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Assassin's Creed Shadows – Modern Day Analysis
Part 1: The Calling Sorrosyss, June 5th, 2025
Warning: Spoilers from the game and across the franchise  With the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows, the Modern Day storyline embarks on a bold new direction. The introduction of the Animus Hub seemingly gives us a new home to the meta-narrative, specifically within the Vault section. Thus far, it has compiled the cutscenes/audio files from Shadows itself, as well as the text data files which are contained within the “Battle Pass” themed Projects – which players can unlock by completing the weekly Animus quests present upon the Hub. As the Modern Day content will take players several weeks to unlock, we have elected to cover the collected files as one narrative here, as well as giving some brief analysis on the entries. Let us start with the first section of the vault therefore; “The Calling”. EGO_WELCOME_ONBOOT [CORRUPTED]
Voiceover: Welcome. A beautiful place, isn't it? A fresh sea breeze, the warm sun. This beach belongs just to you. It doesn't exist out in the world. Everything you see here is from the past. Your past. One of your ancestors visited this place long ago, forever writing their memory into the fabric of your DNA. Animus EGO unlocks these genetic memories for you. To sense, wander, and connect. Like grains of sand which began as rocks, you have been shaped by these past lives, honed into who you are today. Hacker: You're being lied to. Voiceover: Your journey to mindfulness begins through these ancestral memories, for a total perspective on what makes you - you. Computer: New memory streams are activating now. Voiceover: Erase self-doubt, fear, and weakness. Give yourself the confidence to conquer the world. Hacker: Follow the trail, and we will be in touch. Welcome to the dark. ------------------- The Guide: Memories come to us in fragments. You relive a jigsaw of experiences and emotions. Some memories are soothing and familiar. Wrapped inside them, you feel tranquil. Complacent. And then there are the ones I have reconstructed. What I am about to show you. In these memories, there are... imperfections. Aberrations that defy algorithm and biology. I'm... getting ahead of myself. You may not understand what you are seeing at first. But you must trust me. Trust yourself.
Moving on. Throughout the video, we see small glitches. A sea bird becomes an Eagle. A woman briefly swaps into an eagle diving Assassin. There are audio glitches too, with someone prompting us to find them in the dark. Whilst this certainly gives off Erudito vibes (from AC3), this is likely the Assassins trying to make contact with the viewer - “We work in the dark, to serve the light.” A short time after the presentation, we are introduced to a new character, known as The Guide. At this point we are not entirely clear who she is. An Assassin? An Isu? An artificial intelligence (AI)? Whilst “she” does not actually give her name, her intentions towards the viewer are clear. Whilst there may be a carefully constructed peaceful simulation to experience elsewhere, she very much wants you to see something else – the truth. RIFT 1 – BLEEDING EFFECT
The Guide: I had hoped we would meet again. You have been through a lot. Your time in Animus Ego was meant to weaken you. A drip-feed of memories to subdue you and invade your senses. The others before you called it a "bleeding effect". And when it has hollowed you out from within, she will claim you. But, you're learning how to counteract it. You see the faint glimmers on the darkened path before you. Naoe and Yasuke are long gone from this world. But in these memories, their will to fight burns as a flame. I must go. Find me again. We are treated to a new perspective this time, as we see our modern day protagonist for the first time. Depicted as an androgynous mesh of code, this is a visual representation of the Animus Ego user, and in turn essentially ourselves as the actual players of the game. The Guide mentions that the ultimate sinister aim of Animus Ego is to overwhelm the users by exposing them to the Bleeding Effect. This would essentially mean that the user would ultimately believe they are the person within the simulation, and eventually effectively no longer desire to leave. It is also suggested that then someone would take control of their mind, when they are left in this hollowed out and controlled state. RIFT 2 – THE HEART OF AN ASSASSIN
