As the next flagship game for the series,Assassin’s Creed Redhas an opportunity to take inspiration from both ACOdyssey’smythical beasts and Japanese folklore to bring players face-to-face with the infamous yokai. Since the most recentAssassin’s Creedgames have moved away from strictly adhering to historical accuracy and into the realm of fantasy with blurred lines between science and magic, it’s highly likely thatAC Redwill follow suit. Crucially though,ACRed’sJapanese setting holds could see a wealth of myths, legends, and folklore introduced to the series and its larger narrative.
Assassin’s Creed Originsmarked a turning point for the series, not just because it had lurched back to ancient history but because its divergence from realism opened the door for Ubisoft to have more ambitious creativity with its game, enemy, and story design. While the trade-off in doing so means that each game leans heavily on the mythos of their respective settings, it does mean thatAssassin’s Creedhas many different mythological creaturesand taps into fans' desires to see the likes of Anubis, Medusa, and Fenrir brought to life. There is just as much demand for tengu, kitsune, oni, and more to bringAssassin’s Creed Red’sworld to life.
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Moving From Mythological Beasts To Yokai Within Assassin’s Creed
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is already a significant degree of canon focused on Japanese history in theAssassin’s Creed franchise. Due to side games such asAssassin’s Creed Memoriesand various lore bits revealed in other games, various events, individuals, and driving forces have already been canonized inAssassin’s Creedlore from shinobi to samurai. But there still remains a great deal of creative freedom Ubisoft can explore.
This means thatAC Redwill need to go big with its supernatural elements to ensure it brings something new for players.Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’smythological beasts could serve as groundwork in order to achieve this, as it would simultaneously allowAC Redto incorporate all sorts of Japanese folklore of various yokai into gameplay while still ensuring it both continues and brings togetherthe storylines of the Hidden Ones, the Brotherhood, the Order of the Ancients, and the Templars.
How Assassin’s Creed Red Could Incorporate Yokai
AC Odysseysaw its own mythical creatures as genetic experiments created under Juno and Aita as the Olympos Project, with the aim of using these human-animal hybrids to sow chaos between humans and Isu.Assassin’s Creed Redcould follow the same principles, something which the current canon around Edo Japan andthe Assassin-Templar conflictover the country would be perfect for. It could be as simple as a project similarly releasing new genetic hybrids to create tension across feudal Japan, with these creatures eventually becoming known historically as yokai.
In keeping withAssassin’s Creed Odyssey’smythologyof human-animal hybrids, there are many yokai who neatly fit this template such as well-known examples like tengu and kitsune. WithinAC Red, tengu could be humans hybridized with monkeys and birds who kidnap humans for experimentation within Japan’s mountains, such as the coincidentally named Izu peninsula which is also home to other yokai like jorogumo. Similarly, kitsune could be more sophisticated human-fox hybrids designed to be highly deceitful, manipulative, and without conscience, and whose shape-shifting abilities offer the perfect set-up for imposter and betrayal scenarios within the game’s story.
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WhereAC Redcould differ fromAC Odysseyand adapt Japanese mythology is the many yokai that are more than just human-animal hybrids. This could beAC Red’sadvantage,where yokai exploresthe extremes of Isu technologyand experimentation beyond hybridization. For instance, gashadokuro is a giant skeleton formed from the spirits of those not properly buried such as fallen soldiers, and driven by anger, it stalks Japan’s countryside at night. A possible interpretation of this could be mass experimentation to enhance samurai and influence ongoing conflicts, with gashadokuro left as the unintended consequence of these efforts.
Adding to gashadokuro, other yokai such as jubokko have a similar origin within Japanese folklore. Taking root on blood-soaked battlefields, jubokko are possessed trees that consume both the blood of the dead and the blood of any passing humans it can capture. Yokai like these could be introduced as the Isu attempting to try and counteract others like gashadokuro, such as preventing their manifestation by “cleaning” the remains from battlefields. Ultimately, many more yokai like oni, jikininki, and jorogumo could greatly expandAssassin’s Creed’sapproach to mythologywithAC Redas its spearhead.
Yokai Could Help Inspire Assassin’s Creed Red
However, to create a unifying narrative thread that could introduce and explain why the yokai exist withinAC Red, there are regularly occurring themes and trends among their origins that could help with this. In particular, many yokai only come into being or have ties to the dead, as alongside gashadokuro and jubokko other yokai like yurei and onibi manifest as a result of spirits unable to move on. WithinAssassin’s Creedlore around Isuand similar to the Olympos Project, a new project seeking to overcome death in the face of crises like the Human-Isu War or the Great Catastrophe could form the basis ofAC Red’sstory.
Through the yokai then,Assassin’s Creed Redwould have an ideal framework to flesh out this story, prompted by the long-dead spirits of Edo Japan reemerging as yokai once more in the modern-day to threaten the world. As with otherAssassin’s Creedgames, the cause could be due toPieces of Edenor the Isu, and again yokai could help provide inspiration. Specifically, kitsune are considered messengers to Inari Okami, a deity perfect for adaptation as an Isu scientist who shepherded Japan’s development only to devolve into obsession as they try to outwit and outlive death and extinction.
