Ubisoft Releases Assassin's Creed Shadows' Cinematic CGI Launch Trailer

[T0@st]

Assassin's Creed Shadows is just around the corner, launching on March 20 for Steam. To celebrate, the team released a new CGI trailer teasing Naoe and Yasuke's motivations on their journey through feudal Japan. Check it out below. Wishlist Assassin's Creed Shadows or pre-purchase it today! Everyone who pre-purchases the game will receive free bonus content, including the Thrown to the Dogs quest at launch, and the Claws of Awaji expansion when it releases later this year. You can also check all our recent Steam news, including more details about the Steam achievements and badges + trading cards available day one!

ENTER FEUDAL JAPAN
Explore the captivating open world of feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments. Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power.




Travel the world and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.

Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base's building layout, decorations, and accessories.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[chodaboy19]

Can't wait for the reviews!

 

[AGlezB]

Please give me a few minutes to uncringe.

I'd love to be able to read Lockley's primary sources because I can't get rid of the impression that the whole black samurai thing stinks to high heaven, even if the definition of "samurai" was rather flexible at the time and there is no question there was a black dude around Nobunaga.

 

[agent_x007]

Why/HOW a samurai in feudal Japan is NOT an Asian ?

Woman samurai is fine (like Mulan, can pose as man and player later may learn he/she plays a woman actually).
An Arabic/Hindu/African (man or woman) for shinobi/ninja is also fine (since these could be "imported" from mainland with some slave history background).
But an African samurai, in one of the most rigid political systems for getting this type of title ?!
At least you could have make it believable guys...
Please stop rewriting history to be "more politically correct" in current times.

EDIT : OR Ubisoft simply can't make a good game without controversy to spin marketing machine up.
Which is very sad, and I hope it fails miserably in the sales department if that's the case.

 

[Why_Me]

DOA

 

[TheDeeGee]

No video comments allowed says enough, lol

I disliked the video just because i hate Ubisoft.

 

[AsRock]

Why/HOW a samurai in feudal Japan is NOT an Asian ?

Woman samurai is fine (like Mulan, can pose as man and player later may learn he/she plays a woman actually).
An arabic/hindu/african (man or woman) for shinobi/ninja is also fine (since these could be "imported" from mainland with some slave history background).
But an african samurai in one of the most rigid political systems for getting this type of title ?!
At least you could have make it believable guys...
Please stop rewriting history to be "more politically correct" in current times.

What pisses me off about it all, haven't all or most at least the lead character been from were you play ? ( there is Valhala but you do sail from your original home ). This black dude should of been Japanese without a second thought.

 

[Athena]

it really does seem like Ubi just wants press, they don't care if it's good or bad, and of course, as was mentioned, they turned off comments on the vid. lol

 

[AsRock]

it really does seem like Ubi just wants press, they don't care if it's good or bad, and of course, as was mentioned, they turned off comments on the vid. lol

Maybe they are just trying to grind the company in to the ground so MS or some one buys it, seems to be the in thing.

 

[AGlezB]

I'm sorry but every time I imagine how a stealth-focused game ended up with a black protagonist in medieval Japan I can help but laugh. Just imagine the following meeting:

Exec #1: "Ghost of Tsushima did us a number so AC:S sales predictions are not looking good. Any ideas?"
Exec #2: "..."
Exec #3: "..."
Exec #4: "..."
Exec #5: "..."
Exec #1: "Come on! No one?"
Exec #4: "How about Yasuke as the male prot?"
Exec #1: "Who?"
Exec #4: "Yasuke. The Black Samurai."
Exec #2: "A black samurai?"
Exec #4: "Yes. It's a historic character. There is even an animated series on Netflix that got very good reviews."
Exec #2: "It would boost our DEI score for sure! Could even bring in some new demographics."
Exec #1: "Ok. Any one else?"
Exec #2: "..."
Exec #3: "..."
Exec #4: "..."
Exec #5: "..."
Exec #1: "Very well. Let's go with the black samurai."
Exec #3: "I don't know. ACs are stealth games. A black dude in warring states Japan would stick out like a sore thumb. Like that Trevor Noah sketch about Bond."
Exec #5: "ACs are games after all. We can downplay the effect."
Exec #3: "We can, we've always tried to make AC as historically accurate as possible."
Exec #4: "But Yasuke is a historic character."
Exec #3: "..."
Exec #1: "Then that's it!"

