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You know, I've been playing Assassin's Creed games since the original Altair days, and I have to say the approach they're taking with Shadows genuinely fascinates me. Picture this: we're in feudal Japan during its famous isolation period, mere decades after Ezio's adventures in Renaissance Europe, yet completely disconnected from that world. It's like having two parallel universes where the Assassin-Templar war exists in Europe while Japan remains blissfully unaware. What really grabbed my attention is how Naoe and Yasuke perceive the Assassins and Templars - they treat them exactly how Japan treated the Portuguese at the time, as this foreign culture that's intriguing but ultimately separate from their reality.

I remember playing through Naoe's early missions and feeling this incredible sense of discovery. Here she is, this skilled shinobi trying to forge her own path toward justice, completely unaware that she's essentially reinventing the Assassin Brotherhood's wheel. It's like watching someone independently discover electricity while the rest of the world already has power grids. There's this beautiful irony in knowing, as players familiar with the series, that she's stumbling toward principles and methods that the Brotherhood has cultivated for centuries. Honestly, this concept alone could have carried the entire game - watching this organic formation of Assassin ideals in a culture that's never encountered them before.

But here's where things get frustrating, at least for me. Just when Naoe's personal journey starts getting really interesting, the game sort of pushes it to the side. You uncover her personal investigation questline early on, around the 15-hour mark if you're exploring thoroughly, and then it just sits there in your quest log. I found myself completing missions thinking "this should tie back to her philosophical development," only to find that her growth happens in these weird, disjointed bursts. There were moments where I'd complete three main story missions and then suddenly Naoe would have this profound realization that felt completely unearned because her personal investigation hadn't progressed at all.

The narrative whiplash really hits hard during Arcs 2 and 3. I recall one particular sequence where Naoe makes this significant moral decision about sparing an informant, showing real growth in her understanding of justice. Then two missions later, she's back to being almost recklessly vengeful, and I'm sitting there thinking "wait, didn't we already work through this?" It creates this confusing character arc where her motivation for hunting the main targets feels increasingly muddled. There were times I found myself questioning why she was even pursuing certain targets, because her personal philosophy seemed to change based on whatever the main plot required rather than organic character development.

And don't even get me started on Yasuke's role in all this. For about 70% of the game, his entire purpose seems to be "help Naoe," which makes you wonder why he's a co-protagonist rather than just a supporting character. I kept waiting for him to get his own compelling motivation, something that would make me care about him beyond being Naoe's muscle. It wasn't until the final arc, roughly the last 4-5 hours of the 35-hour campaign, that he finally gets some independent drive. There's this moment where he confronts his past and establishes goals separate from Naoe, and I remember thinking "this is great, but why did it take so long?"

What's particularly disappointing is that the game had all the ingredients for something truly special. The concept of watching these two characters independently discover something resembling Assassin ideology, completely separate from the European brotherhood, is brilliant. I found myself more invested in Naoe's personal investigation missions than the main story at times, precisely because they explored this fascinating premise. There was one investigation where she pieces together the concept of "working from the shadows to protect the people" and I got chills because I knew this was essentially the birth of Assassin philosophy in Japan.

The real missed opportunity, in my opinion, is how the game fails to let these philosophical discoveries permeate the rest of the experience. When Naoe has these revelations during her investigation, they should fundamentally change how she approaches main story missions, but they don't. It creates this weird disconnect where her character growth happens in isolated bubbles rather than affecting the overall narrative. I found myself wishing the developers had been braver - they had this incredible concept that could have redefined what an Assassin's Creed game could be, but they played it too safe by separating the philosophical journey from the main action.

Still, despite these frustrations, there's something undeniably compelling about watching these characters stumble toward becoming Assassins without even knowing what Assassins are. It's like the franchise is rediscovering its own core themes through fresh eyes, and when that concept shines through, it's magical. I just wish the execution had been as bold as the initial premise, because this could have been one of the most memorable entries in the entire series rather than just another solid Assassin's Creed game with some great ideas that never fully deliver on their potential.