Assassin’s Creed Shadowsfeatures many pivotal choices that can ultimately change the story. Players will begin making choices during the very first scene, and dialogue options soon become a staple, appearing throughoutAC Shadows' main campaignand sidequests. Your decisions will affect how certain missions play out, how story paths are resolved, and ultimately, whether certain characters live or die.
[This article contains minor spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.]
Thanks toAC Shadows' new canon mode, you don’t necessarily have to make any decisions of your own; toggling canon mode on will cause the story to play out automatically, with each and every dialogue choice made for you. However,playing through the canon story doesn’t guarantee the best possible outcome. So if you do opt to choose for yourself, here are all the major decisions you’ll have to make inAssassin’s Creed Shadows. Note that this list may not be complete as of launch, but it will be updated over time.
Should You Tell Oda Nobunaga That You Understand Him?
An Intro To Dialogue Choices
While playing as Yasuke during the introduction, you’ll attend a meeting between your Portuguese companions and warlord Oda Nobunaga. During that meeting, Yasuke will have an opportunity either to tell Oda that he understands their conversation, or stay quiet. Ultimately,your choice doesn’t matter here; this is just an introduction to the dialogue system. There are several less-important choices like this one throughout the game that only affect the ensuing dialogue, so don’t worry - not every decision is life or death.
Should You Bribe Or Kill The Gunsmith In “Searching Sakai”?
Naoe’s First Choice
After Naoe’s home is destroyed and her family killed by Oda’s invading army, you’ll begin to search for your first ring of assassins - The Onryo, as you know them at this point. As you seek one of your first two targets, the Golden Teppo, you’ll need tofind a corrupt gunsmithin the city of Sakai. After eavesdropping on his conversation, you’ll confront him, and have a series of dialogue options to determine how your interaction will go.
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It doesn’t matter what you choose for your first couple of options, but make sure youthreaten him when given the chanceinstead of bribing him. This will lead to an outcome that’s much easier (and much better suited to Naoe’s playstyle).
What Gift Should You Choose For The Tea Ceremony?
Ladle, Pot, Or Jar?
Before you head to the tea ceremony to search for the Golden Teppo, you’ll take some time to learn of the rituals involved. Sen No Rikyu, your teacher, will offer you a choice of three gifts to give your host: a ladle, a jar, or a pot.It doesn’t seem to matter what you choose; like a truly gracious host, Imai will appreciate whatever you give him.
Should You Confront Wakasa Or Otama?
Tea Ceremony Choice
As you continue to pursue the Golden Teppo, you’ll have to attend a tea ceremony to find the culprit. At the end, you’ll have the choice to confront either Wakasa or Otama -confront Wakasa to get to your goal sooner, and avoid getting sidetracked.
Should You Let Mitsumune Kill The Surrendering Samurai?
Revenge Is Not So Sweet
When you kill your other early-game target, Koretake, your allyMitsuhide will corner some of his surrendering soldiers and threaten to kill them. Although he and Naoe want revenge, Yaya would rather see them forgiven. In order to keep Yaya as an ally and continue with her questline (see below),you’ll want to reproach Mitsumune for wanting to kill themto keep Yaya on your side.
Should You Search For Junjiro Or Mitsuhide First?
The Aftermath Of The Honnoji Incident
After the Honnoji Incident, in which Nobunaga meets his fate, Naoe is stuck with a difficult decision: should she go after Mitsuhide, whose scheming led her astray, or Junjiro, the boy who cared for her after the attack on her home?We recommend going after Junjiro here, of course - Naoe owes him one, and Mitsuhide can wait.
Should You Forgive Or Punish The Shrine Raiders?
Yaya’s Personal Quest
In these early quests, you’ll work with a character named Yaya, who’ll eventually get her own line of personal quests. Yaya is all about forgiveness, so, during her questline, you’ll have multiple opportunities to either get revenge on or spare various people and groups. The most pivotal of these choices, though, comes when you must choose either to forgive or kill a group of thieves who have stolen from a shrine.Choose to forgive, so that Yaya joins your team; you can then summon her in battle.
To summon Yaya (or any other summonable character you’ve recruited),hold L2/LT and press the face button she’s assigned to- a menu in the lower right will show you icons of all your summons' faces with the corresponding buttons.
If you choose to kill the raiders,Yaya may decide your movement is too violent for her, and choose to part ways. She’s a good ally to have, and can distract enemies while Naoe sneaks away, so definitely recruit her while you have the chance.
Should You Talk To Or Kill The Oni?
Meeting Gennojo
As you search for even more allies in your quest to stop the Shinbakufu, you’ll hear tell of an oni hiding in a bamboo grove. Explore the grove, and you’ll come upon a thief hiding in a clearing. If you sneak up on him, you’ll have the opportunity either to assassinate him or to talk to him. Although you’ll have to fight him either way,we recommend talking to him first to learn what he’s all about. Gennojo later becomes a major character, and even serves as a romance option for Naoe.
Should You Stop Gennojo, Soothe Gennojo, Or Do Nothing?
Saving Gennojo’s Life
Later on in Gennojo’s personal storyline, he’ll attempt to destroy a building at the cost of his own life. You have the choice either to stop him, soothe him, or do nothing.Either stopping or soothing Gennojowill save him, but doing nothing will result in his death. Do note that this is a timed decision; if you wait too long, the game will default to “do nothing.”
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Saving Gennojo makes him available as a part of The League, not unlike Yaya before him. Therefore, you’ll definitely want to save this plucky bandit instead of letting him go to his own death.
For now, these are all the major decisions we know of, and their various results. Further decisions will be added as players continue to discover more ofAssassin’s Creed Shadows.
