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Ubisoft Smartens Up and Announces Playable Female Chinese Assassin, But is it Enough?

GH StaffSeptember 22, 20143 min read
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After all the hullabaloo surrounding Assassin Creed: Unity’s four white French protagonists (who don’t even have French accents) and Ubisoft’s claim that introducing playable female assassins would have doubled the work of the game creation process, Ubisoft one-upped their previous attempt at appeasing the angry masses in introducing the NPC female templar Elise by now introducing a playable Assassin who is not only a woman, but also Chinese! The catch is that she’ll only be available as a part of Unity’s season pass content in what Ubisoft is calling Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China. In it you play as the mysterious Shao Jun, a female Chinese Assassin who previously appeared in the Assassin’s Creed Embers short film, as well as in AC novelizations. The DLC is showcased at the 1:55 mark in the following video, with information from the press release following:

Assassin’s Creed® Chronicles: China – a new standalone Assassin’s Creed experience delivering a new story, setting, and gameplay type. In this 2.5D reimagining of the celebrated franchise, and developed by Climax Studios, players will perform parkour on the Great Wall of China, kill from the shadows and take the leap of faith. For the first time ever, players will be transported to the Middle Kingdom in the 16thcentury, where the last remaining Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood has returned to her homeland. Players will be immersed in a vibrant setting, inspired by traditional brush paintings and Chinese architecture from a pivotal, historic time period in one of the greatest civilizations in history. Hell-bent on revenge, Shao Jun will use the skills she learned under legendary Assassin Ezio Auditore to exact vengeance. Players will be able to rely on stealth to accomplish their mission, as well as Shao Jun’s martial arts training and all-new Assassin gear.

So now players are getting the female Assassin they asked for, but only as a DLC and using 2.5D perspective gameplay that is not even being developed by Ubisoft, which looks fun enough but is not the big open-world experience Assassin’s Creed fans know and would love to explore as a female assassin. It’s certainly a step in the right direction but is it enough?

Ubisoft should have known better than to kick up a big fuss when being confronted on the homogeneity of Assassin’s Creed: Unity’s protagonists. In this day in age, with women representing a huge chunk of the gaming demographic, it only makes sense to ensure that gender diversity is present when it makes sense to do so (and since Assassin’s creed has always featured NPC female Assassins it certainly does). More egregious however was their response to the criticism. We know it doesn’t take “double” the amount work to introduce new character models into a game or to record new voices. It was sloppy work and PR on Ubisoft’s part, and at this point with the 2.5D style gameplay the addition just seems tacked on, which, seeing as it was clearly an afterthought, is slightly insulting.

Hopefully Ubisoft feels the collective shots to their manhood and in the next iteration of Assassin’s Creed finally give female Assassins their proper due.

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