Assassin’s Creed Shadows Guide
All Romance Options In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creed Shadows includes multiple romance options for both Naoe and Yasuke.
Quick Answer
Assassin’s Creed Shadows includes multiple romance options for both Naoe and Yasuke. Relationships are built through companion quests, target questlines, and special dialogue choices marked with heart icons.
Naoe can romance Gennojo, Katsuhime, Koshiro, and Mayu, while Yasuke can romance Lady Oichi, Hori Hidemasa, Ibuki, and Rin.
You can romance multiple characters in the same playthrough without penalties or relationship conflicts.
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Full Guide
How Romance Works In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Romance in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is tied to character questlines and special dialogue choices.
During conversations, flirtatious responses are marked with heart icons. Selecting these options consistently helps deepen the relationship.
Eventually, a dialogue option with a heart crossed by an arrow appears. Choosing it officially confirms the romance route and unlocks an intimate scene.
The scenes are story-focused and not overly explicit.
Can You Romance Multiple Characters?
Yes.
As far as the game currently allows, there are no penalties for romancing multiple characters at once.
The romance options do not conflict with each other, and companions continue functioning normally regardless of your relationship choices.
This mostly affects Naoe because she has multiple available romance paths at the same time.
Naoe Romance Options
How To Romance Gennojo
Gennojo is one of the first romance options you encounter during the main story.
Required Quests
- Missing Missive
- Sake and Swords
- Honor Among Thieves
- Stolen Hearts
Important Choices
During Sake and Swords:
- “Depends what you’re offering”
- “Show me, thief”
During Honor Among Thieves:
- “I’m keeping it, then”
During Stolen Hearts:
- “I’m here for you”
- “I’d like to embrace you”
Gennojo basically flirts like a thief who stole confidence directly from the gods.
How To Romance Katsuhime
Katsuhime is a fierce shinobi and teppo specialist connected to several side missions.
Required Quests
- Showdown in Sakamoto
- Letter from Katsuhime
- The Tales of Genin
- Diary of Lady Rokkaku
- The Jounin Pillow Book
Important Choices
During Showdown in Sakamoto:
- “I like your teppo”
During Letter from Katsuhime:
- “It offers time with me”
During The Tales of Genin:
- “I do enjoy your company”
During Diary of Lady Rokkaku:
- “Yes. Join us”
During The Jounin Pillow Book:
- “Let’s find out”
- “Yes. Forever”
How To Romance Koshiro
Koshiro is a ronin whose story slowly develops into one of the more emotional romance routes in the game.
Required Quests
- Brothers in Arms
- Genzaburo’s Soldiers
- The Leaf Turns
Important Choices
During Brothers in Arms:
- Spare Seiji
During The Leaf Turns:
- “You’re more than a blade to me”
- “We have a special connection”
- “I’d like to spend more time with you”
- “You must follow your heart”
- “Like me”
This route honestly feels like a samurai drama disguised as a side quest chain.
How To Romance Mayu
Mayu is tied to the Jizo Statue collectible activities.
Required Quest
- Mayu’s Offerings
Romance Requirements
- Honor 10 Jizo Statues
- Honor 35 Jizo Statues
- Honor all 69 Jizo Statues
Important Choices
After 10 statues:
- “I know that feeling”
After 35 statues:
- “You can define your own path”
After all 69 statues:
- “I learned to follow my own intuition”
- “Not before I kiss you”
This is easily the longest romance requirement in the game if you are not already hunting collectibles naturally.
Yasuke Romance Options
How To Romance Lady Oichi
Lady Oichi is the sister of Oda Nobunaga and one of Yasuke’s most story-important romance options.
Required Quests
- An Education
- The Wheel Unmasked
- The Wheel Turns
Important Choices
During An Education:
- “Some company might be nice”
During The Wheel Unmasked:
- Spare the target
During The Wheel Turns:
- “I miss your smile”
- “Let’s enjoy the moment”
You also visit Cat Island during this storyline, which automatically improves the quest by at least 50 percent.
How To Romance Hori Hidemasa
Hori Hidemasa is connected to the Betrayers assassination board.
Required Quest
- The Betrayers
Romance Requirement
Eliminate all seven targets on the Betrayers board.
