Assassin's Creed Shadows trailer and everything we know about the game so far

The first trailer for Assassin's Creed Shadows has been released, showcasing two heroes available to the player. One of them is the first black samurai in Japanese history, Yasuke, a companion of Oda Nobunaga. The other is a more traditional assassin-shinobi, Naoe.

It seems that the heroes of Assassin's Creed Shadows will find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict but will unite together against a common enemy. Yasuke and Naoe will work to build trust in each other, with the samurai adapting to a completely different world around him.

The trailer indicates that Yasuke prefers a samurai fighting style, while Naoe's hidden work more closely resembles the traditional origins of the AC series. It seems Ubisoft is trying to find a balance between old and new gameplay in Assassin's Creed and will offer the player the chance to use both play styles. Having two heroes will allow switching between stealthy and more brutal styles depending on the situation.

"This immediately creates such a difference. Yasuke can fight using all his advantages, his physique, he's a big guy. He can break down the door, he can fight multiple enemies, he can pierce armor. Compare that to Naoe. Her character and her attire, it's all about being unnoticed and unrecognizable. She's the only one with hidden blades, so she has clear advantages that enable her to hide and fight, even if you can do both," said game director Charles Benoit.

Assistant director Brooke Davis described Naoe as a very active, passionate, and determined woman focused on her goals: "She holds her heart on her sleeve and will say what she feels in the heat of the moment, and there's this intensity she brings as a shinobi, but it also exists in relationships." Davis described Yasuke as thoughtful and deliberative in contrast to Naoe.

Earlier this week, Ubisoft unintentionally revealed the game's release date: placeholder text in today's trailer, quickly removed by the publisher, showed the date of November 15, which was confirmed today by the trailer.

Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the next major game in the Ubisoft Quebec franchise, following the success of Assassin's Creed Valhalla in 2020. Developer Marc-Alexis Cote, who was a creative director and producer on some Assassin's Creed games, described Shadows as the "next premium flagship Ubisoft and the future of our RPG games with an open world in Assassin's Creed."

Creative director Jonathan Dumont talked about the map of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which occupies a part of 16th century Japan. This region is about the same size as a part of Ancient Egypt in Origins, but it is based on a more realistic scale. Dumont explains that the environment feels broader in Shadows compared to Origins. Ubisoft "really wanted the mountains to feel like mountains," the same goes for Japanese castles. Game director Charles Benoit says the castles are so large that each is a level in itself. Each one is a separate big adventure.