The Assassin’s Creed franchise has enraptured players by allowing them to dive into famous historical periods. Better yet, Ubisoft often does its due diligence in recreating a historical realistic environment by working with and hiring experts, much like it did with the Assassin’s Creed 2 trilogy. Fans often fantasize and theorize where the franchise will go next, or even what time periods, but there’s one continent that the main series has yet to crack in full: Asia.
Assassin’s Creed did take the story to Russia, India, and China, but it combined the story into the sidescrolling platformer Assassin’s Creed Chronicles, rather than giving any one of the stories its own game. Each country of the eastern continent offers a rich and deep history for Ubisoft to expand upon, but there’s one location that fans look towards more than any other.
Fans would like the next game (following Assassin’s Creed Valhalla) to be set in Japan, mostly due to the iconic shinobi and samurai warriors, which would fit perfectly with the Assassin’s lore. But location isn’t the only angle to speculate on; there’s also the time period to be explored, but Japan’s feudal era has become the topic of popular imagination.
By far, this era of Feudal Japan is the most requested time period from fans. These wars are some of early Japan’s biggest pieces of history and could easily be molded fit into the lore of the Assassins and the Templars. But there’s one glaring issue with creating an Assassin’s Creed game centered around this subject: it could be too similar to Ghost of Tsushima, not only because of the setting but because of the protagonist Jin Sakai’s turn from the samurai warrior to the sneaky assassin. The developer would also need to be mindful that Ghost is an open-world game already formatted similarly to Ubisoft’s big franchises in gameplay style and mechanics.
But the Mongol army invaded Japan multiple times, and from different angles. Tsushima Island, the setting in Ghost of Tsushima, was the first to be attacked. After invading Iki Island and Hakata Bay, in the following decade, the Mongols would again invade the same islands as well as Mainland Japan, which would become unsuccessful. But what ultimately ended the invasions from the Mongol, Korean, and Chinese armies on Japan was a massive typhoon that wiped out their naval powers and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Whether or not a kamikaze is interesting from a gaming standpoint is up to the dev, but it would need to ensure it’s not too similar to Ghost of Tsushima regardless of which area of the war it chose.
This period has become a major time of interest for Japanese history and fiction, and it’s also when the shinobi, or ninja, was introduced, though some records suggest they may have appeared long before in the 12th century. During unrest in the 15th century, shinobi were mercenaries and spies for hire, originating around the village of Koga in the Iga Province. Here, villages devoted to training ninjas thrived until Iga Province was invaded by the Oda clan and nearly wiped out, keeping the rest as bodyguards. Ninja would still be trained and have a long, deep history in Japan, but as the tale of their origins, it makes a perfect setting for an Assassin’s Creed game.
The Sengoku Period also saw a heated war and the Battles of Kawanakajima, which are noted as some of the most cherished tales in Japanese military history and the epitome of Japanese chivalry and romance, often mentioned in literature and films. As another possible setting for a future Assassin’s Creed game, it’s also known as the “Age of Civil War” five major battles took place in present-day Nagano in eleven years. This time was an opportunity for warlords to become shogun, or military dictators, which lead to several military heads invading neighboring provinces in an attempt to rise up. There’s a lot of history in the Sengoku period for Ubisoft to work with, but the Battles of Kwanakajima are known as a major samurai power struggle and could be threaded in with the Assassins and Templars.
The rebellion lead by Saigo Takamori against the Satsuma Domain was the last of the major uprising in Feudal Japan before Japan’s modern-day government was established at the end of World War 2. Though Satsuma had key influences on the Meiji Restoration, growing dissatisfaction from citizens came in response to the country’s drastic changes to the culture, language, and society. Saigo was once a senior leader in the Meiji government but resigned after growing political corruption ensued, and began a rebellion by establishing schools resembling militant political organizations.
These schools saw major support from Japan’s population, which could be a great opportunity to introduce an Assassin’s Creed protagonist, possibly even from a younger age as seen with Ezio. Throughout the rising rebellion, the Satsuma army would make several attempts to march on different castles and led to many battles, which all would be unsuccessful. After Saigo was severely wounded in battle, he committed seppuku, or suicide meant to restore honor. Shortly after, the Satsuma rebellion ended. Saigo was later pardoned by Emperor Meiji and is sometimes referred to as “The Last Samurai” by historians.
Conclusively, much of Japan’s history that could meld well with Assassin’s Creed lore pertains to the Feudal Japan era, which lasted from the early 1100s to the mid-1800s, and would be the most popular with Ubisoft’s audience, as it sees the succession of the samurai and other fighters like the shinobi. While there are other periods often explored in fictional media, such as Japan’s occupation of other countries just before the breakout of World War 2, it could be too sensitive of a topic to touch on.
Alternatively, prior to Feudal Japan, the country’s history is mainly nonconfrontational, and mainly sees the establishment of culture and language. However, implementing some supernatural elements like yokai into any time period in Japan, as done with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and monsters like Medusa, could add flavor to the game.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases November 17 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions to follow.
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