Several hours into my journey through Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I had to stop and wonder: when exactly is Yasuke going to appear? With Naoe taking centre stage for the opening stanzas, and her quests leading into the open world portion of the game, you can actually spend several hours without running into your samurai companion.
While Yasuke does appear in the game’s opening, setting up his journey in the game, he’ll take a bit longer to realise his part in the ambitions of Oda Nobunaga. So if you’re hours into Assassin’s Creed Shadows and you haven’t stumbled across the particular quest that introduces the ability to switch between Naoe and Yasuke, don’t worry – you’re still on track.
In my particular playthrough, I let myself get distracted by a variety of side quests, so I didn’t meet Yasuke until I was around 6 hours, 5 minutes into the game. Now, that exact timing will likely be useless for pinpointing when exactly you’ll run into him, but it does give you an indication of how far you’ll need to travel before you find him.
Read: Assassin’s Creed Shadows review – Revenge is sweet
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: How to meet Yasuke ASAP
If you’re keen to find your way straight to Yasuke, you can expect to find him much sooner. If you do want to pursue this avenue, you’ll want to start by taking on quests related to The League, aka your dear allies. (You can and should also start pursuing targets in the Shinbakufu to build up your skill level.)
Tomiko’s questline will eventually lead into your meeting with Yasuke. First, you’ll need to spend time with her, building up your Hideout (which grants you a range of abilities) and then eventually, you’ll unlock a particular quest known as Belly of the Beast, which leads into Temple of the Horseman.
If this quest doesn’t appear, you’ll need to consider travelling around Izumi Settsu picking up new quests first, or targeting the lower-ranked members of the Shinbakufu. Eventually, you’ll be at the required level, and Tomiko will lead you into battle against the forces of Oda Nobunaga.
Within this questline, Yasuke will appear, and later, you’ll be able to play as him in the game. We won’t spoil the exact circumstances of his partnership with Naoe, but suffice to say he becomes a very powerful ally. Throughout the next quests in the game, you’ll be able to switch between Naoe and Yasuke (sometimes picking one or the other in pivotal moments), allowing you new forms of combat and exploration.
So, that’s about the sum of it. If you’re playing through Assassin’s Creed Shadows confused about why Yasuke’s character circle remains dim and there’s no quests available to unlock him, be patient. You will need to devote several hours to the game before you find Yasuke – but it’s well worth the wait.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
A PlayStation 5 copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows was given to GamesHub for the purposes of this review.
