Commentary: ‘Assassins Creed: Shadows’ Takes A New Approach Between The Assassin’s Journey
by Frank Martin
Any franchise is going to run into trouble when it starts putting out double-digit installments. This rings especially true for stories that are built on a formula. Assassin’s Creed certainly seems like one of these franchises. It’s put out an incredible number of games, most featuring a character that joins the Brotherhood and kills corrupt figures from the shadows. After so many games, the series runs the risk of tiring its formula out, so it has to constantly think of new ways to approach the Assassin Brotherhood and how characters pledge its creed. With Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, the story wisely subverts a traditional assassin journey by having its characters honoring the Brotherhood’s Creed in memory without officially joining them.
By the time the events of Shadows begins, the Brotherhood has already reached Japan and fallen. One of the protagonists, Naoe (Masumi Tsunoda), had a mother who was an Assassin. While trying to honor her mother’s legacy, Naoe unknowingly honors the Creed while also bringing those who destroyed her family to justice. Meanwhile, Yasuke (Tongayi Chirisa) is a Black samurai who was brought to the island as a slave by a Templar, the Assassins’ sworn enemies. In attempting to get revenge against the group, he also unknowingly takes up the Assassins’ mission and the Creed.
Previous Assassin’s Creed games such as Brotherhood, Syndicate, and Unity had characters who were fully entrenched in the way of an Assassin’s life. Even games like Odyssey and Origins — both of which took place before the official formation of the group — still have connections to the mythos. However, Shadows is something different. The Brotherhood is merely a memory during the story. The protagonists are forced to recreate the Creed on their own without anyone teaching it to them. It creates a new way of approaching the Creed that has not been seen before in all of the franchise’s many installments. It’s impressive that even after all of these games, the series still finds new ways to approach its subject matter.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is now out from Ubisoft.