Yasuke (Assassin's Creed)

Yasuke is a character in the 2025 action role-playing game ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. Voiced by Tongayi Chirisa, he is an African samurai who is based on the historical Japanese figure of the same name.

Conception and design

When developing ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'', Ubisoft Quebec wanted to set the game in feudal Japan, a setting they felt invoked the image of large castles, samurai, and ninja. Initially they developed a ninja Assassin character, Naoe. But as development progressed they wanted to include samurai aspects also, and chose to explore two protagonists in the title to cater to players that wished to play both. While previous entries in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series had traditionally used fictional protagonists, they chose the samurai character to be based on a historical figure, in this case Yasuke, a black former African slave that had served under the daimyo Oda Nobunaga. Game director Charles Benoit saw his inclusion as an opportunity to allow players to experience Japan through the eyes of a foreigner and contrast against that of Naoe. To this end, they referenced ''Shinchō Kōki'', a chronicle of Nobunaga's life, to create events and characters in the game tied to the real-life Yasuke.

When designing his appearance they took into account reports from the time period of his real-world counterpart, who was described as more than 6 ft (182 cm) tall with "the strength of ten men", compared to the average height of Japanese men at the time which was closer to 5 ft 2 in (158 cm) tall. To further emphasize this aspect they gave him a horned helmet to help create the image of a "terrifying, bull-like figure" when wearing his default armor. His hairstyle consists of dreadlocks pulled up into a "classic samurai hairstyle" with a red ribbon, meant to act as a link between his past and present. In terms of weaponry, Yasuke able to make use of a ''katana'' sword and a ''kanabō'' warclub, with the appearance of the former given an aquatic wave motif inspired by authentic katana from the time period. Meanwhile, for ranged weaponry he was given a ''yumi'' bow to emphasize his dexterity.

Yasuke's personality was intended to contrast Naoe's quick to anger character nature, instead portraying him level headed, with the developers citing buddy cop films and the relationship between the Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters in the film ''Twins'' as inspiration. Meanwhile they chose narratively to not make Yasuke an Assassin, as they felt it would work better to tie him closer to the game's story while establishing that his personal motivations and core beliefs are why he allies with the Assassin Naoe's. Special attention was also paid to their gameplay and animations, ensuring that the two felt distinct. The idea was inspired by their previous work on ''Assassin's Creed Syndicate'', which featured the Frye twins as dual protagonists, where one favored stealth-focused gameplay while the other was built to be a brawler. With ''Shadows'' they wanted to push the concept further to make Naoe and Yasuke "be as opposite as possible in everything" while also ensuring the player's experience felt complete with each character. To emphasize this difference, Yasuke was designed to be able to power through multiple enemies at once, but lack some of the mobility options provided to Naoe.

Appearances

Yasuke is a character introduced in the 2025 action role-playing game ''Assassin's Creed Shadows''. A former African slave, he arrives in Japan as the bodyguard of Catholic Jesuit missionaries. Upon meeting Oda Nobunaga, the ruler takes Yasuke into his service and has him trained to be a samurai.

Promotion and reception

To promote the release of ''Shadows'', figure company PureArts released an 11 inch tall diorama statue of Yasuke.

Upon Yasuke's reveal, some fans of the series claimed it had gone "woke", due to the inclusion of a black character in 16th century Japan. Additional debate rose regarding the exact role of the historical Yasuke in Nobunaga's army, particularly his status as a samurai. Criticism increased after Elon Musk shared a post on social media platform Twitter implying that Yasuke's inclusion was the result of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, with the post further stating such "kills art" in media. In July 2024, a petition was started to try and cancel the game, arguing that Yasuke's inclusion was a matter of "cultural disrespect". Amassing 50,000 signatures, the petition suggested Ubisoft misunderstood the role of samurai in Japan, and proposed that the game's release could lead to increased racism across Asian countries. When developers on the game received personal attacks and death threats, critics compared the controversy to harassment campaigns observed during GamerGate or by the alt-right.

