When Assassin’s Creed Shadows Takes Place in the Series Timeline

The Assassin’s Creed timeline has two branches, with both a modern-day story and the game’s historical settings. And with the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we now have a new entry on the way. Here’s when Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in the timeline.

When Assassin’s Creed Shadows Takes Place in the Series Timeline

Brooke Davies, Ubisoft’s associate narrative director, announced in a YouTube video that Shadows starts in the year 1579 when Yasuke arrives in Japan. At this time, the samurai and shinobi were both active. 

This setting is among the more recent history covered in Assassin’s Creed. While the most recent Assassin’s Creed games have been set in ancient times, this game is turning the clock ahead nearly a thousand years. The franchise’s last entry, Mirage, was set in 9th Century Baghdad. This game takes place in the 16th Century. That puts it between Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. However, it is far closer in the timeline to the former, as Revelations was set between 1511 and 1512, while Black Flag covered 1715-1722. 

Related: How to Play the Assassin’s Creed Games in Order

Does Assassin’s Creed Shadows Have a Modern Story?

While the franchise bounces around historical settings, the games have had an overarching narrative set in the modern day that has progressed with each new entry. Assassin’s Creed Mirage was the first entry in the franchise to not include a modern day storyline, and Ubisoft has yet to confirm one for Shadows.

If Shadows does feature a storyline set in the modern day, there are rumors that it could be heading further into the future. Last year, some deleted dialogue was uncovered for Mirage that suggested Desmond Miles’ time in the animus was ancient history to the people in charge of the Animus’. Ubisoft is generally fairly tight-lipped about these segments before launch, so if we do get any information on a future storyline for Shadows, it likely won’t happen until Ubisoft Forward or after. 

And that’s when Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place in the series timeline.

Assassins Creed Shadows releases on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on November 15th.