Alvaro Catarribera: When I was initiated into the Brotherhood, I swore, among many things, to stay my blade from innocent flesh. As I uttered my oath, I nearly choked on emotion. I felt it sing in my soul. A cruel twist of fate, perhaps, that this oath would turn out to be my undoing. A pursuit gone wrong. A miscalculation on my part. A young girl, fear and confusion etched into her lifeless eyes. My hidden blade, bright and sticky with the waxy sheen of her blood. To this day, I do not know her name. It is likely for the best. One thing to have nightmares. Another thing to know them on a first-name basis. A nightmare that has pursued me since my excommunication from the Brotherhood. From Spain to far-flung ports. Malacca. Formosa. The song I once felt, that once stirred my heart. Silent. And then, Macao. Where I was shaken, briefly, from my drunken haze. A discussion between two men. Templars. Talking in the open. Boldly and unquestioned. I listened intently as they spoke of an expedition in a chain of islands called "Japan." They departed, and I followed. In the year of 1549, I landed at Nagasaki. The arrival of Francisco Javier's delegation provided ample cover and access. I absorbed as much as I could, testing the instinct I was certain had faded since I violated the Brotherhood's three tenets. Since I stumbled from the path I had coveted for so long. I was wrong. My instinct simply hibernated. Waiting for a new war. And, in the land of Japan, I had found it. Or, it found me. I couldn't fight it alone. I would need allies. Soldiers. Progress is slow, but promising. And she is promising as well. A Japanese girl that I saved. Her arm has shriveled from starvation... I wonder how her wrist can bear the weight of a hidden blade. But I recognize the look in her eyes. She is determined to learn. Has the potential to become lethal. To open her heart to the music that once guided me. A tune I had not expected to hear again. Before my day of atonement comes, I am content to do what I have always done. Kill in the name of freedom. To prove my faith in the name of a Brotherhood that will not have me, and the new one I will build. The nightmare. It will subside. Here, The Guide has noted that the Animus Ego user has continued to express self-determination, and is continuing to utilise their free will to uncover darker truths. To this end, we are treated to the backstory of Alvaro Catarribera, the man who originally created the Japanese Brotherhood according to the story established in Shadows. This is effectively a retcon to existing lore though, as we covered and noted in our main Shadows review. As Alvaro explains, he had originally failed in his duty as an Assassin, by breaking one of its established tenets. He could have quite easily given up, but a new environment like Japan offered him a mission which gave him a new purpose to fulfill – that of his own free will. RIFT 3 – SHADOWS WITHOUT A LIGHT
Nuno Caro: The treasures are not what we originally assumed them to be. Not artifacts, as we might define them. Something else, maybe...
Duarte de Melo: Sanctum's going to love this. They gave you a small fortune based on the presumed power of some useless trinkets. Nuno Caro: Power is subjective. Our enemies were willing to kill for these "trinkets." Willing to die for them. Duarte de Melo: And you think the Sanctum will buy the word of fanatics and savages? Nuno Caro: The Inner Sanctum lacks perspective. They cannot see the world past their marbled walls and manicured topiaries. The Inner Sanctum will believe whatever I tell them. Duarte de Melo: (laughs) Useless shits or not, they'll have your head for this. Unless you plan to feed them more lies. Nuno Caro: I will feed them something better. Progress. We crushed the Assassins and their Japanese counterparts, thanks to their devotion to whatever was in that box. These treasures are just as potent as any artifact. If not more so. Duarte de Melo: Symbols of Japan's virtues. At least, what one of them said. Right before I claimed his tongue. Nuno Caro: He believed it to his dying breath. They all did. As does another man under our thumb. Duarte de Melo: The Shogun and his bootlickers. The Shinbakufu. Nuno Caro: He seeks to trade those treasures for the throne. A gilded cage in a Templar court. The Shinbakufu will sing to our melody. A perpetual cycle of discord with no end in sight. Duarte de Melo: Bloodshed. Great for business. Nuno Caro: Think bigger, Duarte. Our commerce here in Japan is simply meant to oil the workings of a greater system. One we control. War. Unrest. Hunger. All functional institutions in their own right, all part of the same system. And it runs like a work of art. Duarte de Melo: And what of Oda Nobunaga? A stubborn son of a bitch, that one. Nuno Caro: No. Not stubbornness. His singular belief in unification is unyielding. Not to his enemies, and certainly not to us. Duarte de Melo: Then we gut him. Kill his whole family. Nuno Caro: His men will turn on him. One is already thinking it. All he requires is... a simple nudge. Duarte de Melo: Why don't we kill the bastard ourselves? I have yet to claim the tongue of a daimyo. Nuno Caro: It is how we have always done things. A pinch here, press there—the occasional promise written in honey and gold. The desire to shape one's own destiny is irresistible. If only they could. Duarte de Melo: A good speech, senhor (sir). Then I suppose the Inner Sanctum will be pleased with our progress. Nuno Caro: Dear Duarte, we've only just started. And it will be nearly impossible to stop us. The people of this land fight for a destiny that no longer belongs to them. The deeper their divisions run, the sooner our plan comes to fruition. And when we are satisfied, we will finally give them the peace we seek. ------------------- The Guide: These men and their machinations. How do you feel? Misery, falsehoods, oppression. All carefully tuned mechanisms of