Assassin’s Creed Shadows Lets You Stick with One Protagonist for Most of the Game; Exploration Loop Is Sherlock-Like

Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the first new entry since 2020's Valhalla. In that game, players had to choose at the start whether to play with a female or male main character (Eivor Varinsdottir), but in the new installment, there will be two separate protagonists: the shinobi Naoe and the samurai Yasuke.

In case you were wondering to which extent Assassin's Creed Shadows will dictate who you're playing with, associate director Simon Lemay-Comtois told GamesRadar that players would be able to stick with their favorite protagonist for most of the game if they wish.

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If you want to be only one character, you can for most of the game. So we're not really strong-arming anyone to switch back and forth. There are setups that are definitely better with Naoe, such as, if there's a bunch of bandits in a cavern that is very, very dark, sure you can go with Yasuke, but if you go with Naoe, it'll be quicker because it's in the dark. So there are some hints like this, but other than story missions that are particularly tailor made for one or the other, we don't specify who needs to be played at this moment, it's up to the players.

This is a similar approach to Marvel's Spider-Man 2, another game with dual protagonists in which you could play as either Miles Morales or Peter Parker during most of the open-world missions.

In case you're interested in the differences between Naoe and Yasuke, our freshly posted Assassin's Creed Shadows preview from Summer Game Fest outlines them very clearly:

A massive studded club was Yasuke’s primary weapon in the Assassin’s Creed Shadows demos, which would be swung around like a baseball bat and squish ashigaru skulls like overripe tomatoes. For enemies that take more than a single strike to down, Yasuke’s mighty swings rip through the air and smash into their armor to strip their breastplates off in the streets. Charged attacks and a trio of special skills each