Your main quest as both Naoe and Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is to take down the Shinbakfu and exact revenge on everyone involved in their respective tragedies. It’s a long one that can take some time, but it’s also not the real ending.
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Shadows gives you a lot of control over taking down the Shinbakfu, but there’s definitely an ideal way to do it.
Once you’ve eliminated every target in the Shinbakfu, Naoe and Yasuke will both have some unresolved business to do with their “personal journeys”. Not only do these provide important story context, but they also make up the game’s epilogue.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Epilogue Explained
The epilogue section of Assassin’s Creed Shadows begins after your final, short-lived encounter with The Horseman, the final target of the Shinbakfu. This somewhat anti-climactic ending isn’t the real one, though, as you’re now entering the epilogue section of the game where you must finish off some personal questlines.
While you might think that you only need to beat Naoe and Yasuke’s personal quests to clear the epilogue in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, there are actually three sets of quests you’ll have to complete – Naoe’s, Yasuke’s, and Junjiro’s. That’s right, everyone’s favourite adopted little brother is a main part of the story, and you’ll need to clear his missions as well.
Once you’ve done all three of those questlines (which are each quite lengthy and better tackled throughout the story), you’ll unlock a final mission that wraps the game up for good and counts as the epilogue being cleared. Here’s everything you need to do to get to that point.
That final epilogue mission is also how you unlock Naoe’s Master Assassin outfit, so it’s well worth doing for that alone.
Naoe’s Epilogue Mission
The Meaning Of The Blade
Naoe’s final epilogue mission, The Meaning Of The Blade, will unlock once you’ve completed the story and her personal missions, which involve finding old assassin hideouts. Once you’ve done all of that (which we’ll assume you have since it’s all unlocked before beating the main game, you’ll have to head over to the Sakafuneishi Ruins in Asuka Rocks, Yamato.
Go here and you’ll finally gain access to a vault that the assassin order used and have an encounter with Hanzo Hattori. You’ll get the option to forgive him or attack him, although the outcome is the same either way. If you want to avoid a tough boss battle, just choose to spare him to move the scene on and conclude Naoe’s epilogue.
Yasuke’s Epilogue Missions
The Silver Queen
Yasuke’s epilogue has a few missions tied to it involving Duarte de Melo but the ones that can only be completed after the main story start out with The Silver Queen, which can be kicked off in The Silver Lands as shown on the map above. There’s not much to this one beyond some chatting, but it does introduce Yasuke’s main rival, Nuno Caro.
Nuno Caro was mentioned in some of Yasuke’s previous personal journey missions, but this string of quests and his eventual takedown are all tied to the epilogue.
A Promise
The next part of Yasuke’s epilogue involves finding someone called Akechi Mitsuyoshi, who can be found in Kamekama Castle. This mission is fairly simplistic and just involves storming the castle full of enemies and making it out with Mitsuyoshi by your side. Once you’ve found him near the tenshu, you’ll have to escort him out of the area safely.
Once you’ve rescued him, Mitsuyoshi will ask you to retrieve his Katana, which is north of Kameyama as marked on the map above. Again, there’s not much to this one beyond combat, so just head to where you need to go, pick up the katana, and bring it back to unlock the final part of Yasuke’s epilogue.
End Of The Line
Here we go, the final part of Yasuke’s story and the mission that his whole quest has been building up to – assassinating Nuno Caro. Caro can be found in Takeda Castle in Tamba, as marked on the map above. You can probably guess this, but you’ll face a whole ton of enemies to get to Caro.
The main thing to watch out for in the castle is alarms going off, as that’ll summon Guardians to the fight. There are enough enemies here as it is, so make sure you don’t get a Wanted status.
Just do what Yasuke does best and make your way through all of the enemies to reach Caro and a cutscene that explains Yasuke’s past. Before that, though, you’ll need to get rid of his men and then chase him through the castle to its very top, where a boss fight will kick off.
Caro doesn’t really have much that makes him stand out as an enemy, and by this point in the game you should be able to easily tear through him if you remember your fundamentals (and make use of ground attacks that tear through health and armour). Defeat him and Yasuke’s own personal story will come to an end.
Junjiro’s Personal Missions
What makes the difference between beating Assassin’s Creed Shadows and clearing its epilogue is, surprisingly, Junjiro. As you play, you might notice that the boy has a lot of sidequests tied to him, most of which are fairly simplistic, short, and marked on the map at all times. They all need to be completed in order to unlock the epilogue, though. Here’s every Junjiro quest and where to find them:
- Raise A Cup – Found at the Hideout
- Eyes On The Future – Found at Makinoodera Temple, where you met Sorin
- A Different Kind Of Samurai – Found just outside the Hideout
- Soup For Sorin – Found in Yuasa, in the Kii region
- The Pilgrimage – Found in Kumano Sanzan, in the Kii region
- Leaving A Mark – Found at the Hideout
All of Junjiro’s missions are incredibly simple and won’t require much thought beyond Observing and following the blue dots, but once you’ve completed all of them alongside Naoe and Yasuke’s personal stories, you’ll unlock the final epilogue quest in the game.
When tackling Junjiro’s missions, you’re better off doing them as they pop up in the story, as you’ll get XP and it won’t feel like so much of a grind. If Junjiro’s next mission hasn’t appeared, try making some progress in the story.
Out Of The Shadows
The very final mainline quest in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is fittingly titled Out of the Shadows, and it’s found in the Hideout by talking to Tomiko. You’ll get to choose between talking to everyone in the Hideout as either Yasuke or Naoe, which is completely up to you. Look around the Hideout and talk to everyone you can before making your way back to Tomiko.
This will trigger the last cutscene of the mission involving Yasuke, Naoe, and Junjiro as they reflect on their future together. With that, you’ll have beaten Assassin’s Creed Shadows properly and will get the “Epilogue” trophy or achievement for your troubles.
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