The murder train continues to roll on in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This time, we have the sordid tale of the aristocrat Ukita Naoie who sends his kid out of town so he doesn’t have to be there to see him completely betray his countrymen to an army of murderous ninjas. He’s a poet; he plays Go; he’s a good man; we like him. We got nothing against him. But we’re definitely gonna make orphans of his children. Let’s get after him.
1. Preparation
2. The mission
Preparation
The previous missions should really be enough to give you an idea of what you’re up against, specifically the one right before where Naoie sends a half dozen shinobi after you. That fight’s a painful, annoying trial by fire, but it should’ve done a pretty solid job of teaching you how to deal with this particularly tricky new enemy type, because there’s a fair few of ‘em in your immediate future. If it helps just to have it in print, though, the big bullet points are to parry when you see a shinobi backflip twice, dodge twice when a smoke bomb gets dropped.
Past that, though, this is gonna be a Yasuke heavy mission, so make sure he’s ready for war..
The mission: ‘Spring and Fall’
After the cutscene where Kanbei promises to make Naoie an offer he can’t refuse, you’ll get to choose between Naoe and Yasuke. Pick Yasuke, and head on inside. There’s a bunch of guards around, but keep off the weaponry a minute, don’t start nothing with these initial guys, won’t be nothing.
Instead, follow the path forward, and you’ll run into Tokubei, who is thankfully 90-percent less buck-ass naked this time. He’ll lead you to the back entrance where the real fun begins: four guys with teppos. After them, bust through the next door, where you’ll run into Ukita’s lieutenant, who gets his own fancy boss bar and everything. Clear out the lesser soldiers before laying the smackdown on the lieutenant; they’re all pushovers. Loot the place, pick up a few rations at one of the copious boxes nearby, then head through the next door.
A cutscene will trigger, which will leave you in a massive courtyard crawling with shinobi, and the choice to switch characters. All these guys can swarm Yasuke in a hurry the second he mercs one of ‘em, and that’s smoke you don’t want. Switch to Naoe for this bit.
Once you’ve got control, head to the roof of the pagoda to your left so you can mark your targets. There are enemies wandering the far edges of this area, and two patrolling the middle. You’ll want to circle around and start killing from the left of this area, starting with the one standing guard beneath you. That’ll put you behind one of the guys out in the open, and in a nice hiding spot to lure the other two. No fuss, no muss.
You’ll get a new cutscene immediately after the last man is dead, with Naoie and Kanbei getting their deadly-game-of-cat-and-mouse thing on over a game of Go. Once Kanbei checkmates Naoie–no, I do not know how to play Go, why do you ask?–he’ll make a break for it, while two absolute unit samurai come to square up with our heroes.
When the choice comes, send Yasuke after Ukita. Once you’ve got control, kill the two ronin coming towards you, go over the bridge, but don’t Kool-Aid Man through the next door. Instead, take the first right, up the wooden ramp. This’ll backdoor you into Naoie’s tower, and from here, you’re basically killing your way to the top. That’s pretty literal too, there’s a few dead-end rooms on each floor, and the main way you can tell which way to go is to hold L2/LT and look for the enemy markers. The enemies are usually grouped around the next staircase leading upstairs.
You’ll eventually reach a room barred from the inside. NOW you can Kool-Aid through. From there, it’s a fairly straightforward set of narrow hallways, until you reach a ladder leading to a trap door. Get all healed up, and when you’re ready, step through.
You’ll finally get to Naoie, who seems pretty chill about accepting he’s boned. You’ll eventually choose who gets to face off against him. Dealer’s choice here, but Yasuke can utterly overpower this guy with parries, to the point he can’t do his most annoying thing, which is call additional soldiers into the fight. For that alone, we recommend running with him. Let the man finish reading his kid’s poem when you get the choice, though, it’ll help after the fight when you have to tell this poor bastard’s son why daddy’s not coming home, and in the most poetic way imaginable.
After the fight, you’ll get the choice to kill or spare Naoie. He’s a dead man anyway, but, again, the more dignified you can make it, the better. Spare him, and then later on, when talking to his kid, choose the option about his father performing a stanza for the happiest ending. Well, as happy as “we killed 67 dudes just to slit your dad’s throat, you’re welcome Japan” can be.
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