Racists Cry After Ubisoft Unveiled Yasuke as a Protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Shadows
In the year 2024, racists are angry that a video game’s main protagonist is a Black historical figure. When Ubisoft announced its cancellation of Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland, they also announced the release date of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed Shadows will take place in feudal Japan and one of the main protagonists is Yasuke, an enslaved African man brought to Japan by Italian missionary Alessandro Valignano and subsequently became a samurai to daimyo Oda Nabunaga. This should not be controversial, but, well, you know racists.
What We Know About Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Due to release on November 15, 2024, Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in 16th-century feudal Japan. As players explore Japan throughout the late Azuchi-Momoyama era, they will take on the roles of two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke.
Who is Naoe?
Naoe is a 17-year-old, young shinobi woman and the fictional daughter of the very real, historical icon Fujibayashi Nagato of Iga. She was trained by her father to rival him in skills and Fujibayashi was one of the best ninjas throughout history. Naoe is compassionate and driven and works toward taking care of her people and those who are helpless victims of the Second Tenshō Iga War. Naoe’s combat will focus on stealth, parkour, and the use of gadgets. In other words, she’s a compassionate badass ninja.
Who Was Yasuke?
Yasuke is a historical figure in Japanese history, known as the first Black samurai, and worked as a retainer for Oda Nobunaga. Originally from Mozambique, Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 as a servant of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. Yasuke's imposing height and strength caught the attention of the powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga, a key figure in the unification of Japan. Nobunaga was so impressed by Yasuke's appearance and abilities that he took him into his service and bestowed upon him the status of a samurai, where he served Nobunaga loyally and fought alongside him in several battles. Yasuke’s fighting style will focus on being armored and being combat-oriented.
Credit: Ubisoft
Different Player Experiences Through Different Characters
In addition to having completely different playstyles, the two protagonists also experience Japan differently. Japan is Naoe’s home. She knows the terrain, the people, the culture. Yasuke, on the other hand, has been in Japan only a short time and therefore will be discovering Japan, giving players the experience of discovering Japan while he’s discovering it.
The two also have different class statuses which affect how NPCs and other characters interact with them. Naoe would be considered a peasant. Yasuke, even though he was from a foreign land, attained the title of samurai and therefore was considered part of the nobility, garnering respect from passersby.
Controversy Surrounding Yasuke as a Main Protagonist in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
In Ubisoft’s May 15 news update, Ubisoft said that they chose Yasuke as one of the protagonists because “Ubisoft Quebec wanted to include a Samurai, and Yasuke’s story was open-ended enough to allow for creativity; there are still plenty of questions and speculation surrounding him.” No one knows what happened to him after the death of Oda Nobunaga, so the possibilities for his life were endless, even with Yasuke being a real historical figure.
The discourse surrounding Yasuke as one of the two protagonists of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is mostly unfounded and based on racism. All across Twitter, there are cries of “Another woke video game” and “Why don’t they just make a game in Africa?” Assassin’s Creed Origins—hello! There’s plenty of “forced DEI,” the new dog whistle that racists and misogynists like to throw out. One Twitter user even called it “pure racism” that the protagonist isn’t Japanese. And then there’s the outcry of “I feel sad for the people of Japan” from non-Asian people on Twitter. People do not think before typing on social media, otherwise, why ignore Naoe, the Japanese protagonist?
Meanwhile, across social media, Japanese content creators are trying to educate others about the history of Yasuke and why he was a samurai. However non-Japanese folk try to “teach” Japanese people about Japanese history and culture and what a samurai is and isn’t. During AAPI, people are whitesplaining Japanese history and culture to Japanese people because they’re upset about a Black samurai being one of the protagonists of a video game set in the era he literally existed in.
One thing’s for certain, whether racists and misogynists buy Assassin’s Creed Shadows or not, Ubisoft is getting plenty of free marketing from them. Either way, the game looks great and we can’t wait to see some gameplay.
