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Assassin's Creed Shadows offers a very freeform open world to journey across as both Naoe and Yasuke, but there's still plenty within that which is meticulously planned and authored. Talking with Ubisoft Quebec's David Nibbelin, the game's realization and cinematic director, he tells me his role is easiest to think about as "almost like the emotional flow director". Beyond specific cutscenes and cinematic sequences, a lot has gone into the game to ensure you're always feeling like you're along for the ride with the heroic duo.
Nibbelin explains his role encompasses direction of performance capture, as well as being involved with the cutscenes, "but it's also being in the realization aspect". Like in my conversation with technical director Pierre Fortin, many systems in Assassin's Creed Shadows come together to share that workload. "How can we drive the story to the rest of the game," says Nibbelin, "in terms of the transitions, the cinematography, the weather, and all the tools that we have to help deliver our storyline to the player?"
Two paths
More deeper dives needed? Our Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar coverage hub is home to plenty of exclusive access.
With two heroes in Naoe and Yasuke, and the choice to play a majority of missions as either, I ask how Nibbelin and the team thread having essentially two versions of a lot of scenes. "It's an opportunity," says Nibbelin. "We get a chance to kind of flavor our cutscenes with a little bit of each character. I know one of my big keywords for this project is 'perspective', because [we're] not trying to show Japan from a very clinical or an overriding stereotypical view. It's not a documentary. We really wanted you to live this history."
Two protagonists means two perspectives ripe for players to dive into. "I think the idea of being able to explore both of those and then let the player kind of see how their experience changes between the characters is something that we were really excited to try," says Nibbelin. When you can jump in as Naoe or Yasuke, "between obviously a samurai and a villager from Iga, the reactions of NPCs are going to be different."
But having the both of them also serves a dual narrative and mechanical purpose too. "We also have what we call shared cutscenes and try to bookend a lot of our quests with these, where both characters are involved," says Nibbelin. "You get a chance to compare their two perspectives on a situation. A lot of times, when you're opening up a new big quest series, it's a way of both of them sort of weighing in, and we get to kind of see how they both look at this. And then from there, the player can decide, 'well, which perspective do I kind of relate with here? Which direction do I want to go? It's almost like a little sampler of 'how do you want to take on this quest?'"
Of course, some quests are also specific to either Naoe or Yasuke, as you explore playable flashbacks or undertake more personal missions (be they romance or vengeance). "It's an interesting dichotomy, I think, because of something I was talking about with a co-worker not too long ago – about how much agency we have in our game versus trying to tell a rich origin story," says Nibbelin. "That's kind of been one of our challenges for this game. We want to give the player so much agency to go through in the open world and explore, but we have such a compelling origin story for both characters that we want to express, and we want the player to experience."
It's a lot to juggle. Two characters together, apart, sometimes at different moments of their life, and sequences that can play out in different orders. One assassination mission may affect how you think about the next, but what about if you did them the other way around? Or if you'd seen one slice of Yasuke's past before a mission where he's fighting for his future? "It's almost like finding a way to sort of allow the player to witness the pieces of each character individually and a sense of where they came from," says Nibbelin, while also "learning as you go, what pain and trauma [they have], how are they crafted to get to this point."
Nobunaga's ambition
"We're trying to tell you a story about these two people and how they see [death]."
With a game as large and varied as Assassin's Creed Shadows, the violence of the Sengoku era isn't this story's only defining element. Some missions are all about building connections. One, for instance, solely focuses on Naoe and Yasuke gazing out to sea. Another has them share sake. Or watch the clouds go by. "The designers were really excited about those scenes," says Nibbelin. "Because it was sort of a chance to kind of let loose with the characters and just enjoy them. And I think for me as a player too, it's nice to take a step back from assassinations and basically trying to save the world and just sort of enjoy what's kind of inside my characters minds, and maybe learn a little bit of something about their past." They're "reflective", he says.
A large part about pulling them off is down to the actors. "I want to give our performers a ton of credit," says Nibbelin when we talk about the characters having to bounce between moments of emotional intensity and quiet across many hours of run time. "Between Tongayi [Chirisa - Yasuke] and Masumi [Naoe], they did such a fantastic job of being able to switch gears on a whim. They're consummate actors, both of them," he says. "At the end of the day, the action is important and it's pivotal to our characters. But [we're] not trying to tell a story about death. We're trying to tell you a story about these two people and how they see it. And so for us, it's one thing to look at what they do in the world, but then to think, why do they do it, and where inside of them are they driven to do these things? What is it about their life and what made them that allowed them to want to do these things, the need to do these things and to try to right the wrongs that they see."
Assassin's Creed Shadows, believe it or not, is all about assassinations. Each chapter comes to a head as Naoe and Yasuke take down a member of the Shinbakufu, a shadowy organization pulling the strings of the warring states – which is also a moment of emotional release. "Working in a universe like feudal Japan, one thing we realized very quickly is it's not a black and white world," says Nibbelin. "What would in one case be, you know, excessive violence and brutality, and another way you look at it's like it's the best and easiest means for peace. There's so many ways to look at these situations. So we wanted to explore the idea of having shades of gray as much as possible with our villains and with the people you meet in this world."
Beyond the kill itself, across core missions and optional rings of assassinations, there are opportunities to learn about each individual target and what put them into the position in which they've become your target. For a few, you can even spare them – kill the patriarch of a meddlesome crime family early in one side quest, for instance, and a couple of the members will finally feel free to leave.
We said that "the protagonists have fantastic chemistry when they're together" in our Assassin's Creed Shadows review.
Within main story missions, each kill is followed by a moment to reflect – similar to scenes that would take place within a kind of Animus-style kill zone in the classic games in the series. "For us, having moments after the fight where you can reflect on what actually happened here – 'why are we here, and maybe what actions are we really fighting against, and why?' It was important for us to have those," says Nibbelin. "It's not always delivered in the same way that past ACs have done it, and sometimes it's between the two characters. It's Naoe and Yasuke, they have a reflective moment between them."
Ubisoft Quebec wants players to feel empowered to make the decisions they do, the studio also wants them to think about the decisions they've made, and the ones to come. "We always want to try to address that dilemma a little bit for the player, and kind of let them run with it, maybe in their mind as they do it – like, I kind of agree with this angle or that angle… Or maybe I would have done it a different way, actually, when I think about it," he says.
While Naoe and Yasuke are defined characters, excellently realized by their actors and the teams that have crafted them into being, it's important to have the players meet them halfway. "We just want to present that as a place where we don't lecture them on what we think they should think," says Nibbelin. "We want to let them see all the choices and decide for themselves."
What's the ultimate player expression? A big kick. Forget the hidden blade: if you're not yeeting enemies in Assassin's Creed Shadows, you're missing out!
