When Assassin’s Creed Shadows was released earlier this year, it marked a bold new chapter for the long-running video game franchise: a visually stunning exploration into 16th-century Japan, with two playable protagonists - Naoe, a fictional Japanese female assassin, and Yasuke, a real-life Black samurai of African origin.
But while the game has received praise for its gameplay and setting, it has also ignited a lot of heated online discussion - specifically around Yasuke, the first foreign-born warrior believed to have been granted samurai status in Japan.
The backlash was instant following the game's reveal in a trailer last year, with many fans claiming that Ubisoft, the game's developer, had prioritised “wokeness” over authenticity.
While much of the criticism was misinformed, it quickly snowballed into something uglier. And one person found herself at the centre of it: Dr. Sachi Schmidt-Hori, an associate professor of Japanese literature and culture at Dartmouth College, who had worked as a narrative consultant on the game.
She didn’t design the characters or the storyline. Her role was to ensure historical customs, settings, and language were depicted with care. But that didn’t stop internet users from targeting her. Online forums and Reddit threads began attacking her research, appearance, and even her husband.
“Imagine that! Professional #WOKE SJW confirms fake history for Ubisoft,” one Reddit user said, using an acronym for “social justice warrior.” Another user called her a “sexual degenerate who hate humanity because no man want her.”
Learning that Yasuke was based on a real person who served Oda Nobunaga between 1581 and 1582 did little to ease critics. Asian men in particular argued that Schmidt-Hori was trying to erase them, even though her role involved researching historical customs and reviewing scripts, not creating characters.
“I became the face of this backlash,” she said. “People wanted to look for who to yell at, and I was kind of there.”
Rather than retreating, Schmidt-Hori took an unexpected approach: she responded with empathy. Drawing inspiration from the late civil rights leader John Lewis, she chose to cause what he famously called “good trouble.”
She began replying to some of the angry emails, asking the senders why they were mad at her and inviting them to speak face-to-face via Zoom. Many who left hateful comments have since apologised.
Anik Talukder, a 28-year-old south Asian man living in the United Kingdom, said he "learned a massive lesson" and apologised at least 10 times to Schmidt-Hori after accepting her Zoom invitation to discuss his Reddit post about her.
“Nobody is unaffected by this very polarising culture,” says Schmidt-Hori. “I just hope people will try to treat each other as fellow humans. And it will work - I promise.”
