Assassin’s Creed Redis finally taking players to a long-requested time period, Feudal Japan, but that covers a lot of ground. The Feudal era lasted from 1185 AD to 1603 AD, meaning Ubisoft has a little over 400 years it could play with. Unfortunately, nothing has been officially confirmed as to when in this period the game takes place, but relying on one specific rumor can narrow a lot down around its time period, its characters, and its story. This should all be taken with a grain of salt, until Ubisoft deems it fit to reveal ’s Creed Red, but the setting of Japan has long existed inAClore.
Specifically, one of the more reliableAssassin’s Creed Redrumors suggests that there will be two protagonists: the real-world African samurai Yasuke and the fictional Fujibayashi Naoe. While Naoe is a fictional character, she is reportedly on a quest to avenge her fallen father, Fujibayashi Nagato - a real-world figure. Yasuke is believed to have been born in Mozambique circa the 1550s and died sometime after June 1582. Ubisoft also likely chose Fujibayashi Nagato because his history is a little unclear, but he was notably a leader of the Iga Ninjas.
Historically, Fujibayashi Nagato supposedly tried to stamp out the Ninja way of life, sending many clans into hiding. However, this could simply be the Knights-Templar messing with historical records, or he could be one of the Ninjas who allied with the Templars. His role as Naoe’s father is interesting, especially if he was aTemplar. What’s important to know is that Nagato warred with the first Great Unifier of Japan, the daimyo Oda Nobunaga, who historically lived between 1534 and June 1582. With this in mind,
Assassin’s Creed Red Has Plenty of Japanese Lore in this Time Period
Extrapolating out, it stands to reason thatAssassin’s Creed Redwill find itself taking place sometime between 1550 and 1600 at large. While this is still a wide period,priorAssassin’s Creedreleases(namelyAC MemoriesandAC Forgotten Temple) have actually established a fair bit of lore surrounding this time. What’s important to know is that the Knights Templar chose to spread Christian and Templar doctrine in the Land of the Rising Sun around 1550, thanks to severaldefeats by the Assassins in Europe. Several key Templars, posing as Jesuits or otherwise, were active in Japan around the 1550s and thereon.
As a result, the Japanese templars were constantly undercut because of the wars between ninja clans and the Japanese people’s disregard for outsiders. Furthermore, Japanese Assassins had a stronger influence among both the Ninja and Samurai than the Templars. This would suggest thatAssassin’s Creed Redwon’t be as clear cut asninjas = assassins and Samurai = templarsas some may think. Around this time, the Japanese Assassins supported warlord Tokugawa Leyasu who opposed Templars and helped them look for activity.
Despite opposition, the Templars did make some ground among the Uesugi clan, in establishing an information network, and more by about 1590. Notably, this was a turning point for the Templars, but it wouldn’t last long. Once Tokugawa Ieyasu united the land in 1600, an ally of the Assassins, the Japanese Templars would fade into obscurity for the next hundred years or so.
The Mastermind Theory
Although Assassin’s Creed lore replaces Akechi Mitsuhide with Yamauchi Taka, an interesting historical point is the fact that no one knows why Akechi Mitsuhide turned on Nobunaga. There are plenty of theories about a set of “Masterminds” behind this assassination, among which are implications that it was the Jesuits. Reportedly, the Jesuits supported Nobunaga with economic and military power, with Nobunaga also protecting Christianity for a certain period. However, Nobunaga would turn on the Jesuits and force their hand, leading to the belief that his betrayal of them resulted in their assistance in his assassination. This particular mastermind theory has some opposition in the real world because, while Nobunaga did protect Christianity, there are no records of Jesuits assisting Nobunaga with military might. The Japanese Jesuits were also very limited monetarily; however, in the world of Assassin’s Creed, that may not be true of the Templars.
What This Japanese Lore May Mean for Assassin’s Creed Red
Now, it’s very unlikely the game just retcons or re-runs all of this lore; instead, it’s likely to utilize it in new ways and expand upon it. As a result, there are quite a few things that fans can potentially deduce about the game.
Therumored real title of Assassin’s Creed Shadowssupports a lot of this as well.
Of course, this is all speculation. It may be that the game takes place at this time but away from these events, or it could be that the time period or focus in the region is much smaller or set elsewhere. It’s hard to say for sure right now, but hopefully, theupcoming Ubisoft Forward will reveal ’s Creed Red.
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure stealth series published and developed by Ubisoft and its various first party studios. Originally releasing in 2007, the series has seen 12 mainline releases with the recent games moving to a more open-world RPG style. Each game typically showcases major historical moments like the Italian Renaissance, Crusades, or French Revolution, focusing mostly on a long standing conflict between the free-minded Assassins against the order loving Knights Templar.
