Assassin’s Creed’s Japanese Adventure Could Have Been Different

UbiSoft is not making a lot of friends with their latest Assassin’s Creed game. In the name of diversity–in the game set in Japan–they took a long-awaited ninja story, shoved in the only black “samurai” (or rather the shogun’s short-time retainer), and tried to turn the caddy into Tiger Woods. Even focusing on the woman ninja as the second player character hasn’t garnered too many negative reactions, because the kunoichi were something that happened in Japan in the feudal period. Still, this has been enough of an issue that Japanese gamers are now petitioning UbiSoft to change their minds rather than let this bit of cultural appropriation, or maybe we should call it historical appropriation, hit the shelves. Basically you’d have a better chance selling an XBox in Japan than you would Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. I’m talking the original XBox.

If that wasn’t enough of a problem for the company, one of the designers for a planned but dropped mobile game also set in Japan dropped what he was planning. The creator is currently only known on XTwitter (not associated with XBox) by the name of his current project, @InfintaleComic. Confirmed by Bounding Into Comics to have been working at Aeria Game Studio (now going by Gamigo because changing game company names never confuses anyone), the otherwise unnamed creator laid out the plans for this mobile game, which would have set Assassin’s Creed finally in Japan. It’s probably not where the hardcore gamers, who usually treat mobile games as an insult because media snobbery is everywhere, would have wanted and despite the earlier snark I don’t necessarily blame them. If you’re playing as one of the assassins guild members as part of one of the most famous group of assassins, even though ninjas didn’t do as much assassinating as people and Hollywood think, you want all the controls on the big TV, now what your phone or tablet can get away with.

I was just going to post his tweet but it doesn’t want to embed with the full story. So I’m going to have to copy/paste it all in.

I worked on some narrative elements for the Sengoku Era of Japan for Assassin’s Creed back in 2013-2014 when I worked under contract in San Jose/Tokyo (Aeria). I guess they tossed all that out for Black Samurai and some canon-destroying Kunoichi-boss?

I’m so glad I’m not in that industry anymore. I guess it’s only fitting that my contributions to these studios vanish like everything else I worked on (every MMO shooter I have worked on has been shutdown).

We don’t know that Naoe is going to be “canon-destroying” necessarily. Given current history where writers are afraid to make women struggle (which would make for some boring gameplay unless you enjoy the Dynasty Warriors franchise), I wouldn’t write off the possibility, but gamers are more concerned about Yasuke’s inflated historical presence.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the original story (from what I can remember — it’s been a decade): The plot focused on the young monk, “Yamauchi Taka” as the playable ancestor. “Taka” means “Hawk” to coincide with the then naming convention of every playable hero being named after a bird of prey (no idea if that changed with all of these newer, disjointed games that no longer have Desmond as the core hero that bound everything together).

Desmond Miles is the original protagonist in the game. Forced to relive his ancestors’ lives through “genetic memory”, Desmond was raised in the Assassin’s Guild, but left to have his own life. The Templars, the enemies of the franchise based on an unflattering narrow view of the real world religious order, capture him for this in order to gain some mcguffin but accidentally gives him the skills needed to stop their plans. Eventually, fans just wanted to play the historic assassin in a historic period, so the character was written out of the game with a noble sacrifice. (Take note, writers!!!!! Noble sacrifice will always beat shock death. even for a character nobody liked! I’m sure someone liked Desmond, but not enough to keep him in the game.)

The main conflict was about “The Sword of Eden” (aka “Excalibur”, “Honjō Masamune”, “Genghis Khan’s Sword”, etc.). and how it had given its latest wielder, Oda Nobunaga, an unfair advantage in his conquest of Japan.

Kind of curious how King Arthur’s sword ended up in ancient Japan and I’m not sure all those famous swords need to be the same sword, but it does match the usual battle in the game, between Assassins and Templars for some magical something, like Indiana Jones vs the Nazis.

After Nobunaga is assassinated by Hattori Hanzo, Taka becomes a part of the brotherhood and, under Hanzo, is trained as an Assassin (Shinobi). The brotherhood try to transport the recovered sword out of Japan but are beset by Jesuit (Templar) ships and it is lost. To make matters worse, Hanzo is assassinated as he considers retirement as a monk. His lord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, charges Taka with finding the killer (and recovering the sword).

Here’s where my knowledge of Japanese history is lacking. It’s not a bad plot though.

