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There is a change coming to Assassin’s Creed. The series has been going strong for nearly 20 years, with all the highs and lows that most long-running franchises hit. However, one of the biggest shake-ups in the series’ history is set to arrive in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’re not talking about the dual protagonists or the setting; we’re talking about allowing fans to play as a real-life historical figure for the first time, in the form of Yasuke the samurai.

This isn’t the first time that Assassin’s Creed has had historical figures in it. Leonardo da Vinci famously spent his time making tools for Ezio Auditore during the Italian Renaissance, of course, but Yasuke represents the first time that players could dive into someone who really existed in the main story of a mainline Assassin's Creed game. A Black man who arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, Yasuke is the first known African to appear in Japanese historical records. While many details about Yasuke’s life and martial prowess have become legendary over the years, we know that he was brought before Oda Nobunaga and given the rank of samurai, possibly because Nobunaga had never seen a black man before.

Yasuke remained a loyal attendant and bodyguard to Nobunaga until 1582, when Oda was betrayed and died. The Black samurai apparently left Japan at that point but further details of his life aren’t known. He has since become the stuff of legend, appearing in books, films, and anime throughout the years. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the latest attempt to bring Yasuke to life in video game form.

While we don’t know as much about Yasuke as we do other samurai of the era, he is someone who certainly existed and that makes this a big change from previous Assassin’s Creed games, which have given players fictional characters to control while interacting with real figures from history. This gave Ubisoft control of how those real people were portrayed in the games since they only existed within the confines of cutscenes. 

With Yasuke, they have a new challenge – allowing players the freedom to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows how they want while still respecting the history of a man who existed. Even though the legendary status Yasuke has achieved over the years gives them more wiggle room than with someone like Oda Nobunaga, who is more well-documented, there is still a responsibility to at least try to remain within the confines of history here. Even Yasuke’s inclusion in the game tells us a bit about the story Ubisoft is trying to tell. Most likely the game will end with the famous battle at the Honno-ji shrine in Kyoto with Yasuke fighting on the losing side.

This is a challenge that the developers did not have to take on. There were plenty of lesser known or even unknown samurai in Oda Nobunaga's service at the time; they could have created a whole new character and slotted them into the story as they've done countless times in the Assassin's Creed series. Using Yasuke is a choice that they made to try to bring life to a famous figure in Japanese history that we sadly don't know much about.

This dichotomy is the biggest hurdle for Assassin’s Creed Shadows to overcome, but it is also the thing that makes me most excited to play it when it comes out. It shows ambition and a willingness to shake up a formula that has grown somewhat predictable over the years. It is the biggest change to the Assassin’s Creed narrative in its long history and that alone makes it worthwhile.

You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.