Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the latest entry in the series and stands to be one of the biggest launches of 2025. It is also a special launch for Ubisoft and the series as it revamps many systems and features dual protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, something no other Assassin’s Creed has done. With this feature, fan speculation has run wild with the possibility of co-op. Two protagonists and a co-op mode seem like an obvious pairing, but Ubisoft has been totally silent on whether Assassin’s Creed Shadows will ever get a co-op mode or if it’ll remain single-player like most games in the series. However, fans may be closer to getting an answer on co-op features after a discussion with Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ game director.
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In an interview with ComicBook during an Assassin’s Creed Shadows event, creative director Jonathan Dumont touched on the topic of the dual protagonists and the possibility of co-op. Before addressing the idea of co-op, Dumont established the goal for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
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“So, the first thing that we really wanted is to experience it from two archetypes’ points of view,” Dumont said. “For story reasons, for gameplay reasons. The earlier [games], they were a little bit more stealth-oriented and parkour-oriented. The new generation of Assassin’s Creed is a little bit more fight-heavy, so we’re making sure we give a little bit to all of our fans because a lot of people like those games.”
Returning to the co-op question, Dumont said he believes the developers discussed the idea and admitted it’s not out of the question for the future, but for launch at least, the focus is on Naoe and Yasuke via a single-player experience.
“Now for co-op, I think we’ve talked about it, but for launching the game, we decided that was kind of a different type of game to make,” Dumont said. “Shadows was pretty ambitious already, so it’s not out of the question that we would do it in the future, but for now, we’re concentrating on [Shadows].”
Appealing to both audiences, the classic stealth fans and the action RPG fans, is a monumental task. Appeasing both is extremely difficult, which is why Assassin’s Creed Mirage was a controversial release. But by separating the playstyles into separate protagonists, Assassin’s Creed Shadows caters to both styles while offering the opportunity to play the other.
Players have long wanted more multiplayer in the series after Assassin’s Creed: Unity, but each new title has maintained a single-player focus. Dumont’s response still leaves room, co-op somewhere in Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ future or in another game, however.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows game director Charles Benoit admitted that the dual-protagonist setup does make co-op come to mind but reinforced Dumont’s comments about the single-player focus.
“It screams co-op when we see two protagonists, but it’s a different type of game making multiplayer compatible and all those things,” said Assassin’s Creed Shadows game director Charles Benoit. “We wanted to focus on the new gen, making the graphics awesome and not compromising on that, and focusing on gameplay, so it’s why we focus on the single-player right away.”
If Assassin’s Creed Shadows does get a co-op mode as rumors suggested, it won’t happen at launch based on the comments from the developers. Assassin’s Creed games typically enjoy at least a year of post-launch support including DLCs and updates, however, so there’s still a chance we’ll see such a mode in the future.
