Friends of Japanese (pop) culture are not always easy. Again and again you have to fight against the clichés of the great anime eyes, mystified samurais and schoolgirl drawings, whose age can be guessed at best. The western pop culture is anything but innocent, as it invites these clichés with its own ideas. In particular, the image of the medieval Japan is now far from any historical reality, even if series such as “Shōgun” are trying to put it down again. It is one of the biggest titles of the year. The expectations were great. Nevertheless – or precisely because of that – the game does not dare to do anything, only relies on the well -known. It brings its players into the 16th century. Portuguese ships have reached the Japanese ports, the country itself is torn from domestic power struggles. And in the middle of it are the characters of Yasuke and Naoe, whose paths only cross in the game after several hours. The formulaic story begins with Assassinin Naoe, whose home village was destroyed and whose father was murdered. She thinks on what is too often associated with samurais and sword fight: revenge. Her counterpart stands Yasuke, who strikes huge in the Far Eastern landscape: he is a black, almost sampling samurai. The first time in the Far Eastander, assuming players who wanted to see the effects of a “woken” agenda in Yasuke before the game was released, this is a historical figure. The Jesuit mission came to Japan. He was officially the first foreign samurai under the warlord Oda Nobunaga, who also appears in the game. “Shadows” is not only criticized because of Yasuke, Japanese players complain about historical incorrectness and complaints that you can destroy shinto temples. The developer studio Ubisoft points a little contradictory to a “respectful representation of the feudal Japan” and that it is a “historical fiction”. After all,-as a western socialized player-you get authentic, albeit often tried impressions of this time when you live traditional tea ceremonies and get lost in background information on life at the time. It is the first time that the “Assassin’s Creed” series ventures to a setting in the Far East. Ubisoft justified his series of games around an assassin order in 2007 in the middle of the crusades, went into the Italian Renaissance, roamed the American, French and industrial revolution, as well as the pirate and Viking age, the old Egypt and Greece. Although fans Japan asked as a setting for many years, the developers stayed away. This was also, as Game Director Charles Benoit reports on request, on the immense learning process: “Learning about this part of the world, its history, characters and culture takes time and also leads to changes to our game systems and activities in the world,” says Benoit. The process was particularly difficult for Japan, “because it is a complicated culture that you have to learn a lot about so that you can really bring it to life”. Activate external content, the historical Japan is no longer an insider tip as a backdrop, but has been treated in a tourist manner by the gaming industry since the 1990s. Popular and forgotten series of games, including “Onimusha”, “Shinobido”, “Way of the Samurai” and “Tenchu”, have adopted the setting. In the recent past, it was games like “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice”, “Rise of the Ronin” and “Ghost of Tsushima” (FAZ dated July 17, 2020), which strapped down with partly fabulous freedom. “Shadows” joins the Japanese party – the rice fields and cherry flower trees with their dynamic season changes can still look so overwhelming. “Shadows” also does not find their own identity. It is looking for them in bloody battles against armored generals, in cave explorations, the monotonous climbing of watch towers and the expansion of the shelter. But all such a fatty has become standard about a decade ago. The same applies to the repetitive tasks that you can find on every corner of the game world: search for scrolls, execute order murders or master marked climbing paths. This uninspired filling material blows the game. The Schleich system, in which you can extinguish lamps so that darkness gives you protection, is rarely particularly important. Even worse: climbing, once a primal mechanics in the series, gets to the undemanding task in which the player only has to hold a button. How demanding you can stage this up and down have played play beads such as “Jusant” and “Lorn’s Lure” (FAZ from October 31, 2024). Yasuke as a brachial one-man army-for variety, but in this world, routinely on the world’s fern ostexotic, this also passes quickly. The special whistle is in vain at “Shadows”. The game, the production of which is said to have devoured between $ 250 and $ 350 million, almost desperately develops his own manuscript- and yet can only imitate the existing side aspect- the spiritual conflict within the world: If a priest preaches with a Bible and prayer chain in a marketplace between fabric and fish trade, the game indicates how Christianity holds into Japanese society. At the latest when you can buy Christian relics for your shelter at maximum prices, missionary is successful. On the line of conflict between Christianity and Japanese spirituality, “Shadows” finds something like originality. You may doubt whether this is enough to secure the success of the studio and the success of the studio.
The video game “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” puts the players into the Japanese feudal age.
