Assassin’s Creed Shadows: What New Controversy is Surrounding the Game? [VIDEO]

The French publisher’s game (which could well determine the future of Ubisoft, as not much has been going right for the Yves Guillemot-led company lately…) has once again become a divisive issue.

 

After seeing new gameplay showing Yasuke attacking a shrine in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, some people were outraged, but fans of the franchise fought back, saying that this is nothing new in the series. Over the years, many games have become more sensitive about how they handle potentially sensitive topics, but for some franchises, players believe that controversial material is acceptable and it’s up to the audience to decide what they want to do or see in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The portrayal of Yasuke, one of the game’s main characters, has been criticized in the past. Many believe that her presence alone is anomalous, as the game portrays her as a black person living in Sengoku-era Japan, which would have been generally implausible. However, Yasuke is cited as a special case by the developers and various historians, as records prove that this particular person existed and was granted special privileges as a samurai holder (most notably access to swords).

Some, such as Japanese YouTuber Kondo Shohei, reacted with outrage, saying that Yasuke’s destruction of a religious site implied that he was consuming Japanese culture while disrespecting it. Kondo believes that Assassin’s Creed Shadows represents the way in which hatred towards Asians is rejected. Some may argue that while Kondo and others may be right about the treatment of Asian people and media from their culture, the characters of the Assassin’s Creed franchise may not be the best choice for this particular critique.

Fans have pointed out that the Assassin’s Creed series does not intentionally target people as the focus of violence. The mobs the players fight are usually the supposed demographics of the country at the time, as well as any artistic license that comes with creating fiction inspired by history. In the first Assassin’s Creed, we typically fought European crusaders. In the fourth (Black Flag), we clashed with black and indigenous pirates and European soldiers in the Caribbean. And in this latest installment, we’re up against various Japanese samurai and foot soldiers. The series’ beloved protagonist Ezio infamously took down the villain of Assassin’s Creed II, Pope Alexander VI, in a fistfight…

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available on March 20th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, Amazon Luna and Mac.

Source: GameRant

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