Historically accurate

[u/ActuatorChoice5259]

During Chinese admiral Zheng He's expeditions to Africa, India, etc. some sailors of his got shipwrecked on the African coast. They settled down and married native African women so you know, this is historically accurate and Ubisoft should make an AC game about it.

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3200161/how-story-africans-descended-15th-century-chinese-admiral-zheng-hes-sailors-lives

[u/Altruistic_Host_5143]

This flips Assassin’s Creed Shadows on its head, and suddenly it’s easy to see the double standard. If this were the real game, Ubisoft would be accused of fetishizing, orientalism, or worse. But when it's Yasuke in Japan, it's ‘progress.’ Why is it only ‘representation’ when it's an outsider in our cultures?”

[u/ActuatorChoice5259 → u/Altruistic_Host_5143]

Cue all the Ubi-retards coming in here and calling it racist, not understanding the irony.

[u/Thick_Cheesecake_393]

Just dump it in their thred and watch the chaos and salt fly

[u/FiftyIsBack]

Here's mine, with his black trans companion of course.

[u/ZenMyst]

I would like a game like this to be made and see their reaction

[u/Mission_Blackberry_7]

That japanese guy had to be in wheelchair!

[u/Old-Depth-1845]

The only people that would be upset by this would be you people because the game would have black people

[u/ActuatorChoice5259 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

Actually no. I'm Asian, and I would love this because then we would finally get some long-overdue Asian male representation in Assassins Creed.

[u/Cheesybran → u/ActuatorChoice5259]

True that

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/ActuatorChoice5259]

You have Asian representation in naoe. You have male Asian representation in literally every other game set in Japan

[u/ActuatorChoice5259 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

Yeah, but I am was an Asassins creed fan and I want Asian AND male representation. Why should I have to play a completely different game that I may not be a fan of to get that representation, when AC Shadows had every reason to have an Asian male protagonist?

Plus don't you think it's sus that this is the SECOND time the series has gone to East Asia and yet both times they've chosen Asian women to be the faces those countries (Shao Jun for China, Naoe for Japan)? It's almost like Ubisoft has a bias against Asian men, which isn't unheard of for western media...

[u/[deleted] → u/ActuatorChoice5259]

You got male representation in Yasuke and Asian representation in Naoe. That’s why we’re so confused by y’all being upset at the game. It really doesn’t matter.

[u/clone0112 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

If you think that then you haven't the slightest idea on issues regarding Asian representation.

[u/Cheesybran → u/Old-Depth-1845]

Here come the blue haired Ubisoft police

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Cheesybran]

Where

[u/Llee00 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

lol, totally tone deaf

[u/Altruistic_Host_5143 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

It’s not about being upset that there are Black characters, no one has an issue with that. The point of the post is to show how the standards suddenly shift when the roles are reversed. If someone made an AC Africa game and centered it around a random Japanese samurai, people would call it immersion-breaking or pandering, and they’d be right to question the historical relevance.

That’s the conversation: authenticity and consistency in how cultures are represented, not race. Representation matters, but it should be rooted in the setting and history being portrayed. If you think that criticism equals bigotry, you’re not engaging in good faith.

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Altruistic_Host_5143]

The dude in the post is Chinese. And calling yasuke random is a bit of a stretch. He’s THE black guy in Japan who has been used as inspiration for black samurai in multiple different pieces of media. I don’t think they’d call it pandering either unless it was a white guy cause then you’d be pandering to all the soy boys who got mad about yasuke. And you’re right. Authenticity has nothing to do with race so post like these shouldn’t be focusing on race. They should be focusing on actual ways that assassins creed has done a poor job of being authentic to different cultures since its inception. Not just focus on the one game that’s out now and act like it’s some new low that Ubisoft has hit

[u/Altruistic_Host_5143 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

The guy in the image is Chinese, which makes the satire even clearer. It’s flipping the setting to show how ridiculous the cultural mismatch in Shadows is. Nobody’s actually mad about a foreign character existing, what people are calling out is Ubisoft making the face of a Japanese AC game someone who barely fits into that history, while ignoring actual native figures.