They pat themselves in the back and go collect their bonuses and then the announcement goes out:

Exec #1: "Oh, shit!"
Exec #2: "Oh, shit!"
Exec #3: "..."
Exec #4: "Oh, shit!"
Exec #5: "Can we just apologize and restore the native male prot?"
Exec #1: "No."
Exec #2: "That'll make it worse."
Exec #3: "Nop."
Exec #4: "No way!"
Exec #1: "We're fucked!"
Exec #2: "Yeah."
Exec #3: "Big time."
Exec #4: "Sideways."
Exec #5: "Oh, well. It was good while it lasted."

 

[phanbuey]

After Far Cry 5 it's really been downhill for them.

 

[mate123]

I feel like this is going to be the last AC for now

 

[the54thvoid]

It's a shame that people think exploring 'what if' scenarios (which is what AC does and has always done) is somehow scandalous.

As far as a black person in feudal japan? All true.

Please take your time to read the links and delve further into the Japanese accounts.

Yasuke | African Samurai, History, Oda Nobunaga, & Japan | Britannica

Yasuke was a valet and bodyguard of the Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano who rose to become a member of the inner circle of Japan’s first “great unifier,” the warlord Oda Nobunaga. Yasuke is commonly held by Japanese historians to be the first recorded ‘samurai’ of foreign birth, although...

www.britannica.com

Yasuke enters the written historical record for the first time as the Jesuit procession was mobbed when leaving Sakai (in modern-day Ōsaka) prefecture and then on entry to Miyako. The Jesuit Luís Fróis, in a letter dated April 14, 1581, reported that buildings in Sakai were damaged by the sheer number of onlookers climbing them to catch a glimpse of Yasuke.

From April to May 1582, the Oda clan launched an expedition against Takeda Katsuyori in the Kōshū region. The Oda army was led by Nobunaga’s eldest son, Nobutada, and upon victory Nobunaga—with Yasuke at his side—toured the new territory under his control. This is reported in the diary of Tokugawa Ieyasu vassal Matsudaira Ietada.

There was a book written by a Japanese author in 1969 which featured Yasuke:

The Japanese Children’s Book on Yasuke 弥助 – Yasuke

yasuke-san.com

The idea of a black man working for Nobunaga is was considered quite unique at the time. Kuro-suke’s effort as a man of Nobunaga is considered a bit odd and humorous, and his fate is painful. The mind of a young man in a foreign country is well described. Lively characters and the setting in Azuchi, where European culture could be seen, are attractive, too. Illustrations by Minoda Genjirô enrich the world of this story.
Kuro-suke was praised for its originality and high quality when it received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize in 1969.

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It'd also be great if people dropped the historical reality of AC games as the defence for attacking Ubisoft. FFS, you get to inhabit the soul of a bird and see through it's eyes. In one of the games, you fight Ares (which definitely didn't happen that way in real life). There are tons of examples that demonstrate the AC games are make believe based on real timelines, and in this timeline of feudal Japan, there was an african bodyguard present. So why not imagine - 'what if' they became a Samurai?

Ubisoft also stressed that while they have “put significant effort into ensuring an immersive and respectful representation of Feudal Japan,” the developers’ “intention has never been to present any of our Assassin’s Creed games, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as factual representations of history, or historical characters.”

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I'll not defend the game itself because it's another AC game which, to me, looks lame and dull. Protracted stealth and nothing original to offer. I could be wrong, but I doubt it, and I won't be buying it. Thief and Dishonoured spoiled me for the stealth genre. Nothing else has ever come close for me.