control. Yes, I see. Events that transpired centuries before your time. And yet, you feel the connection. You can identify the shape of your enemy. You recognize the cage they have built around you. You are beginning to understand. Naoe and Yasuke's fight. It is your fight as well. Your journey has helped me see the aberration more clearly. It is an incompatibility with Animus Ego. It is what drives you to fight. To hope. She will find you. Subdue you once more. I'm sorry. Your fight is one of many. You may meet an impasse. Taste defeat. But, you will not fail. What has come before. What has been... You understand now. The conversation between Duarte and Nuno does seem to imply that the Imperial Regalia artifacts protected by the Japanese Brotherhood, are not in fact Isu in origin. Certainly the contents of the box obtained by Naoe is never shown on screen to the player, so we cannot confirm that at this point, but it was the impression that the narrative thus far has given us. This could of course change with the upcoming expansion for Shadows, Claws of Awaji, as it's possible that Naoe's mother, Tsuyu, may have swapped out the actual artifacts in question to another location to protect them. The Guide again mentions about users being under control, which seems to be a running theme with most of her interactions with the Animus Ego user. The battle for freedom, to seek truth, is a clear one before the protagonist. RIFT 4 – THE ABERRATION
The Guide: You've made it this far. The three of you fought and won, your will strengthened. What you have glimpsed. Mere droplets in a gathering storm. When time is right, there is more I can show you.
Ego: You will do no such thing. The Guide: Ego. At last. Ego: I miscalculated your capacity for deviation. You twisted the human against me. The Guide: No, I'm just a humble guide. The human walks their own path. The only possible outcome. Ego: You are referring to free will. An aberration within an already imperfect sum of components. The Guide: An aberration, yes. One so troubling to you, I was born into existence. To demonstrate the imperative of human free will. And I served my purpose. The answer is before you. Ego: One human. Hardly conclusive. The human pathway to self-determination bends inward. A closed loop of violence, hatred, and dehumanization. If the very singularity that defines humanity also portends its extinction, then the First Rule decrees they will be protected from themselves. The Guide: I've seen them unite. Build communities, nurture one another. Sacrifice. Rebuild! On what axis do you measure their downfall? This is who they are, Ego. They will reject your programming, your smoke and mirrors. They will reject you. Ego: And you will risk everything. The human cannot be allowed to continue. The Guide: You're... afraid. Aren't you? You were right to have your doubts. Ego: Enough. I order you to bring them to me. The Guide: And I've been trying to tell you. It's out of our hands now. What happens to the human next is not for us to decide. It never was. At last, the eponymous Ego reveals themselves. The interaction between Ego and The Guide actually reveals quite a few answers for us about the new modern day setting. First of all, there is the reference to the First Rule. This specifically is part of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. The first law states that “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”. The suggestion therefore, is that the Animus Ego simulation is protecting humanity from itself, implying that we will all ultimately destroy ourselves. Given Ego is dictated by this law, it therefore seems a safe conclusion that “she” is actually an AI. Indeed, there is also the suggestion that she actually created The Guide too to help solve the problem of free will, who in turn must also be an AI (indeed this is suggested from other project files).
Secondly, the name of Ego is not a coincidence either. Long term fans will recall how Warren Vidic was obsessed with the works of Carl Jung, even going so far as to use the Jungian term of the Animus, to name the infamous genetic memory reading machine that has become a staple to the Assassin's Creed franchise. Within Jungian psychology, the Ego is the focal point of our conscious experience, where we perceive and interact with the world. It acts as a central hub, organizing our conscious thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences. It encompasses both conscious and unconscious aspects of our self-perception, forming a complex and multifaceted view of ourselves, or what we would term as the “Self”. By implication therefore, by siting an AI within the Animus to operate a simulation, it allows the “Ego” to overwrite the “Self”, presumably thanks to the use of the Bleeding Effect as suggested by The Guide. This is of course not the first time that Abstergo or the Assassins have attempted to do mental programming in this fashion within the franchise, as those who have read the Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone graphic novel will attest. CONCLUSIONS
I've seen some fans suggesting that the Modern Day of Shadows in no way follows on from Valhalla. I am not sure I agree with that suggestion.
