Summary
- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba recently addressed concerns regarding a specific scene in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
- The scene depicts Yasuke destroying Itatehyozu Shrine, a real-life location in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture.
- Assassin's Creed Shadows is scheduled to be released on March 20.
The controversy surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows hasn't escaped the attention of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, especially when it comes to the in-game defacing of a Shinto shrine. The prime minister is calling for talks with several other top government officials to discuss the best way to deal with potential responses to what is seen by some as one of the more problematic segments in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Assassin's Creed Shadows releases on March 20, but its pre-release period has been one of the most contentious in recent memory. Putting aside the complaints about the official title assigned to Yasuke, one-half of Assassin's Creed Shadows' dual protagonists, the game has been put under an intense amount of scrutiny for everything from perceived similarities to the anime and manga series One Piece to questions surrounding its cultural authenticity.
Naoe's Actor Immediately Connected with the Assassin's Creed Shadows Protagonist
MASUMI makes her video game debut in Assassin's Creed Shadows as the shinobi Naoe, a role she was deeply connected to from the first audition.
One newer Assassin's Creed Shadows controversy in particular is centered around a segment of the game in which Yasuke destroys Itatehyozu Shrine. That real-life location is located in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, and is overseen in the nation's House of Councillors by Hiroyuki Kada, who had a serious question for the prime minister regarding whether the upcoming game will encourage real-life acts of vandalism and destruction against shrines in Japan, according to a translation provided by IGN. Ishiba's response was predicated on the condition that someone would actually carry out a similar act to what is depicted in the game, though if it were to happen, he said it would be an insult to all of Japan. "Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them,” he said, via the translation.
Assassin's Creed Shadows Controversy Attracts the Japanese Prime Minister's Attention
This is far from the first instance of the game causing a stir in its pre-release state. Last May, the Wikipedia page for Yasuke was altered more than 50 times in a single day as critics of the game opposing the concept of a real-life black samurai took issue with his description despite historical records depicting him as a member of the court of daimyo Nobunaga Oda.
The development team at Ubisoft Quebec has made it quite clear that the upcoming action RPG is a work of historical fiction and that its members have put a lot of work into presenting a new story set in an accurate representation of late-16th-century Japan. This, in part, has led to delays in Assassin's Creed Shadows' release, as developers have cited cultural and historical accuracy as one of the reasons for moving the game off its previous planned launch dates of November 15, 2024, and February 14, 2025.
Assassin's Creed Shadows
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- March 20, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Quebec
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
