Playing As Yasuke in Shadows Doesn’t Feel Like Assassin’s Creed, He’s Something New

Thanks to a renewed focus on the ideas the series was originally built on, Shadows is the most satisfying Assassin’s Creed has felt in years. You can fluidly move from ground to castle rooftop thanks to the best parkour system since Unity, and a grappling hook only makes the journey to a great vantage point even speedier. Perched on a tightrope high above the enemy, you’re only a drop away from scoring the perfect kill… provided you’re playing as Naoe, that is. Take control of Yasuke, Shadows’ second protagonist, and it’s a whole different game.

Yasuke is slow. He is clumsy. He can’t kill silently. And he climbs like a grandpa. He is the antithesis of an Assassin’s Creed protagonist. He is one of Ubisoft’s most baffling design choices… and one of its most fascinating. Because when I play as Yasuke, I don’t feel like I’m playing Assassin’s Creed anymore.

I initially found this gulf between Yasuke’s ability set and the fundamental philosophy of the series to be incredibly frustrating. What is the point of an Assassin’s Creed protagonist who can barely climb and can’t perform a silent takedown? But the more I’ve played as him, the more I’ve seen merit in Yasuke’s design. He’s unquestionably flawed, but I think he addresses a couple of very important issues that Assassin’s Creed has struggled with over the past few years.

A brief starring role in Shadows’ prologue aside, you don’t get to play as Yasuke until several hours into the campaign. It means that your entire settling-in period is spent controlling Naoe, a swift shinobi who fulfills the “assassin” part of Assassin’s Creed better than any series protagonist has for a decade. Switching to Yasuke after playing as Naoe for so long is jarring.

This towering samurai is too big and too noisy to effectively sneak through enemy camps, and is barely capable of climbing anything higher than his own head. He cannot find a handhold in the jutting roofs that line Japan’s streets, and when you do find something he’s able to climb, he does so painfully slowly. On rooftops, he precariously balances on the apex, standing upright for all to see as he cautiously inches forward. These impairments to Yasuke’s climbing abilities introduce friction. Scaling environments can feel like a chore, with structures like scaffolding and ladders required to make any significant progress.

All of this doesn’t exactly force Yasuke to stay at ground level, but it certainly encourages it. This in turn denies him vision; without easy access to high vantage points it’s difficult to map out an area’s threats and plan accordingly. And where a grounded Naoe at least has the enemy-highlighting Eagle Vision to fall back on, Yasuke has nothing. Take up his blade and you’re agreeing to sacrifice almost everything other than raw strength.

If this sounds not a lot like Assassin’s Creed, it’s because it isn’t. The series has thus far been built around parkour-led exploration. Even when it has delved into areas of history where buildings were rarely more than one or two storeys high, verticality is still a core part of the flow. Being robbed of the series’ traditional climbing freedom and forced to follow more prescribed routes makes time spent as Yasuke feel much closer to playing Ghost of Tsushima than Assassin’s Creed – a feeling only emphasised by Yasuke’s lack of stealth training and reliance on his samurai sword skills. Embodying Yasuke is to play a game that’s first and foremost about fierce combat, something Tsushima is fondly remembered for and Assassin’s Creed often criticised over.

To play as Yasuke is to be asked to rethink how to play Assassin’s Creed. Historically, the series has allowed us to climb anywhere. Previous assassins have been knife-happy Spider-Men, armed with sticky hands that allow them to scale everything from towers to glaciers as if they were ladders. It is effortless and, as a result, it offers no challenge whatsoever. Yasuke changes this. While it’s true that there’s a lot beyond his grasp, careful observation of the environment reveals hidden pathways that have been built especially to allow Yasuke to reach his objectives. For instance, a leaning tree trunk protruding from an overcrop can lead you to a sync point that would otherwise be inaccessible without a grappling hook. A castle may have an open window on the second floor, easily entered if you follow the staircase-like arrangement of the courtyard’s exterior wall. Such paths are arguably more interesting to decipher than the practically thoughtless scrambles of past games.