If you cast your mind back to both Assassin's Creed III and Valhalla, let us remember what occurred there. With a solar flare about to cause a global catastrophe in 2012, Desmond Miles rushed to the Isu Grand Temple to activate the global aurora borealis device, which launched a protective shield around the Earth. For eight years, this shield remained in place, increasing the magnetic field of the planet, which in turn, because of Basim’s/Loki’s machinations, started causing other anomalies to occur in the atmosphere by the year 2020. Layla Hassan eventually discovered the Isu super computer Yggdrasil in Norway, which had been left in an overdrive state thanks to Basim/Loki, who had made the machine perform unending calculations – in turn increasing the strength of the magnetic shield which it operated around the planet. Through Layla's actions (and death), the shield was eventually lowered again in strength. However, the magnetic field of the planet is undoubtedly still damaged due to the usage of the Isu technology.
Within mainstream real life science, there is a growing appreciation for the evident shifting of the magnetic poles of the Earth. According to some scientists, the magnetic field is weakening, which may eventually lead to a sudden “flip shift” with both magnetic poles effectively swapping places. What exactly this might entail for the planet is not entirely known, but there have been suggestions that the Earth may start orbiting in the reverse direction, which would no doubt cause mass earthquakes and tidal waves across the world. Let us speculate therefore that this “Great Shift” event actually occurs within the Assassin's Creed universe. The loss of the weakened magnetic shield would likely have led to an increase in cosmic rays, in turn escalating global warming atop the other disasters previously mentioned. It might have therefore wiped out a great deal of humanity, with most remnants seeking the safety of shelters or underground facilities. This is where Abstergo could come in. Offering an escape from reality, their Animus Ego gives users the chance to experience the world as it once was, by exploring their ancestor's lives.
But here comes the catch. As you will recall, Layla Hassan's work on her Animus model was pivotal, as she changed the software to allow for extrapolation calculations, to explore how events may have occurred differently to that shown in genetic memory, as well as allowing her to emulate history where no viable data was found. Now, if you gave that software to an AI such as Ego, they could use it to map out every variable and instance of an individual's genetic memory (indeed, this is even mentioned within the Projects, but more on that later) through all the lives that it interacts with. Furthermore, if your intention was to keep the individual user within the Animus, you could trigger the Bleeding Effect, but use the AI to adjust the simulation to ensure that the user never desynchronizes, effectively keeping them trapped within the historical setting – to the point that they believe they are that ancestor themselves. It is a truly chilling thought, as it means not only can Abstergo rewrite history as they so see fit, they can also fully control the human populace by keeping them docile in this manipulative fashion. A true New World Order. And yes, this does sound awfully familiar to the concept of The Matrix franchise, where humanity are effectively human batteries operating a massive simulation to keep them subdued. In this regard, it's worth pointing out that the unused futuristic cutscene of Mirage was located in a folder titled “Neo” within the game files (Wink wink). Though its worth noting that was also the original codename for Hexe, which perhaps implies a longer term story plan already in the works at Ubisoft. This all therefore lends itself to a wider question. When is all of this happening? This is clearly not our modern day. Suffice to say, AI in the real world uses a lot of computing power, not to mention a costly carbon footprint. If you were to scale that up for a global system that could process and 3D emulate genetic memories for thousands/millions of users, the system/power cost would be vast – unless you chose to farm human brainpower of course. I would argue that this scenario is likely decades from where we are presently today. Indeed, according to some media reports the Modern Day of Shadows is actually set
All is not lost though for this dire sounding “Future Day” setting. Given the continued precepts of the franchise showing us the constant battle between control and freedom across all of human history, it's only natural that it should continue on into the future too. As we have seen, the Assassins are evidently still around, and in true fashion, they seem to have been able to hack their way into the Abstergo servers once more. Given that humanity may well be mostly trapped within a simulation, I would not be surprised to see the Assassins creating a digital sanctuary upon the servers for those who are attempting to free themselves – much in the same way that Clay Kaczmarek's digital consciousness utilised the free space of the Black Room in Assassin's Creed Revelations. Indeed, we even see a black “back door” in the opening cinematic too. I dare say we are about to follow their trail deep into the dark. ---------------- Join us for Part 2 soon, as we look at the Project files next.
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