We talk to the Assassin's Creed Shadows director about Yasuke, Ubisoft's marker-driven design, and much more

Assassin's Creed Shadows is just around the corner, and it's been a long haul for both the team behind it, who have had to postpone the game numerous times, and Ubisoft as publisher, who remain on shaky ground and are considering a number of strategic moves to secure their future.

Amidst all the turmoil, Shadows will hopefully demonstrate that the market appetite for these historical playgrounds that remain the series' modus operandi is insatiable, and as fans around the world have been clamouring for Feudal Japan since... well, almost the first game in the series, there's more pressure than ever before.

We had a chat with director Jonathan Dumont about the process, feedback and yes, even the mildly toxic reaction to the reveal of Yasuke as one of the two main characters in the game.

Gamereactor: Can you point to any specific areas where feedback from Assassin's Creed Valhalla was used to improve Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Dumont: We always look to improve our games and we look at the feedback from our players. When it comes to learnings about Valhalla specifically, we made the settlement more dynamic so that players have more customisation options and freedom to create their base of operation. We also placed a lot of emphasis on stealth and parkour to bring it back to the forefront of the gameplay loop with Naoe and reinforce the shinobi assassin player fantasy.

Gamereactor: Why was the choice made to give the two protagonists distinct playstyles and focus areas? How did this decision shape the game's narrative and mechanics?

Dumont: The decision to have both Naoe and Yasuke came from iteration on the design during the conception phase. We knew we wanted to play a shinobi archetype with Naoe, but every time we added more samurai moves, which was an equally interesting player fantasy to explore, it sort of diluted the stealth of the shinobi. It's hard to keep players in a stealth mindset when they can take out five enemies in combat. So we we decided to move towards having the two characters with each an emblematic gameplay feel of both the shinobi and samurai, with strength and weaknesses. It gave us a stealth archetypes with drawbacks in combat and a strong combat archetype with stealth limitation. Both Naoe and Yasuke play very differently. The decision, while challenging to implement, really gave us a great opportunity to tell a story from different perspectives and make for an interesting team that you can freely bounce from one to another and give more gameplay and storytelling depth.

Gamereactor: What was the hardest part of bringing a Feudal Japanese setting to life in Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Dumont: With each setting we do in Assassin's Creed, it's like going back to school as we dive into research and try to learn as much as possible. It's a humbling journey and there is so much information and you hope that can make a game that feels credible and does justice to the setting.

One of the biggest challenges for Feudal Japan, was that we wanted to capture the natural world in all its might. We wanted to feel the wind, the rain, the snow, but also see the world through the cycle of the four dynamic seasons. It was a huge technological and artistic task for us.

Gamereactor: Since the RPG-inspired framework introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins, what lessons have you learned from that transition that impacted Shadows?

Dumont: The AC Shadows team is a continuation of the AC Odyssey team, so we have already developed RPG style Assassin's Creed. I think the biggest lesson that we have learned and tried to apply to AC Shadows is that we have a wide spectrum of players that come to AC for different reasons. Some love the older games, some like the newer more RPG style. With AC Shadows we tried to give gameplay that bridges both game styles with a return to stealth and parkour in a large open-world RPG structure or options such as Canon Mode or guaranteed assassinations for players to craft their experience.

Gamereactor: Some people describe Ubisoft's world designs as being "map marker"-driven. What are your thoughts on this? Is exploration and world design a one-size-fits-all, or are there different layers in this approach?

Dumont: Actually, we have made a few changes to exploration in AC Shadows. We wanted players to observe the world much more to find what they are looking for, making the journey more enjoyable. We do not mark most quests on the map and let people discover their targets using a combination of clues, deduction, and our new observation mechanic. In addition, players build a league of scouts and allies that can help to narrow down their search.

Gamereactor: I'm sure you're tired of some of the discourse, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts on Yasuke as a character, why you ultimately chose him, and whether some of the more... let's say particular feedback was expected on behalf of the dev teams involved?

Dumont: I guess some of it was a bit expected, but we believed and still believe that Yasuke is great character for the Assassin's Creed universe. Aside from the gameplay aspects, where his gameplay is very different from Naoe, he is a very intriguing historical character that allowed us to create a rich narrative from the little historical information we had. I don't want to spoil his story and how he is connected to our lore, but his unique perspective of a man between two worlds, who is given a new chance in Japan, complemented Naoe's character very well.