I’ve randomly tried to take a ‘shortcut’ through a patch of roadless woodland.