Despite Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi acquiring the sword and going on a rampage that extends into Korea, Taka steals the sword back and mad Daimyo loses his power, weakening his campaign in Korea. Incensed by the theft, Toyotomi believes he was betrayed by the Templars and basically exterminates all Jesuits (Templars) in Japan. Taka infiltrates Toyotomi’s castle and faces him in a final battle, resulting Toyotomi’s death.

The ambitious daimyo is left to die as Taka slips away before his retainers could intercept him. The now seasoned assassin spares Toyotomi’s infant heir, knowing the clan has lost its teeth and will eventually wither without Hideyoshi. Ieysau begins his ambitious power grab, demanding Taka and the Brotherhood give him the sword and help him wipe away (“abstergo” in Latin) all of his enemies from Japan to fully unite it under his clan’s banners. Taka and the Brotherhood decline and vanish into the shadows with the sword.

You don’t kill the baby! Good on you!

The writer would later clarify a few points after YouTube commentators and websites got wind of the initial posting.

After seeing some Youtubers take off with what I had posted, I hope these corrections clear some things up (as only a couple of Youtubers actually reached out to me before making a video):

1)I never claimed I had written Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. I also did not paint any of those art concepts (they were outsourced to some Chinese sweatshop art house).

I think he was just upset they went with cultural appropriation instead of the more historically faithful tale he came up with. Even if Taka had been replaced by Naoe, it would fit better in the time period versus the often overused and overinflated “black samurai” who wasn’t really a samurai and was sent back into slavery after Nobunaga’s death. Also, he might have gotten some kickback had Ubisoft went with his idea, or not depending on what deal they had with Aeria Game Studio at the time.

2) I worked for a company (Aeria) contracted by Ubisoft and drafted up several story treatments (with a team of other designers) that were submitted to the then creative director and lead narrative designers of Ubisoft for approval.

3) The story treatments were approved and made canon — added to the official AC timeline for all narrative designers to reference so as to maintain continuity. There was a lot of back-and-forth with the narrative leads to ensure we weren’t writing stories and characters that contradicted previous & current titles or damaged the brand. A lot of research went into ensuring a respect for the culture & history. I also remember being borderline-OCD about eliminating any equipment and term anachronisms referenced in the stories.

I wonder if there was any actual influence in games made during or after the mobile game fell away? If not, it would be easy, although a mistake given what they chose instead, to decanonize all that information.

4) The stories were used in a failed Mobile game, “Memories” that was canceled shortly after launch in 2014.

5) The original post I made was me expressing disappointment in all of my accomplishments in that industry vanishing. I wasn’t “crying” and I’m not “bitter.” Just disappointed. Since I have worked on a bunch of “games as a service” that have all been shutdown, it’s become incredibly difficult to show anything I contributed. This canonized writing treatment for a Sengoku Era story was all that remained.

Now I have nothing to show for the 10 years I sunk into that industry (besides a few promotional posters and useless game discs for games that no longer exist). This was never meant to be a mean-spirited dig at the current devs working on AC: Shadows. I, personally, dislike the direction this series took for this game but I am clearly biased.

Well, plenty of comic fans would agree with you, especially that guy who wrote the petition I mentioned at the start.

In response to someone asking questions for a video about the game, Infintalecomic further clarified that while this was always intended as a mobile game they actually vetted things to make it line up with canon and vice versa. In other words, despite being a mobile game not produced by the usual Assassin’s Creed studio, it was going to be official. You don’t see that kind of respect now.

While he may just be upset all that hard work was ultimately for nothing, it’s how things can go. He mentioned that many of the First Person Shooters he worked on were shut down, presumably at the server level but we know games have dies because they required the server to work, something that is being fought against. Plus his story was more faithful to the how the franchise operated when it came to historical accuracy while the current creative team were talked (forced?) into going the DEI route and playing up the one black man important to Japanese history rather than let the Japanese form their own history. Maybe Japanese people are low on the representation list because there is a push by some in the West to alter Japanese media to their tastes and worldview as they have in the West.

So what do you Assassin’s Creed fans think. Do you wish you were playing a AAA version of this story? Would you have been satisfied with the mobile game and allowing it to be canon? Curious what you think, but it does sound like this guy was putting story above whatever it is the usual suspects are pushing for. It really is getting harder to ignore the culture war’s influence on storytelling these days once it absorbed pop culture.