Game On: Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the Yasuke Controversy
Why is one of the protagonist’s colour of skin so controversial?
Why is one of the protagonist’s colour of skin so controversial?
The last six months have seen the return of almost racially discriminatory, misogynistic attacks under the garb of addressing “woke culture”. Be it the attacks on Sony and the makers of Stellar Blade when it came to costumes or the hue and cry surrounding the announcement of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows when Yasuke was revealed as one of the game’s protagonists, the nature of accusations laid revealed how unwelcoming a community we are when it comes to other cultures, their traditions, or how we lack the ability to comprehend any form of subtlety or nuance.
If we are to analyze the controversy surrounding Yasuke’ reveal, most comments and dissatisfaction seems to stem from a long-held desire/aspiration to play an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan but then talk about how it is important for the sake of “accuracy” for the character to be a samurai – one of Japanese origin (of course, for accuracy’s sake).
When it is pointed out that Yasuke was in fact an actual person in history, who served as a retainer to Oda Nobunaga and earned the moniker “black samurai,” the conversations lose both traction and rationale.
I have seen online debates in several forums where people have questioned if a retainer can even be considered a samurai. What does that even mean? When did we become the experts on judging feudal Japanese dynamics, is there a CV evaluation guide that was sent out? When the conversation is pushed further, the retorts often are about how all of this is part of a larger controversy – about “games being forced to embrace DEI” and how all of it ruins the game’s character and the spirit in which they are supposed to be made.
While I wish to write reams about the implicit racism and the shrouded xenophobia that surrounds such thinking, I would rather like to think about it from a video game’s perspective and why Yasuke in Shadows makes absolute sense.
He is one of two protagonists – the other is Naoe, a shinobi (ninja) who somehow no one wants to engage with despite her Japanese heritage.
If I were to overlook the misogyny and look at how Yasuke is portrayed in the promotional materials – the game offers a “tanky” approach and a “stealthy” take – dimensions that complement most of the players playstyles.
The problem with Yasuke though is not merely of race but also one of the migrant – as a samurai he challenges stereotypes and widespread conceptions while forcing us to think of the “other,” something that makes gamers uncomfortable.
As a protagonist, an outsider learning a new culture and embracing traditions is a perfect vantage point for the global gaming community that will play Shadows, and in terms of narrative development, one foiling the other (Yasuke v/s Naoe) is a storyteller’s dream, but yes, we should throw all that away for the sake of “accuracy” because it challenges our preset notions.
Yasuke has a Netflix animated series and the diversity when it comes to representing samurai in media gave us the imagined world of Blue Eye Samurai. We need more characters like Yasuke not just to get us to think as players but also to acknowledge that games must engage with stories that are on the margins.
— Aditya Deshbandhu
