Assassin's Creed Shadows canon mode doesn't include romance because it's too "personal": "It was better to not make it canon"

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But, but, but, but

Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Love may not be dead, but it certainly isn't canon – not according to the Assassin's Creed Shadows developers at Ubisoft.

During a recent Reddit AMA, a dev named Luc explained to fans that romance is completely left out of Shadows' canon mode because Ubisoft didn't think it made sense. "It is something that is so personal," Luc said.

"We felt, for an AC RPG game, it was better to not make [romance] canon and let each player define their own canon for this," Luc continued. In Shadows' non-canon mode – which allows players more flexibility in choosing dialogue and quest outcomes – protagonists Yasuke and Naoe both have two substantial love interests, and more options for innocent flirting.

I should clarify – it's disappointing, but not surprising. After Odyssey, some Assassin's Creed players complained about being supposedly forced into love. Now, Shadows' fans think the game's sexless downgrade might be those other guys' fault. One player on Reddit summarizes this sentiment in a response to Luc, saying, "There are plenty of romance stories in AC franchise, and if this was scrapped only because of backlash from Odyssey, it is wrong decision."

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Ashley Bardhan
Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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