Romance has always played some role in the Assassin's Creed franchise, whether that was Altair and Marie, Ezio and Sofia, Desmond and Lucy, Edward and Caroline, Arno and Elise, or Bayek and Aya. It wasn't until Assassin's Creed Odyssey that Ubisoft gave the power to tell those stories to players, introducing romance options for the first time in the franchise. That trend continued with Assassin's Creed Valhalla and does so with Assassin's Creed Shadows as well.
Unlike AC Odyssey and AC Valhalla, however, Assassin's Creed Shadows features a canon mode that removes most choices from the game. Doing so allows players to follow the "canon" story that Ubisoft may build on in the future, with the inclusion of canon mode being a direct response to fan feedback. It's the best of both worlds for those who do or do not want choice in their Assassin's Creed game, but many have been curious how this applioes to romance. For The Best War Games Advance, we recently spoke with associate narrative director Brooke Davies about romance options in Assassin's Creed Shadows (and how this feature works with canon mode).
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Assassin's Creed Shadows is the first franchise entry to feature both romance options and two playable protagonists. As such, players are able to explore unique romance possibilities and connections per protagonist. As Davies explained, the development team wanted to explore multiple connections and relationship styles when it comes to romance in Assassin's Creed Shadows, including but not limited to "platonic bonds to brief sparks and deep, lasting love." Each type of relationship is important, and embodying all of them with different options for each character shows how much thought and effort was put into developing this feature. In a standard playthrough, players can pursue whichever romance they prefer (as along as they are available to that character).
Love in the Air
Furthermore, love is a personal thing (even in the form of digital romance). As such, there is no romance in canon mode. As Davies confirmed,
When designing and dreaming about romance in Shadows, we knew that we wanted to explore a range of connections and relationships ranging from platonic bonds to brief sparks and deep, lasting love that allow Naoe and Yasuke to explore different parts of themselves. Because Naoe and Yasuke are different people, they each have unique romance possibilities and connections. None of our love stories are canon, so players can choose for themselves who—or who not—to pursue. For this reason, in the canon mode, which is removing choices to provide a more linear experience to players, there is no romance possible.
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
