Reflecting on Assassin's Creed's romances has me looking forward to "the more developed relationships" in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Shortly after Assassin's Creed Shadows' first official reveal last summer, Ubisoft Quebec confirmed the upcoming RPG will be bringing back romance. Said to feature "more developed relationships" this time around, it will also let us choose "lovers, either for a short, sweet time or longer term". To me, it sounds like an amalgamation of everything that's come before, and nothing could speak to me more as both a longtime fan and a player who's always looking for a spot of romance in the games I play.

Romance has always been a part of the Assassin's Creed series, but the way it's been explored and handled over the years has changed. With Assassin's Creed Shadows' impending take on courtship in mind, I've been reflecting back on the love stories of lead assassins in earlier games, along with the more open trysts in the later RPG-shaped adventures, and it really does only cement my conclusion that Shadow's may well draw from the series so far to evolve - and hopefully improve - the connections we can form during our adventures.

Spoilers for romance in the series so far lie ahead.

(I just) died in your arms

When I started playing Assassin's Creed Unity back in 2014, I can remember thinking one thing: Arno's love interest, Elise, is probably going to die. Now, as a hopeless romantic, I would never wish for such an outcome, nor would I ever want to think such a thing. But my gloomy prediction was informed by almost every Assassin's Creed game that preceded the adventure set in Paris. Sadly, this speaks to an ongoing trend in the earlier games of the series, whereby many of the love interests would meet an untimely end - often dying in the arms of the protagonist. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood kickstarted the tragedy, and from then on, it felt like no assassin could avoid this fate… even when they seemingly secured a happy ending.

Assassin's Creed originator Altair is a prime example. He went on to marry his templar lady-love and even had children with her. But all of that is brought to an abrupt end in Assassin's Creed Revelations. During one sequence where we get to control Altair once more, we see Maria killed right in front of our very eyes. Prior to Ezio's final journey, though, it was the aforementioned Brotherhood that began it all, with the Italian assassin's paramour meeting a similar fate that hit hard thanks to the lengthy relationship they'd shared over two decades. In the space of just two games, I'd held too many dying love interests in my cloaked arms, and there was absolutely no sign of this stopping when Assassin's Creed Black Flag came around. Charismatic pirate Kenway's attachment to Mary Reed was coldly cut when she – yep, you guessed it – died in his arms while trying to escape prison.

I mean sure, they've all got a rather deadly occupation, but after so many deaths, my poor withered heart was readying itself for further pain when Unity arrived. And was I right to be so cynical about Arno's adorable relationship with someone he'd grown up with? One that's at the heart of the story? Well, yes. As it turns I was, because alas, my prediction came true. Elise doesn't make it either, and as I watched Arno cradle her face as she lay lifeless, I'd given up all hope of a happily ever after for love in the time of assassins. While they all met sad ends, I still appreciated how each romance succeeded at making me care about their relationships (even if they also hurt me because of that fact).

Looking for love

Like a shining cherub that came to restore my faith again, Assassin's Creed Syndicate answered my prayers by bucking the trend and delivering a sweet romance that didn't end in tragedy. The relationship Evie Frye and Henry Green develop over the course of the game feels very natural. But by the end of the adventure I was on tenderhooks, believing that at any moment their blossoming attachment would also be cut short. The final mission even has the perfect set up for tragedy and I never been quite as nervous as when I was playing through it for the first time. Happily, all is well for both Henry and Evie at the close of the final assassination, and the pair even get engaged in an adorable post end-game side mission aboard their train hideout.

I also have to give a hat tip to the sudden kiss adversary Maxwell Roth shares with Jacob Frye. It feels as though it's his dying wish, and it's the first time we see a same-sex kiss in the series. To me, I've already read Jacob Fyre as the first bisexual assassin in a mainline AC game, but it wasn't until the later entries that we started to see Assassin's Creed be more open, inclusive, and thoughtful in its portrayal of love and relationships.

In Assassin's Creed Origins, we see the series continue to grow in the romance department through one of the more authentic relationships: married couple, Bayak and Aya. They're both flawed characters and their romance isn't perfect, with the tragic loss of their son changing them both forever. But everything they go through makes the highs and lows of their connection more believable. They might not necessarily get a big happy ending, but it pointed towards a deeper exploration of romance.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Assassin's Creed Valhalla then signaled a big shift in direction, with both entries leaning into the RPG elements Origins began to introduce. With this came a change in the series' approach to romance, with Ubisoft giving players more agency to engage in relationships of their choosing, regardless of gender – from quick love affairs to a few attachments with more emotional weight to them. While Assassin's Creed Shadows is also following the RPG route and will include Odyssey-like romantic flings, the promise of more "developed relationships" makes me think it will also be pulling a leaf out of some of the earlier game's books, too – hopefully without quite so much tragedy in that department.

I really like the idea that we may see more meaningful romances in Assassin's Creed Shadows, alongside the option to engage in some short-term flings if we so wish. While Ubisoft Quebec's developers have already said it won't be the equivalent of a dating sim, I'm really looking forward to discovering for myself what "more developed relationships" will ultimately look like as we navigate feudal Japan as both Naoe and Yasuke. It does sound as though it's drawing from everything that's come before to bring us what will hopefully be a refreshing approach to romance in the series.

Head on over to our Assassin's Creed Shadows big preview hub for more on the upcoming RPG.