Assassin's Creed: Shadows: Historian Spots Minor Innacuracy

In a new video, Walt Mussell, and amateur Japanese historian, reacts to Assassin's Creed: Shadows gameplay. He spots one minor inaccuracy about Yasuke's weapon.

Matt Buckley

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Source: Ubisoft

A new video posted by Gamology features Walt Mussell, an author of Japanese historical fiction and amateur Japanese historian, reacting to footage of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The footage is some of the earliest gameplay of the two protagonists of Ubisoft’s upcoming game. The shinobi, Naoe, is seen quietly assassinating enemies and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, while Yasuke dispatches a group of enemies in broad daylight. Since this game’s announcement, some have chosen to question its inclusion of certain characters, but they might be disappointed by what Mussell has to say.

Historian finds minor inaccuracy in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows portrayal of Japanese samurai

Since the protagonists of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows were revealed last year, some fans have been slightly divided, to say the least. Yasuke is notable in the history of the Assassin’s Creed games for being the first time a historical figure is a playable character. Fans have picked apart details in the early trailers such as the Oda family crest appearing upside down. But others, perhaps most notably, Elon Musk, have had other problems with the game.

While reacting to Assassin’s Creed: Shadows gameplay, amateur historian Walt Mussell responded to several common questions and comments. Mussell explained that some comments have asked if there were female shinobi in central Japan, to which he responded: “the shinobi there tended to be male, however, as we see Yasuke…during his time of service to Oda Nobunaga, he did get into what was the area of the Takeda clan, and the Takeda clan reportedly did have female shinobi.” This suggests that it would make sense for Naoe to be part of this story, according to the position in history that the game takes place in.

Mussell also added an interesting story about Yasuke and Oda Nobunaga’s assassination. At the time, Yasuke was one of Nobunaga’s most trusted bodyguards, so when Nobunaga is surrounded by enemies and decides to take his own life, Yasuke is trusted with protecting his succession. In order to further his claim as the new shogun, the traitor Akechi Mitsuhide, needed Nobunaga’s head. Instead, Yasuke took the head to Nobunaga’s son. How a non-Japanese man who was a foot taller than everyone around him was able to discreetly accomplish this mission is not known, but it is a fitting trait for a character to be included in an Assassin’s Creed game.

Mussell comments further on Yasuke, “seeing him in this character is probably one of the things I enjoy the most. Fifteen months of the time he is with Nobunaga and he changes the course of Japanese history.” If Yasuke had not gotten the head of Nobunaga to his son, if instead Akechi Mitsuhide was able to use it to claim power, the history of Japan would have been forever changed.

One thing bothered Mussell about the gameplay, and it was one of Yasuke’s weapons. “It’s what he’s carrying in the back… It’s called a kanabo. It’s like a Japanese-style mace… but the kanabo is predominately a 14th century weapon, not a 16th century [weapon],” which is the period where Assassin’s Creed: Shadows takes place. Mussell described it as odd. The weapon is slightly out of place historically, not impossible, just odd.

This video is likely to stir up further controversy among Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’ already divided fanbase. The game has already been delayed twice, first from November to February, and then from February to March. Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft has had a slew of underperforming games over the last year, to the point that earlier this week they announced layoffs, so the company’s future may rely on the success of Shadows. For now, we will have to wait and see how fans respond and how that eventually impacts the success of the game.

Assassin's Creed: Shadows

March 20, 2025

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Matt Buckley

Author: Matt Buckley

After studying creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Matt published a travel blog based on a two-month solo journey around the world, wrote for SmarterTravel, and worked on an Antarctic documentary series for NOVA, Antarctic Extremes. Today, for Gamepressure, Matt covers Nintendo news and writes reviews for Switch and PC titles. Matt enjoys RPGs like Pokemon and Breath of the Wild, as well as fighting games like Super Smash Bros., and the occasional action game like Ghostwire Tokyo or Gods Will Fall. Outside of video games, Matt is also a huge Dungeons & Dragons nerd, a fan of board games like Wingspan, an avid hiker, and after recently moving to California, an amateur surfer.