Yoshiki Okamoto, a veteran game designer who has worked at Capcom and founded Flagship, has defended Assassin’s Creed Shadows from recent backlash surrounding the character of Yasuke, stating that as a video game, ‘it’s ‘fantasy, not reality.’
Speaking in a recent vlog, Okamoto-san also revealed that he would have liked to have made a game like Assassin’s Cree Shadows years ago, and that he’s reminded of Game Republic’s Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and Genji: Days of the Blade, which he worked on and both featured dual protagonists.
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And yes, the latter game is indeed the same Days of the Blade that inspired the ‘giant enemy crab’ meme from Sony’s E3 2006 presser.
I’m aware that this game is currently facing all kinds of backlash, but I’d like to talk about things from a more positive perspective. It’s a game, it’s fantasy, not reality. Even if Oda Nobunaga’s family crest is upside down, that’s just the Oda Nobunaga in the game, it does not impact how entertaining the game is.
Speaking on Genji specifically, he added, “We weren’t able to pull it off at the time, but I think Ubisoft will, which is why I have high hopes.”
Okamoto’s Flagship studio, founded in 1997, was heavily involved with working on Capcom titles, having provided scenarios for the likes of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil CODE: Veronica, Resident Evil Zero, and the two prototype versions of Resident Evil 4. After leaving Flagship in 2003, Okamoto formed Game Republic to work on the Genji series, and announced in 2012 following Game Republic’s closure that he had retired from making console titles.
[Source – Yoshiki Okamoto VBlog via Automaton]