Ubisoft has quietly updated Assassin’s Creed Shadows with a day one patch that includes changes to how players can interact with objects within the game’s shrine locations.
The change is minor, but notable as it follows attention on the game raised by Japanese politician Hiroyuki Kada, who was upset at preview footage of the game featuring a player crashing around a local shrine within Shadows (thanks, IGN).
At launch, major items in Shadows’ shrines are no longer destructible. Ubisoft appears to have released the patch alongside the game’s release last night, meaning players will already have it installed.
Yesterday, Kada flagged the situation again, to get a response from the country’s prime minister. The following exchange comes via IGN, with translation by IGN Japan colleagues.
“I fear that allowing players to attack and destroy real-world locations in the game without permission could encourage similar behavior in real life,” Kada said. “Shrine officials and local residents are also worried about this. Of course, freedom of expression must be respected, but acts that demean local cultures should be avoided.”
According to IGN Japan staff, the context to Kada’s comments is that Japan has seen record tourism since the country’s post-lockdown reopening, and wider concern of “over tourism” that has sparked a rise in vandalism. Kada’s concern is that Shadows players who have played the game might try and recreate its violence in real-life.
“Defacing a shrine is out of the question – it is an insult to the nation itself,” Japanese prime minster Ishiba said yesterday, in a response to Kada. “When the Self-Defense Forces were deployed to Samawah, Iraq, we ensured they studied Islamic customs beforehand. Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them.”
Otherwise, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ launch day patch includes a small list of fixes previously flagged as arriving on day one.
If you’re playing Shadows already, you likely have this patch installed. Ubisoft told Eurogamer it will not be highlighting the patch publicly beyond confirming the below notes are accurate:
- Players no longer getting stuck inside movable objects after dodging forward and interacting with them in kofuns
- Fix for procedural weapons being removed incorrectly when selling items
- Adjustments to prevent players from going out of bounds when proning against objects
- Improved horse navigation, reducing issues with turning and blocked paths
- Lighting adjustments for cave, kofun, and architectural entrances/exits
- Fixes for cloth clipping on Yasuke’s outfits (while riding) and Naoe’s outfits (while crouching)
- Citizens without weapons no longer bleed when attacked, reducing unintended blood spill in temples/shrines
- Tables and racks in temples/shrines are now indestructible (Some objects like drums or bowls can still be broken as they are generic ones present everywhere in the world) (Tables are still dynamic objects, so players can still move/push them).
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been a lightning rod for controversy over its road to release, including a reworked figurine with an initially “insensitive” design, and gripes over historical inaccuracies in concept art within a collector’s art book.
There has also been an ongoing backlash to Yasuke’s presence and role in Shadows, which caught the attention of Elon Musk. In July, Ubisoft issued an apology for elements in the game’s marketing campaign that had “caused concern” among some Japanese fans.