Assassin’s Creed Shadows is supposedly getting a co-op mode, according to a new report. This mode is said to be in development under the codename “LEAGUE” and is reportedly planned to be released for the next Assassin’s Creed game at some point after Shadow launches. This mode would be made possible by the fact that Assassin’s Creed Shadows features two different protagonists players would swap between during the game with the two playable characters, Yasuke and Naoe, boasting very different playstyles to offer unique experiences from one another.
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The latest Assassin’s Creed Shadowsย report which is the first anyone’s heard of a co-op mode comes from Insider Gaming which has accurately reported on Assassin’s Creed Shadows insights in the past. Not much is known about the mode now, according to the outlet, other than the fact that it exists and is planned to be part of the post-launch content for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Given that the new Assassin’s Creed game has been delayed, however, there’s no known release date for the co-op mode despite Assassin’s Creed Shadows itself having a new date of February 14, 2025.
Several of the more recent Assassin’s Creed games have featured more than one protagonist, but in games like Assassin’s Creed Odysseyย which featured by Alexios and Kassandra, the characters are functionally the same in terms of gameplay despite being two different people. It’s also not uncommon for there to be a “canon” main character which, in the case of Odyssey, was Kassandra.
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, however, Yasuke and Naoe couldn’t be further apart from one another. Yasuke is a large, male samurai who uses heavy weapons and brute force to beat down his opponents while Naoe is a female shinobi who uses stealth and deception much like a traditional Assassin’s Creed character from before the series’ RPG shift.
Based on what we’ve seen of Assassin’s Creed Shadows so far, it’s evident that while some sections will likely mandate players play as one character as the other, many scenarios can be approached by choosing either Yasuke or Naoe to tackle a specific mission. Given that setup, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine a version of the game where both characters are active at once, each controlled by a different person, but that does raise some questions about how a co-op mode will work. Will co-op missions be more challenging if the idea is that players are playing through the entire story mode alongside a friend? Will enemy spawns be increased to account for two human players? Or if it’s not a straight story mode playthrough, will this be some kind of Assassin’s Creed Shadows mode where you take on certain missions to get better “scores” with a friend akin to a Spec Ops mode from Call of Duty or Ghost of Tsushima: Legends?
Lots of questions, but very few answers right now since the priority is likely just getting Assassin’s Creed Shadows out the door after its delay. We already know that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be getting post-launch content since the first expansion has been guaranteed to preorderers for free following the game’s delay, though it remains to be seen how this co-op mode will fit into all that.