Assassin's Creed Shadows trailer unveils dual protagonists - one the first Black Samurai in Japanese history, the other a Shinobi

Assassin's Creed Shadows
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Assassin's Creed Shadows' debut reveal trailer is here, and it shows off two main characters including the first Black Samurai in Japanese history, a Kansai-based map, and a November 15 release date.

You can catch the full reveal trailer for Shadows, until recently known as Assassin's Creed Red, just below. Yasuke, Japan's first recorded Black Samurai in history, and retainer to Oda Nobunaga, will feature as one of the game's two chief characters, while the other will be the more traditional assassin Naoe, with the pair battling the Templar faction.

It looks like the two will find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but will come to work together against a common enemy. It also seems like a core tenet of Shadows will be Yasuke and Naoe working to trust one another, and the former adjusting to the very different world around him.

This all follows Ubisoft inadvertently leaking Assassin's Creed Shadows' release date earlier this week. A placeholder video for today's trailer, which was swiftly deleted by the publisher, revealed a November 15 release date for the new game, which has now been confirmed as accurate by today's new trailer.

The trailer actually didn't confirm if the recent fan theories surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows being based in Kansai were accurate. Ubisoft revealed ciphered numbers via the main Assassin's Creed Twitter account earlier this week, and it didn't take long for fans to construct a map of Kansai from the coded numbers. 

Take a look over our new games 2024 guide for a complete look over all the other new titles launching this year.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.