From what we've seen of Assassins Creed Codename Red, we know we're looking at a Feudal Japanese backdrop and some exciting new characters. Leaks have pointed to the potential of a choice between two playable female characters, one of which is a Samurai. And with one of the game's writers having just plastered their Linkedin page with imagery of a female character wielding a katana, the rumours are only getting stronger.
The rumours are spiralling thanks to Ubisoft game writer Pierre Boudreau's recent change to their Linkedin page, which was picked up by user chinchirroz and handed via Discord to Access The Animus, who posted the tip on their X page.
The banner, which evidently reflects the upcoming game, teases a potential female protagonist, poised low with her blade at the ready. A female protagonist is something fans have been asking for since the very first Assassin's Creed game broke out of the Animus. The logic is, if it's just ancestral memories in their DNA, why couldn't there have been women down the line somewhere, fighting for the Creed?
And before you come at me with "But Katie, there was no such thing as female Samurai", take a little journey into the history of the Onna-Bugeisha.
Meanwhile the comments section of Access The Animus' X post is already descending into incel-fueled degeneracy, with comments like "At least in the image, the character is beautiful and did not fall into the usual habit of making female characters ugly in games. I would like to know what her skills are".
To which someone replies with the impeccable roast: "When beautiful rl women don‘t find you attractive, you need them in your games. I get that"
Appearance aside, I'm looking forward to seeing what her skills are too.
As for the other potential playable character, Insider Gaming reckons the as-yet unseen Shinobi is "understood to be an African refugee, who learned the way of the Creed." And although we've no confirmation of any of this yet, here's hoping Boudreau isn't teasing us into the wrong conclusion.
Hideo Kojima originally had "no plans" for a character like Metal Gear Solid's Cyborg Ninja until Yoji Shinkawa's art had him saying "hell yeah, a ninja cyborg!"
Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid lead Hideo Kojima once said "everything I make ends up feeling somewhat like a movie" because he'd "grown up with them"