Ubisoft responded to controversy by emphasizing to fans that its games were works of fiction, and stated that Yasuke's depiction in the game was intended to be an illustration of such. Meanwhile, executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté responded to the backlash, stating "If there is a hill that I am willing to die on, it is defending the creative freedom of our teams". Historians and consultants also responded to the backlash, implying that most of the criticism was isolated to Western audiences and emphasizing that while there were very few historical documents, they had established him as a samurai in the service of Nobunaga during that time period. In a later statement they acknowledged while there was debate around the status of the real-life Yasuke as to whether or not he was a samurai, they had woven such into the narrative of both the game and Naoe.

Trone Dowd of ''Inverse'' saw Yasuke's inclusion as a great way to set ''Shadows'' apart from other games that have explored that particular era, and argued that much of the criticism towards it was rooted in racism, describing concerns raised as "fraudulent" and felt that it was instead a lightning rod topic for "some of the worst people on the internet looking to turn fake outrage into cash and content". Elaborating further, he stated that in his view the concerns were nothing more than some expression frustration towards seeing a black person featured prominently in an era they did not think he belonged. Dowd stated his own confusion as to why Ubisoft had chosen to acknowledge these concerns at all. Dowd pointed that the franchise had frequently featured historical inaccuracies as a fantasy work, and expressed that by acknowledging the criticisms they had only seemed to embolden them and as a result "needlessly poured gasoline onto a smoldering fire".

Lia Kim of ''Junkee'' in her review of the game also addressed the backlash, arguing that many were not considering the impact such a character would have on black players and feeling his inclusion and visibility in the series would bring them joy. She further argued that such characters were rare in Asian-focused media, and that the focus helped to "imbue the playable character with some main character energy". Comparing him to the other playable character Naoe, she stated his role in the story "felt powerful and dramatic" in contrast to her "understated and surreptitious" presentation. Matt Kim of ''IGN'' meanwhile called Ubisoft's choice to utilize Yasuke a smart move, expressing that the decision to use a non-Asian character in the role helped set it apart from many other recent games featuring the samurai archetype.

Character analysis

Other reviews for ''Shadows'' however were more mixed on Yasuke's portrayal. Morgan Park of ''PC Gamer'' complained that for as emphasized as his character was during the game's previews, his unique identity factored little into the game. Instead he felt Yasuke's motivation and reason for working alongside Naoe never exceeded the concept of "these bad guys gotta go". Andrew Brown of ''GamesRadar+'' described his story of revenge as "deliciously spaghetti Western in tone", though lamented that the character's narratives never meshed. He expressed this was a shame, as he enjoyed the interactions between him and Naoe, and how they helped bring a human element to the game's overall narrative as one of its strong points. Noelle Warner of ''Comic Book Resources'' stated that in the game the protagonists' personalities felt locked behind the "archetypal expectations that such a grand story has to adhere to", and felt that while his story was the more interesting of the two characters the game did not allow him to develop much as a character.

Gene Park of ''The Washington Post'' meanwhile stated there was a "quiet thrill in walking around as a living legend" as characters reacted to Yasuke's presence in the game. He further felt of the two protagonists Yasuke had the stronger narrative, and appreciated how the character provided a level of cultural appreciation to the title through his portrayal as a well-meaning foreigner turned samurai. Zack Zwiezen of ''Kotaku'' described him as one his favorite characters in the series, describing him as "noble, kind, and determined man who wants to help people and do the right thing" and voicing praise for how his story not only made him invested in the game but also illustrated the importance of his history and race.

References

{{Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed characters
Black characters in video games
Fictional African people
Fictional characters from the 16th century
Fictional clubfighters
Fictional gunfighters in video games
Fictional Japanese people in video games
Fictional kyūjutsuka
Fictional people of the Sengoku period
Fictional polearm and spearfighters
Fictional samurai
Fictional swordfighters in video games
Male characters in video games
Race-related controversies in video games
Video game characters based on real people
Video game characters introduced in 2025