Summary
Despite all the discourse,Assassin’s Creed Shadowshas had a relatively successful launch. The latest entry in the series sits only below Valhalla, with aplayer count of around 2.2 million. Whilesome made a noise about Yasuke’s origins, Japanese players,reviewers, anddevelopershave no problem with Shadows.
While the faux-outrage is done and dusted, there was an issue around the fact that shrines in Assassin’s Creed Shadows could be destroyed. It seems the devs included the shrines' inner sanctum when designing the destructible environments of the game. This causedofficials of the Itate Hyozu Shrine to take legal action, after which thefeature was removed from the game in the day-one patch. While this issue is also resolved now, Naoe actor Masumi reflected upon it after the game’s launch.
Naoe Actor Masumi Was Disappointed At Assassin’s Creed Shadows' Shrine Destruction
In an interview withInsider Gamingat the BAFTA Games Awards in London, Masumi spoke about this feature and its implications.
For me, as a Japanese Naoe, I’m satisfied with my job, with what I was able to portray.
As Japanese, we grow up with the whole shrine, sacred mirrors, all of that – and I saw in the game that those are destroyable, and those things just do not happen. Watching that kind of hurts my heart a little bit.You’re able to do some things in the game that you would just never, ever, ever be able to do in Japan, and those do hurt me. It’s just not authentic to be able to do something like that.
As for the destruction, it wasn’t a deliberate action that would desecrate the in-game shrines, but the items inside would shatter if you attacked or rolled against them. It’s the same with crates and other items outside of the shrines, but the devs should have ideally been mindful of it and the sentiments the act could hurt.
Ubisoft was quick to remove the destructible environments from the shrines in the game. So, unlike the Yasuke “controversy”, it seems developers are willing to take feedback on legitimate points.
