Assassin’s Creed Shadows is getting a ‘historically accurate’ parody on PC

While Ubisoft faces yet another controversy over Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a parody game starring Yasuke has popped up on Steam. Whether it’s a huge success or a dismal failure, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ will certainly be remembered for the constant stream of discourse surrounding its historical accuracy, particularly regarding the inclusion of African samurai Yasuke as a playable character.

Ubisoft has been accused by some of not being historically accurate and even appeared to apologise for it (maybe? It was never clear) even though historians say Yasuke did exist. Although that seems irrelevant anyway, given the Assassin’s Creed games have never been very accurate and have plenty of fantastical elements.

Even so, the amount of arguing has reached such a level that indie developers have decided to create a parody game bluntly titled Yasuke Simulator. In case it wasn’t more blatant what the game’s doing, its developer is listed as HistoryAccurateDevelopers and it’s slated to launch on Steam on March 20 – the same day as Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

It’s clearly made on the cheap, but it doesn’t present itself as an Assassin’s Creed game, as there’s much more focus on combat than stealth. Its claims of historical accuracy clearly aren’t meant to be taken seriously either, since gameplay footage shows Yasuke driving cars and firing guns.

We couldn’t tell you whether Yasuke Simulator is meant to mock Ubisoft or the game’s critics, but it’s probably both. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see whether Ubisoft knows about it and if they try to get it removed. Probably not, since it’s not like it owns the rights to Yasuke’s existence, and, as far as we can tell Yasuke Simulator doesn’t include any material lifted directly from Ubisoft’s work. If anything, it has more in common with a GTA game than Assassin’s Creed.

At the moment Assassin’s Creed Shadows is scheduled for release on March 20 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. It’s not just Yasuke’s inclusion in Assassin’s Creed Shadows that has attracted complaints. A tie-in statue for the game that featured a ruined, one-legged Torii gate was decried as insensitive, prompting it to be removed from sale and be redesigned.

This is because there’s a famous one-legged gate at the Sannō Shrine in Nagasaki, which was partially destroyed by the atomic bomb that dropped during the Second World War. Similar complaints were made about gameplay footage where the player entered a shrine (one based on the real-life Itate Hyozu Shrine) and destroyed parts of it.

According to Sankei News (as translated by Automaton), representatives of the real-life shrine have said they will be ‘taking appropriate action’ regarding the shrine’s portrayal, adding they were never contacted by Ubisoft about the shrine’s inclusion in the game.

This in turn is reminiscent of the Church of England objecting to Manchester Cathedral being featured in PlayStation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall Of Man. It’s unclear if an attempt will be made to push Ubisoft into removing the shrine or just ensuring it can’t be interfered with by players. Either way, let’s just hope this doesn’t lead to another delay.

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