Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Naoe has her own speedy “Naruto run”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Naoe is “the fastest Assassin” in the storied franchise’s history.

That’s according to creative director Jonathan Dumont, who told Entertainment Weekly that she will have a Naruto run in which she’ll “lean forward, arms bent, sprinting at full speed”.

“We do have a run on top of buildings that has a little bit of a wink-wink to it,” Dumont said.

“Naoe’s the fastest Assassin we ever made,” he added. “She runs super fast, she has a lot of gadgets to keep her stealth so that she doesn’t have to fight often. We wanted to satisfy that for players that come in for that ninja-Assassin game.”

Dumont wouldn’t be drawn on further story points, but did say: “She will start a bit of a path of vengeance or fulfilling a promise that she made to her family. As she discovers a world in need, she begins to really value the community values her father taught.

“Can she make a better world? [She realises] they are people who cannot defend themselves, which is tied a little bit more to the models of the [Assassin] Brotherhood.

“[Naoe] was shielded by her father from what’s happening in the world, and it comes crashing down,” Dumont added. “She is pushed into war. She doesn’t know much about her origins. Her father’s been training her, but she doesn’t know much about her mother, who’s been gone. But as a cool proverb from Japan says, ‘a frog in a well knows nothing of the sea’.

“She is tossed into the real world, and through that, she will learn that she is not just a shinobi, that there is a little bit of a lineage or at least some mystery about some sort of different type of shinobi. They’re Assassins, so she’s somewhat linked to that.”

It’s from her father, Dumont said, that Naoe receives her Hidden Blade.

Interestingly, whilst Naoe is super stealthy and can pull off the signature Leap of Faith if there’s a handy pile of shrubbery or hay nearby, co-lead Yakuke can’t.

“He doesn’t do the Leap of Faith,” Dumont said. “He just crashes right into the haystack, and he hurts his butt, too. So, it’s pretty funny.”

This dual perspective is to ensure fans of both the older and newer Assassin’s Creed games are satisfied.

“A lot of people like Assassin’s at the start with the stealth approach: hiding in the shadows and the crowd. Then we have a little bit more of the action-oriented ones… Odyssey, Origins, and Valhalla,” Dumont added. “We try to satisfy both types of players, but also try to not dilute too much of what they like about it.”

We also recently learned that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will take a fresh approach to how it handles branching story and offer a mode “that allows a choice-free narrative”.

In answer to questions from fans around how the game will balance the ability to make narrative decisions with fans’ desire for a single representation of how Shadows’ ‘historical’ narrative plays out, Dumont revealed the game would feature a “canon mode”.

Last month, Eurogamer heard from Assassin’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis Coté on how the franchise will move forward with a more unified, well-maintained story – and how its modern day portion will now feel more integral after years of being treated like an afterthought.