These pathways only take Yasuke where he needs to be, though. He has much less freedom when it comes to general exploration, and it’s difficult to gain the high ground to observe enemy patrol patterns. But Yasuke really doesn’t abide by the traditional Assassin’s Creed approach of assessing guard movements and planning ahead. His only real stealth ability is the “Brutal Assassination” skill, and… well, it involves impaling an enemy on his sword, lifting them three feet off the ground, and yelling. Not exactly inconspicuous, is it? Rather than a takedown, it’s an opening move for combat, kicking things off with an instant kill. And when things do kick off, things get good. They get really good. Shadows boasts the best swordplay Assassin’s Creed has had in over a decade. There’s purpose to each strike and a rich variety of techniques to pull on – from brutal rush attacks to satisfying ripostes. Finishing moves cleave heads from shoulders, an image that creates a clear contrast between Yasuke’s abilities and Naoe’s stealthy approach.

But there’s more than just contrast here; the separation of combat and stealth into two characters means there’s less bleeding between the two styles. In Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, far too many quests used direct conflict as the default interaction. As such, action became their primary language. In Shadows, the twin protagonist system safeguards against that; Naoe’s relative fragility means she can’t go full slaughter mode, so when combat does break out you’re eventually forced to flee, reposition, and reset the stealth loop. When you want a break from that tension, Yasuke’s strength ensures you’ll be able to survive the worst Shadows can throw at you. It’s the power that he brings to the party that makes him such a tantalising prospect in combat, especially once his flashy skill tree full of abilities unlocks over time.

There’s strong intention within Yasuke’s design, then. But it’s nonetheless difficult to see where he fits into Assassin’s Creed – this is a series built on stealthy kills and vertical exploration, ideas that Yasuke is in direct opposition to. While it’s true that the likes of Bayek and Eivor stepped much too far into action territory, they were still able to perform the fundamental actions of an Assassin’s Creed lead character. They climbed to the apex of temples and wielded hidden blades. While it is thematically appropriate for Yasuke, who is a samurai and not an assassin, to be bad at stealth and climbing, his design simply means you can’t play Assassin’s Creed like Assassin’s Creed while in control of him.

The real problem Yasuke faces, though, is his ally. Naoe is just the better option. She is, mechanically speaking, the best Assassin’s Creed protagonist in many years. Her stealth toolkit is complemented by Sengoku Period Japan, which allows for the towering verticality of architecture the series has been missing since Syndicate. Combined, these elements allow for an experience that truly fulfills the promise of Assassin’s Creed: becoming a highly mobile silent killer.

Naoe also benefits from the design changes that shape Yasuke – while she can climb up to practically anywhere in the world, the “stick to every surface” mantra of the series has been scrapped in favour of something slightly more realistic. This means you still have to assess climbing routes and find anchor points for your grappling hook, but you can leap further and climb faster – these are the fundamental things that turn an open world into an Assassin’s Creed sandbox. And when you are on the ground and in the thick of it, Naoe’s combat flow feels just as ruthlessly violent and impactful as Yasuke’s. She benefits from all of the swordplay enhancements he enjoys, just with the caveat that she can’t endure battle for as long as her samurai friend can. All of this raises the question: why would you play as Yasuke when you can play as Naoe?

Due to its admirable intent to offer two distinct playstyles with Yasuke and Naoe, Ubisoft has created a double-edged sword. The African samurai plays by very different rules to a classic Assassin’s Creed protagonist, which creates a contrasting and reasonably compelling experience that’s a genuine first for the series. But he is undeniably in direct opposition to the ideas upon which these games were built – ideas that remain largely unique in the open-world genre. So while I’ll always find time to return to Yasuke’s shoes to enjoy the vicious thrill of his blade, it’ll be through the eyes of Naoe that I truly explore Shadows’ world. Because when I play as Naoe, I feel like I’m playing Assassin’s Creed.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.