(UPDATE) Amidst Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ backlash, Street Fighter 2’s producer expresses high hopes for the game 

Update: In response to feedback from Japanese fans, Yoshiki Okamoto has since retracted the below cited statements regarding Assassin’s Creed Shadows and unpublished his commentary video on the topic.

Yoshiki Okamoto, the veteran game designer credited with titles such as 1942, Forgotten Worlds, Street Fighter 2 and Time Pilot, recently touched on the topic of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on his personal YouTube channel. Okamoto addresses the controversy surrounding Ubisoft’s upcoming title while offering counterarguments and an overall hopeful outlook on the release. Please note that this article conveys the views of an individual creator and does not intend to represent or speak on behalf of Japanese people or communities as a whole.

An Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan’s turbulent Warring States period was long-awaited by fans both in Japan and overseas. However, since Shadows’ first trailer dropped in May, the response has been mixed. From the game’s high price tag to its non-Japanese protagonist and perceived historical and cultural inaccuracies, various factors have contributed to the controversy.  

Standing on the more optimistic side of the argument is Okamoto, who, as a game creator, considers Assassin’s Creed Shadows to be doing many things correctly. In his recent commentary video dedicated to Ubisoft’s new title, Okamoto remarks, “I’m aware that this game is currently facing all kinds of backlash, but I’d like to talk about things from a more positive perspective.”  

One of the qualities Okamoto brings up is the dual playable protagonist system introduced in Shadows. By including not only the shinobi Naoe, but the large and physically strong samurai Yasuke (whom Okamoto deems sufficiently documented in history), Shadows deepens its gameplay, bringing both stealth- and power-based play to the table. This encourages the player to think about which character and playstyle would be more advantageous for clearing certain parts of the game, Okamoto comments. 

On the same topic, the creator reminisces about a past project of his – Genji, the action game series Okamoto developed with his now defunct company Game Republic. 2005’s Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and its sequel Genji: Days of the Blade were similarly set in historical Japan, during the war between the Taira and Minamoto clans. In addition, the games featured dual protagonists – the agile Yoshitsune and the powerful Benkei, much like Shadows’ Naoe and Yasuke. Okamoto even goes so far as to say that the Genji team had wanted to make something like Assassin’s Creed Shadows: “We weren’t able to pull it off at the time, but I think Ubisoft will, which is why I have high hopes.” 

In this sense, Okamoto acknowledges that his optimism for Shadows also has to do with the way in which it validates his own game concept. On the other hand, the creator also expresses disagreement with criticisms of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ historical and cultural discrepancies, commenting, “It’s a game, it’s fantasy, not reality. Even if Oda Nobunaga’s family crest is upside down, that’s just the Oda Nobunaga in the game, it does not impact how entertaining the game is.” 

Okamoto concludes his commentary by saying that he will definitely be buying and playing Shadows, while jokingly mentioning that he has a tendency to not finish  Assassin’s Creed titles.