The Assassin's Creed game about ninjas in feudal Japan is called Assassin's Creed Shadows, full reveal coming on Wednesday

Assassin's Creed Shadows promo still from Assassin's Creed Red teaser: A ninja leaping through the air, ninja-style, in front of a large setting sun
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The Assassin's Creed game we've known for the last year-and-a-half as Codename Red finally has a proper title, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and it's going to be fully revealed in just a couple days, on May 15.

Codename Red was revealed in September 2022 alongside two other unnamed Assassin's Creed games: Hexe, which has a very overt supernatural vibe but is otherwise entirely undefined, and Jade, a mobile game set in China in 215 BC. 

Red, meanwhile, is set in feudal Japan, a shift in locale that had associate editor Ted Litchfield immediately excited, to the point that he was basically establishing a full headcanon based entirely on a 10-second teaser.

"Cast the shinobi clans of Iga province as some manner of Assassin Order franchisee, while the world famous warrior nobility of the samurai caste get to be Templars," he enthused. "Even though the historical ninja of the Sengoku period emerged long after the time of the Order of Assassins, that former group has really eclipsed the latter in the popular imagination. 'Assassin' may be the Kleenex generic term for an infiltration-focused killer, but try to walk five steps without tripping over a movie, anime, videogame, or homebrew tabletop class paying homage to those covert warriors from Japan."

Yes indeed, it really writes itself.

Assassin's Creed Shadows will be fully revealed with a "cinematic world premiere trailer" at 9 am PT/12 pm ET/5 pm BST on May 15. Until then, we have a logo:

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

We also have, maybe, a release date: In fine Ubisoft fashion, one of the publisher's YouTube channels (via Wario64) leaked a launch date of November 15, 2024. Whether that's accurate remains to be seen, but I imagine we'll find out in a couple days. You can catch the reveal when it happens on YouTube.

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Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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