- Assassin’s Creed Shadows art director Thierry Dansereau has discussed the game recently
- He explained why the historical figure Yasuke was chosen to be one of the game’s main characters
- “It gave us the opportunity to play and see Japan as a foreigner, like most of our players,” he said
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is officially a year old, and art director Thierry Dansereau reflected on why his team featured the historical samurai Yasuke at an event held to celebrate the game’s anniversary.
“Yasuke is the first historical protagonist who Assassin’s Creed games have,” he said. “We did it because Yasuke, from the historical knowledge we gathered, [was] close to Oda Nobunaga, who is one of the main characters of the game.”
Before becoming a samurai, the historical figure was of African origin and is believed to have arrived in Japan during the Sengoku period in the service of a Jesuit missionary, an event depicted early in the game. In addition to his closeness to Nobunaga, Dansereau said that Yasuke’s status as a foreigner was a major reason why he was chosen to play in the game.
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“It gave us the opportunity to play and see Japan as a foreigner, like most of our players,” he said. “He discovers Japan at the same time as the player.”
According to Dansereau, Yasuke’s apparent size and strength also made him a good choice, and along with the inclusion of the fictional ninja Naoe, allowed the team to portray one of two “very strong fantasies” of the period: “the shinobi and the samurai.”
“We didn’t want to have one character archetype at all, and Yasuke fulfilled that fantasy of the samurai quite well, while Naoe embodied the fantasy of the shinobi,” he explained. “There are many reasons, but Yasuke was the obvious choice for us to put into the game.”
At the same event, held at The British Museum, where footage from the game features in the ongoing Samurai exhibition, Yasuke actor Tongayi Chirisa also discussed his role in the “massive” game.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is currently available for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
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