Ubisoft Stealth Patches ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’, Tones Down Shrine Destruction And Civilian Bloodshed
In a move ostensibly made in response to the various concerns raised by the Japanese themselves, Ubisoft has released a Day One patch for Assassin’s Creed Shadows that, among many other changes, serves to drastically reduce the amount of violence a given player can unleash on both religious shrines and non-armed civilians.
As previously reported, the topic of Shadows‘ ‘shrine violence’ centers around the Itatehyozu-jinja Shrine, a Shinto religious site in the Hyogo prefecture that is said to have been established in 564 as the earthly home of first the local Gods of Matchmaking/Nation-Building (Hyouzu-no-Ohkami) and Planting Trees/Achieving Victory And Happiness (Itate-no-Ohkami) and eventually the totality of the region’s 174 resident deities.
One of the many historical locations that have been recreated for the player to visit, thanks to the game’s dedication to its overall ‘environmental destructibility’ mechanic, this and every other shrine in the region can be thoroughly smashed up by either Naoe or Yasuke, with everything from furnishings to followers able to be sliced and diced.
Or at least, that was the case for Shadows‘ initial release, as following complaints regarding in-game shrine destructability and civilian violence being leveled against them by a myriad of sources ranging from the average Japanese citizen, to the Itatehyozu-jinja Shrine’s caretakers, to a number of national politicians, Ubisoft has quietly released a Day One patch for the game that significantly adjusts the player’s ability to interact with certain elements of their surroundings.
Per IGN, to whom Ubisoft confirmed both the patch’s existence and their decision to keep its release low profile, the changes made by the update include:
- 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).
Further, the Assassin’s Creed franchise house also confirmed that this path was a universal one, and would be applied to all copies of Shadows rather than just those sold within Japan.
Notably, in the days immediately prior to Shadows official release, the shrine controversy had found itself finding its way to the attention of Japan’s current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishida.
Receiving a recap of the situation during a recent assembly of his country’s National Diet, Ishida expressed specific concern over the potential for mentally-unwell individuals to take inspiration from the game and recreate its ‘shrine destruction mechanics’ in real-life.
“Defacing a shrine is absolutely unacceptable,” said Ishida, as reported by Japanese news outlet IT Media and machine translated by ChatGPT. “Such actions are nothing less than an insult to the nation.”
“When we deployed the Self-Defense Forces to Samawah, Iraq, we asked them to learn about Islamic customs beforehand,” the Prime Minister recalled. “It is only natural to show respect for a country’s culture and religion. If disrespectful acts occur, it is important to speak out and make it clear that we will not tolerate them.”
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