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I kind of messed up, guys. In assuming that Assassin's Creed Shadows would be like the series' past RPG entries – think the largely inconsequential player decisions in Valhalla and Odyssey, for example – I discovered that it's possible to be such a stubborn, vengeful asshole that recruitable allies refuse to join your cause.
I'm roleplaying Naoe and Yasuke very differently. Yasuke is my loyal himbo, frequently smashing through bamboo fencing and barrelling into NPCs completely by accident before stopping to pet a kitten. Naoe, on the other hand, is a bit of an ice queen. I take every opportunity I can to be short with everyone I meet, blinkered by an unwavering pull toward vengeance. But here's the snag – Assassin's Creed Shadows is trying to teach Naoe that blind brutality is not always necessary, and the first recruitable ally I meet is proof of that hidden morality lesson starting to emerge.
Yaya the yoyo
I don't mean to be mean (well, maybe I do) but I never felt too strongly about Yaya. The warrior monk is a one-woman tank, sure, but her whole ethos of forgiveness seems to jar against mine. She sees her justice as righteous, free from the bonds of rage-induced violence. My Naoe sees it as weak.
I have no idea what transpires when playing Assassin's Creed Shadows' canon mode, but to let myself be strayed from Naoe's cause simply because "big lady wants me to be nicer" just does not make sense to me this early on. It's why I had Naoe command Yaya's errant brother to murder one of Lord Nobunaga's samurai, despite her pleas to show mercy and the very clear on-screen warning that this would impact my relationship with her, after assassinating Wada Koretaka. Yaya's personal questline, Stray Dogs, follows shortly after, and it almost feels like she is trying to condescendingly berate me for my actions through it.
It's an example of didactic storytelling – I accompany Yaya on a series of visits to members of her group who have acted dishonorably, and help her decide what to do with them. One such defiant troop had fled into a nearby temple in fear of being reprimanded by Yaya, and when I convince him to leave with me, the warrior monk herself is waiting. After giving him a (very powerful, undoubtedly painful) clip around the ear in a fit of fury, she calms herself and turns to me. Should he be punished, or forgiven? Punished, I say with confidence, only for Yaya to forgive him anyway. The same goes for the next unfortunate soul on our list – one of Yaya's brethren has attacked a nearby village, and instead of making an example of him as I suggest, she chooses kindness again.
Warring conscience
Perhaps foregoing all mercy would make us nothing better than the Shinbakufu after all?
Ultimately, by refusing to play a part in Yaya's series of teachable moments, she refuses my offer to join Naoe's ikki and stand against the corruptive forces that have caused so much death in the region. The moment, though easy to foresee, still surprised me. It's the first time in the history of the franchise that I've seemed to lose access to an ally by simply standing for the whole purpose of playing the game. The bare bones of the best Assassin's Creed games are about two things: taking down bad, Templar-shaped people, and exacting vengeance upon those who wrong us. Yet here stands Shadows, boldly trying to convince me that violence is not the way in a game that has historically been all about violence.
The interesting thing is that after unlocking Yasuke and experiencing more of his own storyline, I'm starting to see Yaya's point. There is a difference between blind slaughter and precise justice. Perhaps foregoing all mercy would make us nothing better than the Shinbakufu after all? Between Yasuke's entrenched loyalty, tinged with a tendency to punish oathbreakers, and Naoe's pain hardening her spirit, I'm intrigued to see how Shadow's somewhat hidden "morality system" works out for them both. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, sure, but maybe a fledgling shinobi and masterless samurai have more to learn besides.
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