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One of the most unique things about Assassin’s Creed Shadows is that it gives you control over two different characters with completely different playstyles from one another. We’ve seen multiple protagonists in the series before, but never to this extent.
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While both Naoe and Yasuke are as important to the story as one another, you’re going to have to get through a good deal of the game before having access to both. Here’s what you need to do to unlock Yasuke for good.
How To Unlock Yasuke
When you first start Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you’ll take control of Yasuke for a portion of the intro mission. That quickly changes as you swap to Naoe and then have to go through a prologue as her. From the moment you swap to Naoe for the first time, she’ll be the only controllable character for a good 10 hours of the game until she crosses paths with Yasuke again.
To get to that point, you need to make enough progress in the main story. That means taking out the first two targets in the game, The Wounded and The Golden Teppo. Once you’ve done this, talk to Tomiko to start another quest where Naoe is summoned to try and take out Oda Nobunaga. This quest line is fairly simple and linear and will lead to the main mission, Temple of the Horseman.
In this quest, Naoe must sneak through to where Nobunaga is in a castle and then take him on in a duel. This causes Yasuke to get involved and a lengthy story scene to play out. After that all happens, Yasuke will finally come into play during a mission called Lightning and Thunder, which lets you take control of him again as he storms a castle in the rain.
Yasuke’s return is also one of the best scenes in the game, so strap in.
After a flashback mission and some more cutscenes, Naoe and Yasuke will finally team up like we all knew they would, leading to Yasuke being a permanent playable character in the game. From this point on, you can choose to do missions as either of them and swap between them fairly easily.
Swapping Between Yasuke And Naoe
To swap between Naoe and Yasuke, all you need to do is head over to the Inventory menu and hold down X on Xbox and Square on PS5. This will switch you to the other character. You can also choose to instantly swap between the two when fast-travelling to a point on the map, which will spawn you in as whichever you pick.
Swapping characters has a big benefit, as if a character becomes wanted you can swap to the other to remain anonymous and not get hunted down. You can’t swap in areas with enemies, though.
From this point on in the game, it’s basically up to you to choose which character you want to play as for each mission. Naoe has far better stealth capabilities and can climb with ease but is worse in combat, while Yasuke is better for fighting but has a hard time getting around the map. You’ll want to swap between them frequently, which you can now do basically whenever aside from a few specific story moments.
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