• The Assassin’s Creed Shadows developers have teased the return of the Assassin vs. Templar conflict
  • One developer said fans can expect the series’ modern-day storytelling and the Isu will “be expanded at some point, in some fashion”
  • They also responded to the fate of Basim and whether players will see the character again

Ubisoft has confirmed that the Assassin’s Creed series’ Assassin vs. Templar conflict and the return of modern-day storytelling will be explored in the future.

That’s according to a team of Assassin’s Creed Shadows developers in a recent Reddit Q&A, who answered fan questions regarding the latest entry in the series and what the team plans to do next.

When asked if fans can expect more about Assassins vs. Templars, the developers said that they wanted to establish the story of Naoe and Yasuke in Shadows first, before expanding on this long-time war. Still, they confirmed that players can expect more soon.

“The Assassins vs. Templars conflict has always been a core pillar of Assassin’s Creed,” said level design director Luc Plante. “With Shadows, we wanted to properly set our protagonist in the setting before expanding on the Assassins vs. Templars. Now that it’s done on the main game, we scratched the surface with the Critical Role story drop, and you can expect more deep dives in this conflict in the near future.”

There were also questions about Basim, a key character in the series’ universe who has been seen in Valhalla and Mirage. The character’s fate is left open-ended, but Plante has teased that there is more to come.

“We have complex new characters that were introduced in Shadows that we didn’t feel there would have been enough spotlight for Basim as well,” Plante said. “With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we are putting in place the first stone of new means to deliver the modern-day storyline with the Animus hub. That is not the end of it, and we are listening to your feedback.”

Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic trailer shot showing Naoe in her hood

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The Isu, an ancient and highly advanced species of humanoid beings, is also something that didn’t make a reappearance in Shadows, and fans wonder when this, along with the return of modern-day storytelling besides Animus Rift missions, will be explored again.

“While Modern Day is not the main focus of the story we tell with Shadows, it remains important for our community, so you can expect it to be expanded at some point, in some fashion…” Plante teased.

The developer also said that though the events franchise’s expanded universe of games and comics were not mentioned in Shadows, this doesn’t mean Ubisoft is retconning anything, explaining that “we do not necessarily mention everything in every game if it doesn’t directly support the narrative we are building.” This also applies to the Isu.

“Similar to this, the fact that there is no Isu artifact in the main game of Shadows doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist in the world of Shadows,” Plante said. “It just wasn’t a story device that we needed for the story we wanted to tell.”

In the meantime, fans can look forward to Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ next major expansion, Claws of Awaji, which is set to release on September 16.

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