Assassin’s Creed Shadows Becomes the Official Title for AC Red

Fans of the Assassin's Creed franchise have seen a lot of titles focused on various eras such as Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, the Viking Age, and the Golden Age of Piracy. Ubisoft is finally creating the long-awaited feudal Japan-themed game, and it already has an official name.

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Formerly known as Assassin's Creed Red, the samurai or shinobi-centric game that will be next in line for the popular game series is slowly coming together. Just yesterday, Ubisoft released the official name for the game, along with an upcoming trailer.

Scheduled for May 15th at 9 a.m. PT, the company will be releasing an official cinematic world premiere trailer, as announced through a post on X. Based on the title, it's quite likely that the players will fill the role of a shinobi instead of a samurai.

However, there are leaks stating that players might have the option to choose between samurai or shinobi, as mentioned in Games Radar, which could determine the play style used whether it's stealth or more upfront combat.

Specifically, the choices could possibly be a female samurai, which has already been shown in the 30-second teaser released by Ubisoft back in 2022, or the rumored African refugee shinobi, "who leaned the way of the Creed."

The game would be developed in Ubisoft Quebec, which is the same studio behind other Assassin's Creed titles such as Odyssey and Syndicate. The creative director of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Jonathan Dumont, will be working on the new Japan-set game.

Ubisoft Senior Producer Marc-Alexis Cote expressed that Shadows would let players "explore one of their most-awaited settings ever," and that they would get to "live a powerful Shinobi fantasy." We can already expect the game to be big as the theme has been proven to be a favorite for gamers.

Katana-Wielding Set in Japan

There are already a few video games that are also set in Japan featuring a protagonist whose choice of weapon is a katana, such titles are Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the recently released Rise of the Ronin.

All three have been popular since release, mostly because a lot of people have the fantasy of becoming an Ancient Japanese warrior. This could even be a potential alternative for PC plates now that Ghost of Tsushima's PC release has been canceled.

Sony already issued refunds for those who pre-ordered the game for PC in non-PSN countries, which seems to be an ongoing problem for certain Sony games like Helldivers 2. Hopefully, that matter will be resolved soon for the sake of PC players who want to finally play Jin Sakai.

Right now, one of the two other mentioned options is only available on PC, which is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Rise of the Ronin remains a PS5-exclusive, although Sony might also release a PC port down the line.

Here's to wishing that the potential release won't be as rough as Ghost of Tsushima's, although Sony might have to get over its fixation on PSN requirements first, as it already affected two popular games under its belt.