Assassin’s Creed has always had the advantage of being able to experiment with numerous historical settings, with each game set in a different era and usually introducing a new protagonist. Not only does this help Ubisoft keep things fresh even 17 years after the series’ debut, but it also covers a wide range of content that fans of varied tastes can get behind.
From the streets of Italy to the open world of Greece, the fanbase has visited places all across the globe, but long before the studio launched the trailer for Shadows, the community had been asking for a game set in Japan.
Now that Assassin’s Creed is finally taking action to a historical Japanese period, it raises a concerning sentiment. The franchise shouldn’t have taken this long to listen to the fans, because it may be too late.
The Japan-Set Assassin’s Creed Will Find It Hard to Escape Ghost of Tsushima Comparisons
Four years ago, it seemed like Ubisoft was ignoring the fanbase as it was gearing up to launch Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, with no signs of a Japan-set game in the series. Trying its hand at Norse mythology, Valhalla continued to focus on the role-playing elements previously introduced in Origins and Odyssey, but the franchise’s roots were nowhere to be found.
A few months before the studio launched its Viking title, Sony Interactive Entertainment brought Sucker Punch Productions back to the forefront of the gaming industry after many years with the release of Ghost of Tsushima, as it proved to be one of the greatest samurai game experiences in recent times.
The initially PlayStation 4 exclusive action-adventure title set an extremely high benchmark for how a video game set in Japan can feel authentic, exciting, artistically masterful, and highly immersive. Aside from being an excellent single-player narrative journey, Sucker Punch Productions also introduced an addicting multiplayer mode called Legends, and it truly felt like a complete Japanese spectacle.
As Ghost of Tsushima raised the bar and became a standard for any future Japan-set video games, including Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin, released earlier this year, what once was an anticipated Assassin’s Creed installment now has to follow in the footsteps of and live up to the Sucker Punch effort.
Nowadays, Ubisoft Always Seems to Be Playing Catch-up With Other Studios
Shortly after Ubisoft unleashed the explosive trailer for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the gaming community started to see some clear inspirations and obvious similarities that plenty of shots in the footage share with Sucker Punch Productions’ title.
Ghost Of Tsushima – Assassin’s Creed Shadows
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Before Ghost of Tsushima made its grand entrance, the idea of a historical Japanese open world that truly respected its culture was just an exciting concept that quite a few players wanted to experience.
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One can argue that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed installment will also focus on its shinobi protagonist, but that is also something that FromSoftware expertly implemented in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in 2019, leaving very little room to be thrilled for Shadows amid a seemingly saturated Japan-set video game market.
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If Ubisoft had actually paid attention to what its fanbase wanted and given it an epic Japanese experience before FromSoftware and Sucker Punch Productions, maybe Shadows would have had a better chance at succeeding in a rapidly evolving gaming landscape.
It is also interesting to note that one of the two protagonists, Yasuke, seems to be contemplating his previous actions as a samurai, and since he will be teaming up with Naoe, does that not technically make him a ronin because he is not following a lord or master any longer?
Well, even that may have been an interesting element, if not for the existence of Rise of the Ronin, which was also recently published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
With the shinobi aspect covered in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the samurai elements introduced in Ghost of Tsushima, and the ronin concept implemented in Rise of the Ronin, there does not seem to be anything innovative that Ubisoft can associate Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ Japanese setting with.
The Japan-set space is not the only gaming realm that the developer is playing catch up in, as even its long-overdue first-person shooter title XDefiant has been trying to make the same level of impact as the Call of Duty franchise.
Who knows, maybe both of Ubisoft’s upcoming video games manage to drastically exceed expectations once they are released, but for now, it all seems like more of the same.
Do you think Shadows will pave its own path and emerge as a standout video game? Or will it fall into oblivion amid all of the comparisons that await it? Let us know in the comments!
