Summary
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows has faced some trouble and potential legal action over its treatment of shrines.
- In line with this, Ubisoft has added a message into the game that asks players not to climb on torii gates.
- Despite that, there’s no actual consequence for doing so, unlike with being desynced for hurting civilians.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has an interesting message for players that pops up the first time they encounter a torii gate, as it asks them rather politely not to climb on them.
Although Assassin’s Creed Shadows was always going to be a much-discussed game thanks to it finally introducing the Feudal Japan setting that fans have been asking for, no one could have predicted just how big a deal it would be. Sadly, a lot of the chatter has been centred around the game’s position in an ongoing culture war.
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Beyond Yasuke’s position as the first Black samurai, one of the biggest points of contention with Shadows is its apparent “disrespectful” attitude towards shrines and other locations across the map. This is in part due to the player being able to choose to destroy some parts of the environment, an action that’s up to the player but is still causing some waves.
The Animus Asks You Not To Climb On Torii Gates In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
While that does still seem to be an option in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it seems like Ubisoft has at least tried to discourage players from interacting with certain important structures. One such example of this is the game’s torii gates, which are structures placed at the entrance and along the pathways of Shinto shrines and considered integral to them.
You’ll encounter torii shrines a lot in Assassin’s Creed Shadows as there are a ton of shrines throughout the map. The first one you visit, though, has a rather interesting message for players. As you approach it, a message will flash up on screen similar to the warning that shows when you attack civilians, asking you not to climb on the torii gates so as to “preserve the sanctity” of them.
While we’re at it, yes, you can still be desynchronized for trying to hurt random civilians throughout Feudal Japan.
That initial message might seem pretty serious (and is one repeated in the game’s codex entry about torii gates), but there’s surprisingly no punishment for doing so. If Yasuke or Naoe choose to climb the gate to see what happens, they’ll find that there’s no punishment at all for choosing to clamber up, even if it is deemed incredibly disrespectful to do so.
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