It’s finally come to this, the final members of the Shinbakufu are in your sights, and while this isn’t the end of Naoe and Yasuke’s journey—do not get me started on the endgame thing with Hanzo, we don’t have four hours to spend being angry—it’s certainly the bang the game deserves to go out on. Get in loser, we’ve got a traitor to kill.
The Week In Games: What’s Coming Out Beyond Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Preparation
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
Sure, it’s not technically required to finish out Naoe and Yasuke’s personal journey quests to take on this last mission, but just from a narrative and rule-of-cool standpoint, they’re worth the effort. Naoe’s missions finally establish a proper link to the rest of the Assassin’s Creed series, and also gets her some proper beautiful Assassin garb to run around in. Meanwhile, Yasuke’s stuff doesn’t really affect the endgame, but it does let you get your Django Unchained on, and hunt down the Portuguese slavers who got him in this mess. Seriously, these are probably the best and most badass missions in the game, and the reward is the best armor Yasuke can own. Past those, though, you already have everything you need. Let’s just finish this.
The Mission: “Topple the Traitor”
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
So, there’s a war going on, and you ain’t in it. Yasuke and Naoe have one target, and they’re gonna fight their way through a castle full of assholes to get him. Pick Yasuke first to do the fun job of killing everything on two legs. Things get messy and crowded quick, though, so whatever you need to do to end fights fast, do it; the only real note to make is that you’re gonna want to take out anybody holding a teppo first. There’s usually two or three of ‘em lurking around every corner, and they can make what should be a mundane murdertask into an absolute clusterfuck. There are also a lot of explosives in the area. Use them wisely.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
When you’ve created a nice little meatstack out of the dead bodies in your wake, follow your mission marker, bash through the doors of the main pagoda and head upstairs. You’ll get a cutscene with Mitsuhide and his posse before he legs it. Let Yasuke deal with that, it’s Naoe’s time to chase down Mitsuhide on horseback. Feel free to follow him directly, but if you see an opportunity to cut across a wide open field to catch up, do it.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
At the end of the road, Mitsuhide will finally decide to boss up and face our heroes head on. Yasuke will kick things off first, and you’ll need to be a little more patient with this than normal and punish his mistakes more than staying on constant offense. If you see him kick sand in Yasuke’s face, he’ll follow up with an unblockable. A simple dodge will get you out of that. Any combo you hit, back away after the final hit. Try to get spammy with attacks, he’ll retaliate with some pretty painful combos.
Once his armor’s off, Naoe will get the hot tag. Mitsuhide will fight a lot faster to accommodate, meaning everything from Yasuke’s phase, but less room for mistakes. Vault is going to be your savior here; keep him vulnerable, and often.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
As soon as he’s done for, you’ll get a bit of conversation, and it’ll be up to you to decide how best to finish him. Naoe’s probably the best choice here. For a bunch of the previous targets, there’s room for a bit of nuance. But not this asshole. He deserves to lose his neck.
Naoe will get the Dragon’s Edge Katana for her trouble, which coincidentally goes real nice with her snazzy Assassin outfit. Now you’re prepared for the final challenge, the culmination of all lessons learned. The final member of the Shinbakufu is waiting for you at Kuramadera Temple in the Genbu Highlands in Yamashiro.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Justin Clark / Kotaku
Your vengeance has come. To win, you’ll need all your power, all your cunning, all your skill and determinat—oh, wait, no, you go have a conversation and the dude just hands you the box and it’s over. Your reward is level-45 anti-climax. Enjoy.
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