The introduction to Assassin's Creed Shadows is the bloodiest the series has ever been. Spurts of blood and the crackling flames of burning villages and bodies showcase seriously impressive visuals while being a statement of intent: Ubisoft Quebec isn't shying away from the defining violence of the era. A long-requested setting from fans, we find ourselves in the warring states Sengoku era, where the country's people are caught in the midst of a violent struggle for power between provinces and their warlords.
It's a conflict that Diogo – who most will know as Yasuke – is thrown into without choice. Known as the former name when we first meet him, he's a slave and bodyguard to a group of Italian missionaries, accompanying them as they petition Oda Nobunaga for the freedom to travel through his lands to preach. Taken with Diogo's warrior instincts, and curious about his skin color, Nobunaga takes him under his wing, giving him his new name and setting him on the path of a samurai. Yasuke, he says, "may become a legend, or he may die."
