Streamer FightinCowboy addresses the recent drama surrounding one of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ dual protagonists, Yasuke.

It’s no secret that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been quite the controversial title, especially with regards to one of its titular protagonists – Yasuke. Players have ragged on the inclusion of the character for quite some time now, citing that his inclusion was quite disingenuous toward the Japanese people, with certain rather snarky remarks being thrown in.

One of the most popular video game streamers, FightinCowboy has recently spoken up about the same, offering his thoughts on the game, and with regards to Yasuke in general.

FightinCowboy Addresses The Hate Surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Yasuke

The dual protagonists, Yasuke and Naoe | Image Credits: Ubisoft

Speaking out in a recent Twitch stream, FightinCowboy recently addressed the ‘controversy’ surrounding Yasuke, when confronted about it by one of his viewers. Allegedly, the commenter jumped onto the stream to complain about a black man being headed as a protagonist in Assassin’s Creed.

FightinCowboy did not not take this lightly, hurling a few select choice of words against the commenter, lashing out at them. In particular, the streamer repeatedly remarked that they do not care about the opinion of other players for this game – and that his morning bowel activity had a bigger impact on his ‘thought process’ than having to waste time babying an offended player.

The rant went on for a solid minute, with FightinCowboy remarking that players who most certainly do not appreciate a game can simply ‘choose’ to leave and not play the game in the first place – instead of causing unnecessary drama on other people’s streams.

After all, Assassin’s Creed has always loosely followed the events of real-world, historical events and expecting a level of historical accuracy in the same is nothing short of baffling. Assassin’s Creed games have always leant on borderline fantasy, and this wouldn’t be the first ‘offensive’ notion carried out by the franchise.

⛶

⛶

⛶

⛶

After all, players did have to fight (and kill) the Pope during the events of Assassin’s Creed II, none of which caused as much outrage as the inclusion of a black man in the newest entry.

Ultimately however, it is up to the players to decide how they wish to approach the game, and a friendly reminder as to the fact that most of these encounters in Shadows are entirely optional in nature, and inaccessible without deliberately trying to reach the same.

While Assassin’s Creed Shadows Has Many Faults, Yasuke Is Not One Of Them

Shadows is not a perfect game by any means | Image Credits: Ubisoft

It should be reminded that Shadows is not a perfect game by any stretch of the term – it has faults, and more than a few glaring ones. For starters, the open world feels weak as ever, and Ubisoft’s tired trope is wearing thin on the player’s patience. Secondly, the game while mechanically sound, has some very poor voice acting, delivery and narrative choices which prevent it from truly reaching its potential.

Add to this the certain portrayal of historical figures, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows has more than a few problems on its hands, but none of them involve Yasuke as a character in general.

Yasuke was, after all, a a very real character and actually in service of Oda Nobunaga, and his appearance is very well documented. While the details surrounding his exact role and fate remain up to speculation, it is no excuse for derogatory behaviour.

Furthermore, Assassin’s Creed games were never really about realism in the first place, and creative liberties are a given, as long as they are not malicious in nature.