Assassin’s Creed Shadows already has one claim to fame, as creative director Jonathan Dumont has now said the shinobi Naoe is the “fastest Assassin we ever made.”
That detail comes from an extensive new interview Dumont had with Entertainment Weekly, detailing Naoe’s character and abilities. Following up on that fastest Assassin thought, Dumont says “She runs super fast, she has a lot of gadgets to keep her stealth so that she doesn’t have to fight often. We wanted to satisfy that for players that come in for that ninja-Assassin game.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Naoe’s agility affects the core gameplay and stealth of Assassin’s Creed, especially juxtaposed against Yasuke. The two protagonists represent two halves of the story, and radically different playstyles. Naoe is more the standard Assassin’s Creed heroine with a focus on stealth, while Yasuke is more of a hulking unstoppable tank. “”He doesn’t do the Leap of Faith. He just crashes right into the haystack, and he hurts his butt, too. So, it’s pretty funny,” says Dumont.
Dumont humorously adds that players can perform their own “Naruto run” as Naoe, noting that it’s a subtle nod to the anime franchise.
Beyond Naoe’s gameplay focus, Dumont also shared insights into how she fits into the story and how she must navigate a world consumed by war.
“She will begin on a path of vengeance or fulfilling a promise she made to her family,” he says. “As she explores a world in need, she starts to truly embrace the community values her father taught her. Can she create a better world? [She realizes] there are people who cannot defend themselves, which ties closely to the principles of the [Assassin] Brotherhood,” says Dumont.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows certainly seems like the series’ most ambitious entry in years, and a big part of that comes with Dumont’s final thought in the interview – talking about how this game is a fusion of the old and new style of Assassin’s Creed.
“We have fans from more than 15 years of Assassin’s,” he continues. “A lot of people like Assassin’s at the start with the stealth approach: hiding in the shadows and the crowd. Then we have a little bit more of the action-oriented ones that [liked] Odyssey, Origins, and Valhalla,” says Dumont, “We try to satisfy both types of players, but also try to not dilute too much of what they like about it.”
Assassins’ Creed Shadows launches on February 14, 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
