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It won't shock you to learn that, even before its release date, Assassin's Creed Shadows was already stirring up some angry voices online. What may surprise you, however, is that, this time, some of those voices have kind of a point. And most surprising of all; gamemaker Ubisoft has already pushed a patch to address those angry voices, one of which belonged to none other than the Prime Minister of Japan himself, Shigeru Ishiba.

Allow us to explain. 

Assassin's Creed Shadows is, as you are probably aware if you've been following our coverage, the latest in the wildly successful video game franchise that plunks players down into different important moments in human history. This game is set in 15th Century Feudal Japan, and its open-world nature means that players can interact with a staggering amount of the landscape and people that populated it. Unfortunately, there were moments of open-worldedness that many players found culturally insensitive.

In particular, a viral video of pre-release footage revealed in January that Assassin's Creed Shadow players could destroy holy sites such as Buddhist temples in the game. Don't get us wrong, we're not accusing Ubisoft of doing that on purpose, and indeed, there's nothing in the story that requires a player to do so. However, the the physics of the game allow it and, virtual though it may be, it's certainly not a great look.

The controversy reached its peak in a recent House of Councillors meeting of the Japanese government, during which Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba himself gave his thoughts on the virtual vandalism, as reported by Kotaku on March 20.

"Defacing a shrine is out of the question," Ishiba said, "it is an insult to the nation itself. When the Self-Defense Forces were deployed to Samawah, Iraq, we ensured they studied Islamic customs beforehand. Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them."

To clarify, Ishiba was not stating that the destruction of Islamic artifacts in real life carries the same weight as destroying virtual artifacts within the confines of a video game. Rather, Ishiba was responding to a specific concern brought to the meeting by councilmember Hiroyuki Kada, who said, "I fear that allowing players to attack and destroy real-world locations in the game without permission could encourage similar behavior in real life."

Without getting into the question of whether video games inspire real-world violence, there is something to be said about protecting the sacredness of sites with such cultural significance to a particular group of people. Imagine, for example, the outrage that would ensue if a Japanese-made game allowed players to destroy American churches, or harm American priests.

That's why, just a few hours after Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Shadows into the world, they've already pushed its first patch out. Now, when players go into the game, they will no longer be able to destroy sites such as Buddhist shrines and temples. And if the player chooses to attack a monk, they will not bleed.

One thing to end on here - we expect that the vast majority of Assassin's Creed Shadows players were never planning on destroying shrines or hurting monks. Still, Ubisoft's patch is a way of showing respect to the history that the games depend on while retaining the drama of the story. In a time where a lot of conversations are going on about the difference between cultural appropriation and historical fiction, we think this is an effort toward something positive.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is available to purchase now.

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