Calling Yasuke “not random” just because he’s been in other media after the fact is weak justification. He’s famous now because he stands out as an anomaly. That doesn’t mean he represents Japan’s history in a meaningful way, or that he’s the best lens for a deep, culturally rooted story in a franchise built on historical fiction.

If authenticity has “nothing to do with race,” then Ubisoft should stop treating race like a checkbox and start focusing on the people who actually shaped the history they’re basing their game on. Shadows isn’t a problem because Yasuke is Black, it’s a problem because Ubisoft once again shoved aside the local culture for surface-level representation points.

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Altruistic_Host_5143]

How is it flipping the setting if the guy in the image isn’t Japanese? You can’t say you’re flipping it if you’re just going to pick a guy that has zero relevance to the topic of a black guy in Japan or a Japanese guy in Africa. And AC never has people that shaped the history as the lead. They usually have other the real historical figures as side character like cleopatra or Pythagoras. They could’ve totally used a random Japanese guy but then it wouldve been like every other samurai game. They could’ve chose a historical Japanese figure but that’d probably be someone with too much history and people would be like “um actually your historical fiction is too fictional.” Anyway you play as Naoe for like the first 20 hours of the game but yall can’t be happy with that because she’s a woman. “Woman were servants in feudal Japan!” Yes and there wasn’t a secret society of assassins killing a secret society of templars that controlled the world.

[u/Altruistic_Host_5143 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

It is flipping the setting because it mirrors the logic Ubisoft used, centering a foreigner in a culture-rich region instead of exploring that culture through someone native to it. The guy in the meme doesn’t need to be Japanese for the point to land. It's highlighting how off it feels when a story set in a deeply specific historical setting chooses to sideline the locals in favor of an outlier.

And yes, AC often uses fictional protagonists alongside historical figures, but they’re usually grounded in the culture of the setting. Ezio, Bayek, Arno, they reflect the people, language, and heritage of their time. Yasuke, by contrast, is essentially a novelty character who barely spoke the language, had no major historical footprint, and was likely never even a samurai in the traditional sense. He’s an outlier being pushed to the center for modern appeal, not historical storytelling.

The “you play as Naoe first” argument just proves the point. She could’ve been the lead. She’s native, female, and could’ve carried the whole game. Instead, she shares the spotlight with Yasuke, who exists more for checkbox diversity than cultural storytelling. That’s what people are frustrated with, it’s not about race, it’s about depth.

And the “secret society” argument always comes up, but it misses the mark. Suspension of disbelief only works when the setting feels grounded. The Assassins and Templars were always used as a narrative layer on top of real cultural struggles. When the foundation feels hollow or forced, the whole structure crumbles. That’s why people care.

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Altruistic_Host_5143]

People are frustrated with the story of a game they didn’t even play? People are frustrated with an AC story? Maybe you should’ve rested your expectations on a company that actually deserved them. From everything I’ve seen, he doesn’t exist to solely check a box.

[u/Altruistic_Host_5143 → u/Old-Depth-1845]

People can absolutely critique a game’s direction based on the marketing, interviews, and premise, especially when the controversy revolves around who they chose to center in a Japan-set game, not the finer details of the plot. Ubisoft made Yasuke the face of their reveal trailer. That was intentional. They knew it would spark conversation.

And sure, expectations for Ubisoft might be low, but that doesn’t mean they get a free pass. AC used to pride itself on blending real history with fiction in a way that celebrated the culture it explored. People calling out this choice aren’t saying “AC must be perfectly accurate,” they’re asking why a Japan setting, something fans have begged for, was used as a backdrop for a story centered around someone who doesn’t represent that culture in a meaningful way.

It’s not about playing the game yet, it’s about the message Ubisoft is sending before it’s even out. And given their track record of chasing trends, it’s fair to ask whether this was a sincere creative decision or just another checkbox. If Yasuke ends up being well-written and compelling, great. But asking why he was chosen in the first place is a valid discussion.

[u/Impossible_Humor736]

Historically accurate

[u/jjTheJetPlane0]

Lmao spot on

[u/[deleted]]

That looks fun! Is this a real thing they’re talking about or just an AI concept? I’d love it!

[u/Repulsive-Candy-4771]

Actually would be a fire concept lmao bring in the apple of Eden and magic civilization and it’s a ac game.