You’d be forgiven for thinking Yasuke is the starting character in the early moments of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The opening cutscene follows his introduction to Oda Nobunaga; then time skips to an action-packed tutorial that showcases Yasuke’s basic controls. Afterwards, the game shifts to deuteragonist Naoe, and somewhat unexpectedly stays with her. What happened to Yasuke? Is there some method to change characters that you never learned about?
Don’t panic, you didn’t miss anything. The first act of Assassin Creed Shadows’ story exclusively follows Naoe, so you’ll need to master her stealth-focused battle style as you begin your exploration of Sengoku-era Japan. You have free reign of the game’s open world, so nothing’s stopping you from accepting side quests and stocking up on legendary loot at this stage. However, if you want to unlock Yasuke, you’ll need to focus on completing main story quests. Yasuke will appear once again after an especially pivotal story moment, and you’ll see how his tale directly intersects with Naoe’s path of vengeance.
For more specific (and spoiler-free!) details, read on below.
All quests needed to unlock Yasuke
At the outset of Naoe’s hunt for the Onryo, you can pursue two targets: The Golden Teppo and The Wounded. Both of these questlines will branch into additional objectives as you pursue them, and you’ll need to complete all of them to hunt down both of these marks. You can challenge these in whichever order you like, though The Golden Teppo is the faster of the two overall. Do with that information what you will.
Upon the completion of these objectives, a new main story quest will unlock at the hideout. I won’t give any more details than that, but after the completion of this questline, Yasuke will become a playable character.
How to switch between Yasuke and Naoe
Fortunately, once Yasuke and Naoe join forces, switching between them couldn’t be easier. Simply head the equipment screen in your main menu and you’ll see a prompt to switch your active character. Hold down the button, and the game will reload to change your active protagonist.This can trigger a change of seasons if enough time has passed, so keep that in mind if you’re seconds away from using your scouts.
Naturally, you can’t change protagonists if you’re mid-combat or if you’re in an area that demands the use of a specific character (such as a Kofun). That said, Yasuke won’t inherit the “Wanted” status of Naoe and vice versa. Use this knowledge to safely walk certain streets if you get caught introducing someone’s neck to your katana.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.
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