Important Choice
- “Meeting you was my reward”
This route is less flirt-heavy and more emotionally restrained samurai loyalty energy.
How To Romance Ibuki
Ibuki is a ronin who becomes one of Yasuke’s closest companions.
Required Quests
- Ambush Interrupted
- Homecoming
- Putting Down Roots
Important Choices
During Homecoming:
- “I am here to help”
- “Fight with us, Kyobei”
- “Your mind works in beautiful ways”
During Putting Down Roots:
- “You have lovely eyes”
- “I want more than friendship”
You also recruit Ibuki as an ally during this route.
How To Romance Rin
Rin is introduced through the Winter Raiders questline in the Kii region.
Required Quests
- The Winter Raiders
- Arrow Strike
- War Horse
- Ride into Town
Important Choices
During Arrow Strike:
- “Let me help you clean”
- “It wasn’t my archery you were testing”
During War Horse:
- “You excel at everything you try”
During Ride into Town:
- “Plum onigiri, please”
- “I want to draw a picture of you”
- “I would like to kiss you”
This route somehow manages to be wholesome while also involving repeated bandit attacks.
Do Romance Choices Affect Companions?
No.
Romancing characters does not prevent you from recruiting them as companions or allies.
You can still fully use companion systems regardless of romance choices.
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Story, Characters & Side Quests
How Long To Beat Assassin’s Creed Shadows
The main story in Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes around 40–45 hours if you focus mostly on story missions and only complete enough side content to stay properly leveled.
Players aiming for full completion, collectibles, optional objectives, contracts, castles, and exploration should expect the game to take closer to 80–100+ hours. The world is massive, and it is very easy to get distracted once the map fully opens up.
Story, Characters & Side Quests
When Do You Unlock Yasuke In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
You unlock Yasuke as a fully playable character near the end of the Temple of the Horseman mission in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Most players reach this point around 10–20 hours into the main story depending on how much side content they complete.
To unlock him faster, focus mainly on the early story targets, especially The Wounded and The Golden Teppo. Once Yasuke joins permanently, you can freely swap between him and Naoe outside of combat and restricted areas.
Locations & Collectibles
How To Open Every Kuji-Kiri Meditation Location In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
There are 22 Kuji-Kiri meditation locations in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and they can only be completed while playing as Naoe. Each meditation spot appears as an orange meditation icon after discovering nearby white question marks on the map.
To complete a Kuji-Kiri, sit on the meditation mat and finish the rhythm-based QTE sequence. If the button prompts become too difficult to memorize, you can enable Auto Quick Time Events in the gameplay settings to automatically complete every meditation challenge.
Finishing all 22 Kuji-Kiri locations unlocks the Zen Master trophy and rewards knowledge points used for upgrading your skill tree.
Puzzles & Codes
All Hidden Vault Puzzle Solutions In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Hidden vaults in Assassin’s Creed Shadows mainly appear as Kofun tomb dungeons and the massive Glyph Door mystery tied to the A Puzzlement quest.
Most vaults require either Yasuke’s strength to destroy debris and move objects or Naoe’s agility to crawl through tight passages. Several puzzles involve explosive jars, movable blocks, underwater paths, and hidden climbable ledges.
Completing these vaults rewards legendary gear, rare loot, and one of the game’s biggest secret discoveries.
Puzzles & Codes
How To Unlock Secret Castle Rooms In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
To unlock secret castle rooms in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you need to use environmental tools like explosive jars, hidden crawlspaces, grappling points, keys, and mechanical puzzle systems.
Most hidden rooms are tied to either Naoe’s stealth traversal abilities or Yasuke’s brute strength. Look for suspicious wall layouts, ceiling hatches, drainage systems, and locked upper keeps inside major castles.
Many legendary treasure rooms also remain locked until every Samurai Daisho in the castle has been eliminated.
Locations & Collectibles
All Legendary Armor Locations In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Most Legendary Armor pieces in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are found inside Legendary Treasure Chests hidden within heavily guarded castles, forts, caves, and vaults across Japan.
Each armor set includes a head piece and body piece with unique gameplay perks designed specifically for either Naoe or Yasuke. To unlock castle treasure rooms, you usually need to eliminate every Samurai Daisho inside the area first.
Legendary armor automatically scales to your current level when found, making these some of the strongest gear rewards in the game.