All Assassin's Creed Shadows romance options

There are a few Assassin's Creed Shadows romance options for Naoe and Yasuke to pursue as they venture across Japan. From rebel misfit Gennojo to the noble Lady Oichi, there's a lot of variety across all the companions. Most of these romances are pretty easy to complete, bar a couple of very specific choices you need to make in Assassin's Creed Shadows to ensure everything works out. Bearing that in mind, I've explained exactly how romance works in AC Shadows and how to romance all four companions.

This guide contains spoilers for one main target in Assassin's Creed Shadows, so watch out as you read on!

All romance options in Assassin's Creed Shadows

There are four romance options available to pursue in AC Shadows, two for Naoe and two for Yasuke. They are:

• Gennojo and Naoe
• Katsuhime and Naoe
• Ibuki and Yasuke
• Lady Oichi and Yasuke

Conveniently, these AC Shadows romance options work in more or less the same way and are very easy to initiate. In short, you just need to select the responses with the heart Assassin's Creed Shadows dialogue symbol during conversations with any of the above romantic partners. These flirty options aren't necessarily critical to getting the final romance scene, but it's much easier to commit to all of them. Eventually, one of the dialogue choices during a conversation will have a heart with an arrow through it. Pick this to bring your little romance to its, uhhh… climax with a short scene.

The romances aren't really proper relationships and are mainly just flings between bloody murders and assassinations, so there's nothing more beyond the final scene. Additionally, there are no conflicts or lockouts, so you can complete all romance arcs for both Naoe and Yasuke without any arguments or long-term problems within the League.

However, be aware that if you are playing with Assassin's Creed Shadows Canon Mode turned on, you cannot romance any of the characters listed above. We can only assume that this means Yasuke and Naoe canonically have absolutely no game whatsoever.

How to romance Gennojo in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Gennojo is by far the easiest Ally to romance in Assassin's Creed Shadows because it all takes place during his Ally quest and not after:

1. Start Gennojo's Ally questline by playing through the Swords and Sake quest as Naoe.
2. Save Gennojo in the Stolen Hearts and then pick the "I'd like to embrace you" conversation option to embrace Gennojo.

After this, you'll begin Gennojo's final quest where you can recruit him to the Kakushiba Ikki or leave him to a different fate – despite him being incredibly annoying and arrogant, he is unfortunately one of the best Assassin's Creed Shadows Allies, so I highly recommend inviting him to the club.

How to romance Katsuhime in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Katsuhime can only be romanced by Naoe after recruiting her, so here's what you need to do:

1. Start Katsuhime's Ally questline by playing through the Letter from Katsuhime quest.
2. Rescue Katsuhime from execution during the later quest called The Diary of Lady Rokkaku. If she gets executed then there's obviously no chance of a romance, so make sure you attack the executioner to stop him in time or just reload an earlier save if you're too slow.
3. Carry her to safety, then recruit her to the Assassin's Creed Shadows Hideout and you'll unlock her romance quest, The Jounin Pillow Book.
4. Meet Katsuhime at Jogu shrine in northwestern Wakasa, start chatting, and then pick the "Let's find out" dialogue option to have a romantic evening on the beach.

Katsuhime then asks if Naoe wants to be with her forever, and you can respond "Yes. Forever". This leads to another smooch and Katsuhime gives Naoe the Kaiawase Shell quest item.

How to romance Ibuki in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Like Katsuhime, Ibuki's romance happens after you recruit them, though there's still lots of flirting you can do during their Ally questline:

1. Play the Ambush Interrupted side quest in Iga to get introduced to Ibuki.
2. Complete the Homecoming quest and recruit Ibuki.
3. Go to the Hideout to start the Putting Down Roots quest. For this quest, you must gather blue anemone flower seeds for Ibuki, which can be found near the far riverbank northeast of Kashiwara Manor in Iga.
4. Deliver the flowers to Ibuki back at the Hideout and pick the "I want more than friendship" dialogue option to share a kiss.

And that's all there is to romancing Ibuki in AC Shadows, though you will also unlock the Blue Anemone flora decoration for the Hideout by getting this far.

How to romance Lady Oichi in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Romancing Lady Oichi in Assassin's Creed Shadows requires a specific choice, since she isn't a recruitable Ally but rather a main target:

1. Pursue all quests relevant to The Mourner assassination target and begin the quest called The Wheel Unmasked.
2. At the end of the quest, choose the "Spare as Yasuke" option to let Lady Oichi live. This unlocks the romance quest, The Wheel Turns.
3. Start The Wheel Turns by reading the letter for Yasuke left at the Hideout from Lady Oichi.
4. Find her in the town immediately southwest of Azuchi, specifically in the Merchants' Quarters. Make sure you pick the "I miss your smile" dialogue option to keep the quest going.
5. Sail to Okishima, the island (of cats) northwest of Azuchi in Lake Biwa and meet Oichi there.
6. Follow the quest and chat with Lady Oichi at the temple, then speak to her daughters around the island – there is a separate sub-choice here where you can recruit Fuji-maru, a dog, to unlock him as a pet for the Hideout, but it is sadly best to let him stay with Oichi's daughters.
7. Finally, pick the "Let's enjoy the moment" option during Yasuke's last conversation with Lady Oichi.

After a fade to black, Yasuke wakes up the next morning alone, so that's Lady Oichi out of the picture forever and the end of her romance questline.

If you pre-ordered the game, there is another canine companion you can unlock via the Assassin's Creed Shadows Thrown to the Dogs quest.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.