Just like the other Assassin’s Creed RPGs, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a number of optional romances for both Yasuke and Naoe to pursue outside of the main story quest. One of the first that you’re likely to run into is Gennojo, a cheeky thief who catches Naoe’s eye.
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Gennojo is first encountered during one of The Fool’s story missions, but once you’ve completed that thread he gets his own questline. If you make the right choices during those missions, you can cause him to be a romance option for Naoe. Here’s what you need to do.
Gennojo’s quest line can also end up with him just being a summonable ally or just parting ways with him. It’s worth having him as an ally, if not a romance option, though.
Missing Honor
Before you get stuck into Gennojo’s quest line, though, keep in mind that the first time you’ll encounter him and open up the romance option is during the main story quest called Lost Honor. After defeating the final boss of that quest, Gennojo will approach Naoe and suggest they’re good together. Respond with “You might be right” to kick things off if you’re trying to romance him, but both choices are fine if you’re just looking to recruit him later on.
Sake And Swords
Immediately after finishing Lost Honor, you’ll unlock Gennojo’s ally quest, which is located near Ogura Pond. You’ll have been here for a story mission already so fast-travel over and then find him in a drunken stupor. Chat to Gennojo and if you’re trying to romance him, choose “Depends what you’re offering”. The other choices are fine too, but they all lead to a battle with a few villagers, who are easy enough targets.
After defeating the villagers, respond with “Show me, thief” if you want to romance Gennojo, or just “You stink” if you’re not. Both options will result in a new mission being unlocked where Naoe goes to meet Gennojo to help him out.
Honor Among Thieves
Gennojo will ask you to meet him near Shokokuji Temple, which kicks off the next mission. Talk to him and he’ll ask for your help stealing back some a scroll, which is right over the wall that he’s standing near in the Kubo Sama Old Residence. Jump over the wall and Observe your surroundings with LT on Xbox or L2 on PS5 to see the locations of several scrolls. Head to each scroll and collect them until you’ve found the right one, which will prompt you to return to Gennojo.
Chat with Gennojo again and you’ll be presented with the first important dialogue option, which will be made clear by the notice saying “This will impact Gennojo”. If you want to romance him, go for “I’m keeping it then”, but if you’re just looking for an ally, choose, “This is serious”. Selecting either will cement your route a bit, but it’s not the final choice you’ll make, so head on over to the next mission of the questline.
Stolen Hearts
The next part of Gennojo’s quest will direct you towards an area near the Hills of Meeting. You’ll have this spot marked on your map, so head over there to find a worrying puddle of blood that indicates something has gone wrong. You’ll then have to find Gennojo, which is easily done by using Scouts or following the spot we’ve marked on the map above. Head over here to fight two soldiers who have captured Gennojo, which should be easy enough even if you have to use Naoe.
Make sure you’ve got Rations available to heal for this fight. I did it without but it took me several goes since the heavy enemy is a bit of a beast. With Rations, though, it’s an easy enough fight.
Defeating the soldiers will result in a cutscene where you’ll decide for good whether you want to romance Gennojo, as well as finding out about his backstory. If you want to romance him, choose, “I’d like to embrace you”, but if you’ve changed your mind then go with “You should embrace your past”. Choosing the romance option will result in Naoe and Gennojo finally hooking up, which results in a unique cutscene.
The Godless Harvest
The final part of Gennojo’s questline takes place next to Nijo Palace, and it’ll be marked on the map for you already without needing Scouts. Head over here to initiate the quest, which involves sneaking into the castle and finding the rice. It’s surprisingly difficult to locate if you enter from where Gennojo is, but we’ve marked the location on the map above so you don’t have any trouble.
Head over to the rice’s location and either avoid enemies or take them out stealthily. Once you reach the rice, a cutscene will trigger that results in a boss battle against Tatsugoro, who is a relatively simple enemy to beat. His moves consist of the same heavy strikes and pattern of consecutive light attacks as most enemies in the game so, aside from his slightly longer health bar, it should be business as normal.
A few other soldiers might join Tatsugoro, so be careful of being rushed by them all. Take them on one at a time to be careful.
After this Gennojo will threaten to blow up the storage of rice, which leaves you with some dialogue options that will once again “impact Gennojo”. Regardless of whether you want to romance Gennojo or not, make sure to choose, “Sooth Gennojo” to stay on his good side and keep him from doing something stupid. Once you’ve calmed him down, you can choose whether to recruit Gennojo with “We make a good team”, or cut him off with “I guess this is goodbye”.
Recruiting Gennojo to the team will provide you with a new ally who can be called upon during combat, and he’ll also be found hanging around the Hideout. Really, unless his cheeky thief personality puts you off, there’s no reason not to recruit him, if not romance him.
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