Yasuke is one of two playable characters in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. But unlike the other protagonist, Naoe — the stealthy shinobi who bears the iconic hidden blade — Yasuke is conspicuously absent during the first part of the game.
In this Assassin’s Creed Shadows guide, we’ll walk you through when you unlock Yasuke, how he and Naoe differ from each other, and how to change between the two characters at-will.
Ed. note: This guide contains spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Table of Contents
When do you unlock Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
Yasuke is the first character you play as in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but you’ll lose track of him after the prologue. Yasuke will eventually re-enter the story as a playable character at the very end of the “Temple of the Horseman” mission. This mission concludes first act of the main story and can take you anywhere from 10 to 20 hours to reach, depending on how many optional activities you get distracted by.
To reach Yasuke as quickly as possible, focus on eliminating the first two major targets in your Objectives menu: the Wounded and the Golden Teppo. After you take out both targets, head back to the Hideout and then follow the mission objectives for the next available major target.
During the next few story beats (which, for those brushed up on their history, comprise the real-life Honnō-ji Incident), you’ll run into Yasuke for the first time since the prologue. After quite a few cutscenes and some short gameplay sections, you’ll get Yasuke as a playable character and be able to both change his gear and invest in his skill trees.
Yasuke’s absence throughout the first act of Shadows may come as a bit of a surprise, considering the game was marketed as one in which you split your playtime between two protagonists. Publisher Ubisoft revealed in 2024 that Yasuke — a Black man likely born in Mozambique, Nigeria, or Ethiopia in the mid-1500s — would serve as one of the protagonists. Shadows has since received backlash on the tenuous basis of historical accuracy, despite historical evidence suggesting that Yasuke was in fact a Black man of African descent who served the warlord Oda Nobunaga (the same character he works under in-game) as the nation’s first and only Black samurai.
Ubisoft acknowledged the backlash in a letter last summer asking people to stop harassing its developers. The studio then delayed the game twice before it ended up with its March 2025 release date. A representative for Ubisoft told Polygon the studio had not “altered” the original vision for Shadows’ narrative.
Yasuke and Naoe differences in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Yasuke and Naoe play very differently from one another, with each representing a different pillar of Assassin’s Creed gameplay. Naoe is better at stealth while Yasuke is stronger in combat. As a result they each use different weapons.
Naoe is your typical assassin. She’s a shinobi — essentially synonymous with ninja — who wields the classic Assassin’s hidden blade, sneaks around rooftops, and is otherwise geared toward stealthily assassinating targets. She’s nimble, has a grappling hook, and can’t survive many hits in open combat — at least at the start of the game.
Yasuke, on the other hand, is a killing machine. Yasuke is extremely powerful in combat and tends to use larger weapons, but he climbs much slower than Naoe, doesn’t have Eagle Vision, can’t walk on tightropes, and can’t perform the traditional “leap of faith.” (That said, jumping into a hay bail from a tower as Yasuke is hilarious and will also earn you an achievement or trophy, so it’s definitely worth doing at least once.)
Both Naoe and Yasuke can assassinate targets, although Yasuke’s is a “brutal assassination” ability that you’ll need to unlock first. Naoe can’t assassinate everyone in a single hit at the start of the game, but earn enough mastery points, and you’re able to level-up her ability to take targets out quickly from stealth much more efficiently than Yasuke. In exchange, Yasuke has more weapons and much heavier armor to use to his advantage, and he can carry more rations (that’s Assassin’s Creed speak for potions).
Yasuke and Naoe are meant to embody “samurai” and “shinobi” respectively, including the positives and negatives that come with each. So if you find yourself climbing around a lot at Yasuke, you should probably swap to Naoe. And if you find yourself in combat often as Naoe, maybe it’s time to take your samurai out for a spin instead.
How to switch between Yasuke and Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Once you’ve unlocked both characters, you can swap between Yasuke and Naoe either in your menu(s) or by fast traveling.
In your Inventory and Mastery menus, you’ll find a button prompt asking if you want to swap to the other character at the bottom of the inventory screen. Holding that input will reload the world and situate you in (more or less) the same spot you were, but as the other character.
The fast travel option simply gives you a second button prompt when fast traveling anywhere in the world. Instead of holding X on PS5, for example, you can hold Square to fast travel to the location as the other character. When you arrive, you’ll have already swapped.
The main caveat here is that you cannot swap while in combat or in a restricted area. Basically any time you see a red or yellow bar at the top of your screen — while you’re infiltrating a castle, for example — you won’t be able to switch characters even if you’re just standing on a rooftop and not actively fighting an enemy. Think about it like this: If you can’t fast travel from where you are, you can’t swap characters either.
There are also certain quests and optional activities that you can only complete as one character or the other, and you can’t swap in the middle of those either.
For more Assassin’s Creed Shadows explainers, here’s how to get more knowledge points and mastery points, how to get more rations, how to get more scouts, and how to get all companions and romance options. Plus, see our all weapons and all armor lists.
