They Wouldn't Want An African Assassin's Creed Either

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Stacey Henley

Published May 17, 2024

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Summary

Yasuke is a historically accurate figure, yet still arguments persist.
If the game were set in Africa, you'd hear the same complaints about forced diversity.
Neither ignoring nor confronting this toxicity feels very productive.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin's Creed Shadows is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:se♈t in Japan and is led by a Black manꦇ, Yasuke. Despite 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Yasuke being a real person, there have been cries of historical inaccuracy in a series where George Washington founded America to aid hiꦿs quest for a magic apple. The attack line seems to have resorted to how 'insulting' it is that we aren't playing as a Japanese man, and that they'd be cool with a person like Yasuke if the game was set in Africa. I 𒉰think we all know that isn't really true.

The go-to gotcha for the 'set it in Africa' debate is the fact we've already had an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin's Creed in Africa, with Origins taking place in Egypt. It's an ineffective retort fo𒆙r two reasons. Firstly, there were no complaints about Bayek's skin colour or ethnic origin, thus proving the already-fake point that people would be fine with an African Assassin's Creed, and secondly, it's not typically what people mean. Yes, Egypt is geographically in Africa. But in the ex𒁃treme north, and with its own legendary history, it feels like a very different biome than the jungles of Mozambique.

It's Not That Yasuke Is In The 'Wrong' Place, It's That He's There At All

Assassin's Creed Shadows - Yasuke fighting a dude

A far better response is that when we played Black Flag, set in the Caribbean, we played as a white Welshman. There were no com⛦plaints then. And yes, there were white pirates in the Caribbean during that era, but th𒊎en, Yasuke was really in Japan. The best response is probably no response - these arguments aren't made with logic but with the steadfast belief that every character should be a white male and everything else is woke diversity. You can't reason with people like that. But I still find the knots they've twisted themselves into amusing.

An African ☂Assassin's Creed would be cool - a story set in the heart of Africa with savannahs🍌 and tribal culture - a base not covered by the existence of Origins. However, these same people crying foul at a Black man in Japan would largely be making the same complaints about a Black man in Africa. It's not the historical inaccuracy (mostly because Yasuke's presence in Japan is historically accurate), it's the 'wokeness'. There are almost as many complaints about the other protagonist Naoe, despite her being Japanese, because she's a woman.

Playing as anything other than a white man is deemed as unnecessary diversity. The idea that the cabal of reactionaries angry at (deep breath now); a woman 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:having muscles in The Last of Us, Aloy 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:having sunburn in Horizon 𒀰Forbidden West, Eve wearing a tiny scrap of fabric over herℱ cleavage in a single outfit in Stellar Blade, a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Black woman existing in Alan Wake 2, Batman being killed in a game called 'Kill the𝓀 Justice League', and - here's the kicker - , would ꧑not throw their toys out 🙈of the gamer chair at the idea of an African Assassin's Creed is ludicrous.

Debating Feels Pointless, But So Does Letting These Arguments Grow

Assassin's Creed Shadows And Historical Accuracy

If, instead of Shadows, Ubisoft had revealed an African Assassin's Creed where you played as an African man, there would have been just as much of a racist outcry, maybe more. Especially if this game included the historically accurate slave trade, the obvious place for the Assassin/Templar conflict to touch the African wilderness. It's difficult to make a game about African history as it rel🦂ates to a historical ba⛄ttle for world dominance and not feature colonialism. And if it did feature colonialism, you can bet the response would be 'why not give us the samurai Assassin's Creed we've been asking for, you could even use Yasuke if you want diversity in there!'.

These people can't be logicked out of their opinions because they weren't logicked into them, and I doubt this article will cause any grand awakening to the hypocrisy in action here. For many of these trolls, it's no more complex tha꧙n them not wanting to play as a Black man, and it doesn't matter what continent you put them on. That's not a point of view worth arguing against. But it does feel that we waste time pointing out that we've been to Africa before, and Yasuke was real, and and and. They are beyond convincing because the arguments they're putting forward aren't even real, they're masquerading as respectable reasoning in public.

Countering their arguments is not the answer. Ignoring is not always the answer either, as these poisonous views fester unchallenged. And criticising them, thus amplifying them, only sees them grow in prominence too. When all is said and done, it's often e🤪nough to be satisfied that these extremely angry people deny themselves happiness fighting demons of wokeness they have invented. If Shadows is followed up by an African Assassin's Creed, with Ubisoft seeing the apparent demand for one, then we'll see how much they all mean what they say. I suspect not a lot.