Assassin's Creed Shadows officially revealed, bringing the series to Japan and coming to Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC in November 2024

What you need to know

• Assassin's Creed Shadows is the next big game in the long-running Assassin's Creed franchise.

• Previously known as Codename Red, Assassin's Creed Shadows takes players to feudal Japan, with samurai and ninja warfare wreaking havoc.

• There are two protagonists, with both the historical figure Yasuke and the ninja Naoe being available to play as.

• Assassin's Creed Shadows is set to launch on Nov. 15, 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.

One iconic franchise is, at long last, fulfilling some big player wishes.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is the next big entry in the long-running Assassin's Creed series. Players have asked for years for a game set in Japan, and it's finally happening this year. Previously revealed as Codename Red, Assassin's Creed Shadows gives players two different protagonists to play as, with a mysterious ninja named Naoe Fujibayashi, as well as the historic African samurai, Yasuke.

You can check out the full cinematic trailer below:

As one of the retainers in service to lord Oda Nobunaga, Yasuke has been trained as a samurai, using powerful weapons and armor to carve his way through numerically superior foes. Meanwhile, Naoe Fujibayashi is a trained ninja Assassin, using stealth and weapons like shuriken or the Hidden Blade to dispatch her targets.

Per the official reveal page for the game, Assassin's Creed Shadows features dynamic environments, with new challenges cropping up for players to deal with based on weather and changing seasons.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is slated to launch on Nov. 15, 2024, with early access for anyone preordering the Gold or Ultimate editions of the game. Preorders are currently going live across various platforms like Xbox and the Ubisoft storefront.

Analysis: Interesting, but let's see more

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Assassin's Creed always has amazing cinematic trailers, and I really expected no less here. I'm definitely interested in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but I do want to see and learn more.

As much fun as I've had with these games, many of them can be, bluntly, bloated. I like Assassin's Creed Valhalla more than many of my friends, but that game would genuinely have been much better if it was half the size. I'm not expecting this to be anywhere near as small as last year's throwback title Assassin's Creed Mirage, but maybe it can still show some sign of restraint.

The witchcraft-themed Codename Hexe (which was revealed alongside Code Red at the same 2022 event) remains the most intriguing thing to me about the Assassin's Creed lineup, but I know that's still years away, so I'm happy to wait.

Going for Yasuke as one of the protagonists is also really intriguing. Assassin's Creed is no stranger to including historical figures as characters in the games, but the series has usually shied away from making them playable. I'm assuming there's a key reason for this shift in tone and approach? Regardless, I'm eager to learn more.