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Ubisoft posted some new Assassin’s Creed Shadows artwork the other day. It’s a collage of faces which somewhat oddly minimizes the two playable characters (you can see the full image at the bottom of this article). There’s a big guy at the top who’s much more prominent than the leads in the center, for instance, but by far the most noticeable figure—who you might even think is the game’s protagonist from his assertive stance and crisp backlighting on his cheek—is a stalwart child positioned directly under the logo.
Who is this kid?
According to a recent Entertainment Weekly article, his name is Junjiro and he’s “the future Naoe hopes Japan will be,” Naoe being one of Shadows’ two playable characters, the stealthy ninja counterbalance to Yasuke’s samurai muscle. So the kid apparently plays a notable role in the story, but with our expectations so well-trained on old action comedy movies, it’s hard to look at that near-smirk and not expect him to be a comedic foil for the ennui-laden adults around him. “This kid’s gonna save the day with some wacky shenanigans when everyone least expects it,” PCG news hound Andy Chalk said after sharing the art in our work chat.
We don’t really know much about the supporting cast of Shadows, and our assumptions here are possibly (OK, probably) unfair. Junjiro might not even be an important character despite his front-and-center spot on the poster, but we haven’t been able to stop ourselves from coming up with ideas for Assassin’s Creed missions involving a plucky child hero anyway.
Here are our best guesses for how Junjiro will fit into Shadows:
Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor: Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place about 20 years before Tokugawa Ieyasu seized power and became shogun, so maybe he’s supposed to be one of Tokugawa’s or Nobunaga’s bastard sons or something, with novel ideas like “What if we all just got along?”
Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer: The “future of Japan” hint makes me think he’s some sort of precocious child inventor. You’re going to have to bring this kid all kinds of half-finished diagrams so he can make dart launchers and upgraded grappling hooks, and he’ll be delighted, and then you’ll take his incredible works and use them to brutalize heaps of nameless guards. He’ll think this is cool. My guess is it’ll be unclear whether the game thinks he should think this is cool.
Either that, or he’s like, a Gundam pilot.
All I know is he’s going to have a minigame and it won’t be fun.
Tyler Wilde, US Editor-in-Chief: I think Lincoln’s child inventor prediction is strong. I don’t see Ubisoft as the type to put a kid in combat, so it’d make sense for him to hang out at a safehouse somewhere. If his clothes were grubbier, I’d say he might be an informant or scavenger—the street kid who’s always got smoke bombs he stole from the smoke bomb factory for you, or a tip about the crime boss he runs packages for. His face is too clean for that kind of thing, though, so maybe he’s more of the philosophical guidepost Wes leaned toward: a pure-of-heart child adviser who helps you digest the implications of your last misadventure and points you toward the next step. Every time you’re done talking to him you’ll get a notification like, “Junjiro said you might find answers at his favorite shrine. Check it out.”
(Even if he’s not a pickpocket, I still feel strongly that you will at some point discover “Junjiro’s cache” and it will contain smoke bombs.)
Christopher Livingston, Child Disliker: In stories about succession there’s often one evil heir and one good heir, and I bet this kid is somewhere in the “good” bloodline which means he is definitely getting kidnapped. First, you’ll have to get to know him so you “care” even though you just want him to go away so you can start killing ninjas already. And he’ll be one of those annoying kids who says shit like “I know a secret way into the castle!” and then you have to watch him climb a big tree and follow him, as if you couldn’t have figured that out for yourself. Then the evil heir will have him abducted and you’ve gotta save him by stabbing 700 people in the neck. Hopefully this means he’s absent for almost the entire game. (I don’t like kids.)
Ted Litchfield, Associate Editor: I think the kid’s going to be like Atreus from God of War or D Dog from MGS5, and you’ll be able to order the kid to do stealth kills and stuff for you. Maybe the kid will be our new Eagle Vision, “Yasuke press the right bumper to use Kid Vision and find your target in the crowd!” If there is some kind of Young Wolf and Cub thing where taking care of the kid teaches one or both protagonists to heal their trauma, I will declare videogames canceled until we prove we can be trusted with them again.
Rich Stanton, Senior Editor: You just know this stout little smugster is going to be making quips and be comedy relief with a pure heart that gives you such hope for the future. The kid is 100% getting kidnapped and, chances are, when he does you’ll be really glad: And slightly annoyed the game makes you rescue him.
Andy Chalk, NA News Lead: I’m sticking with my wacky shenanigans theory. At some point in the game, all will be lost: Cold, certain doom will be bearing down on Yasuke and Naoe like charging samurai cavalry. “Surely we are lost!” Yasuke cries, bracing for his final stand. “If only we still held the power of the Nobitsura Kage, we would be saved,” Naoe replies wistfully, steeling herself for the end. And then this kid—Naoe’s doofus little brother, who’s been a pain in the ass from the word “go”—steps out from the background and says sheepishly, “You mean this Nobitsura Kage?” He awkwardly hands the legendary sword to Yasuke, who uses it to thump the hell out of everything. Naoe hugs the kid, the day is saved, and everyone realizes there’s a whole lot more than meets the eye with this plucky little guy. Or, you know, something like that. Shenanigans!
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Kurt Indovina
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