When Assassin’s Creed Shadows drops on November 15, queer gamers everywhere may have a reason to celebrate as it seems the game’s developer, Ubisoft, might have subtly confirmed two of its main characters identify as LGBTQ+.
The company discussed the upcoming game in a blog post posted on their website, where they mentioned characters Naoe and Yasuke have “disparate personalities” that lead them to “have different relationships and rapports with other characters.”
Fantasy mirrors reality when they continue, “They don’t always feel the same way about people, nor do people always feel the same way about them.”
I heard that.
Ubisoft
Although there isn’t any confirmation about what the “different relationships and rapports” may mean, it’s also worth noting that this round of Assassin’s Creed brought along Dartmouth Associate Professor Sachi Schmidt-Hori, who says she is “interested in investigating how gender, sexuality, corporeality, and power are represented and negotiated in pre-seventeenth-century Japanese narratives and illustrations.”
When Naoe and Yasuke find each other, Ubisoft said that, romantically, “they will also attract and be attracted to different types of people. Through the pair, players will get to experience a multitude of relationships.”
Ubisoft
The timeline of the game hones in on the late Sengoku period during the 16th century that birthed three of Japan’s most important and well-known figures in history.
Outside of the potential queer storylines, Ubisoft said they’re “in the process of iteration and review, spending a great deal of time ensuring the details are just right.” Since Shadows introduces “a number of innovations to the series,” which is all about “the journey through Japan,” it’s pretty crucial they get all of these details down.
At the moment, it’s still just speculation in regard to the sexuality of Naoe and Yasuke. Still, it seems promising that the game will at least take a moment to explore the possibilities, which is also a good step in the right direction.
For now, we’ll all have to wait until November 15 to see how this story really pans out.
