Nerd Reactor had the chance to chat with MASUMI, who voices Naoe, about her experience transitioning from film and TV to voice acting for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

“It was kind of perfect timing when I got the audition because I also had to show my sword skills,” MASUMI tells Nerd Reactor. “I thought that I was going to be a samurai, because I have to show my sword skills, and that’s part of the self-tape. I didn’t know that I was a Shinobi until the first meeting I had with the producers and directors after I booked it. And I was like, ‘So just a question, am I a Shinobi?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘Wow, that is really cool.’ I had no idea.”

The character of Naoe spoke to MASUMI, who understood the character right away.

“When you get an audition, and it’s a few pages of an audition, and you read it, and you just understand the character right away,” MASUMI explained. “For me, it’s really rare. I felt like I understood her quite immediately. And I think because we share a lot of similarities, she’s a straight shooter, she doesn’t B.S. too much, she’s sometimes way too honest, and she has this strong conviction about herself, and sometimes blindly. So when she gets into all kinds of stuff, she’s also very reflective because her father teaches her how to be with a ritual, right? So those practices, all of that really resonated with me.

“So when I got that audition and when I taped it, I felt like it was mine, although I didn’t even get a call back for this audition. At that moment, I felt like, this is my story. This is my character. I know her. And I think that initial impact of feeling that way was the biggest attraction because you just don’t get to feel that way all the time and that makes it so easy to to act when you feel like you really know a character.”

Doing the voice-over sessions in the booth can be an isolating feeling, and MASUMI relishes in getting to work with more of the Ubisoft team during the cinematic sequences.

“Through all of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, my favorite part is the cinematic shooting, because I don’t get to see everybody when I’m doing voiceover,” she said. “But when I was doing the cinematic shoots, I was seeing every, I mean not everybody because there are 1000s of people involved in this project, but I got to see a lot of people, and it really felt like we were working together.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was released on consoles and PC on March 20, 2025.

The post MASUMI on Voicing Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The music in the video game series is pivotal in setting the tone of each of the games with composers including Jesper Kyd for Assassin’s Creed, Brian Tyler for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Sarah Schachner for Assassin’s Creed Origins, and many more. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, The Flight’s Joe Henson and Alexis Smith were tasked with bringing to life the music in the franchise known for blending historical and sci-fi sounds.

Henson and Smith did not come from traditional scoring backgrounds. They started in the London music industry, with Henson as a bass player and Smith as a studio musician. An EA contact would steer the band into the video game industry, with the duo working on Zubo and Spare Parts. They would later work on Horizon Zero Dawn, Alien: Isolation, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and more.

“Assassin’s Creed, it’s a franchise where I love the music and I love the game,” Henson tells Nerd Reactor. “I remember seeing the trailer for the first game and being wowed by it. And then all the scores, the composers [Ubisoft] brings in the music, it’s always brilliant. When we first started working on Assassin’s Creed, it’s like, ‘Wow, it’s an Assassin’s Creed game.’ You’ve got that pressure, and then the pressure of the amount of music you have to do, the size of the game, because these open-world games are huge. There’s a lot of responsibility in many ways. Yeah. But it was a lot easier the second time. We knew what we’re doing, and we were working with the same team. So there was a shorthand between us.”

On how The Flight was chosen to compose Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

“They do blind listening,” Henson explained. “When they do these, they ask a few people. They don’t know who it is. They just choose the music, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time. We kind of knew straight away what we wanted to do, and it was influenced by our past and our lives combined. We knew what we wanted to do, and then it seemed to be what they were after somehow.”

On working with Japanese musicians:

“We found a selection of Japanese musicians from London and work with them,” Henson said. “And that was really inspiring as well because we’ve seen the instruments, we’ve seen them being played, but being in a room with somebody and watching them actually doing it is incredible. That was really inspiring and fed back into what we were doing. And they’re very difficult instruments.”

On the instruments in Shadows being more complex than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s instruments:

“The technology of the time period of Odyssey was a lot less advanced,” Smith said. “So the instruments have a narrower range and are not as complicated. Feudal Japan isn’t actually that long ago, and these instruments we’re talking about are quite advanced, instruments that aren’t any different now than they were in that time period. So the level of skill and practice in order to actually get a good sound out of them is a lot more.”

On the main theme of Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

“To know about the main theme, you’ve got to know about what we did first,” Smith said. “The first thing we did on this game is we wrote theme pieces for each of the two characters. Because this is the first AC where there are two completely playable characters you can swap between them at any time. So they had to both have their own individual themes and instruments, palettes, sounds and feels. And we wrote two pieces that were kind of like a short story version of their character arc, of their background, and where they end up in the game. That gave us their individual stories.

“And then the main theme is for them to come together and work together. We knew we wanted it to be a banger and use all their instrumentation together, because these are the two characters who start quite far apart and end up together, working together for the good of – I don’t want to say too much. This is them working together. That’s why it’s quite heroic.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now available on consoles and PC.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The post Behind the Music of Assassin’s Creed Shadows with The Flight appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Today, the video game company announced that the upcoming game is now titled Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and it will be fully revealed on May 15 at 9 a.m. PT.

The full reveal video will be available to check out at https://www.youtube.com/@Ubisoft.

Ubisoft has also started a countdown via its Assassin’s Creed social media channels. There’s a video on its TikTok channel featuring an hourglass with red sand dropping down in Japan. Players are tasked with unlocking the Hourglass puzzle, and those who figure it out will get a reward.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be set in Feudal Japan.

The post Assassin’s Creed Game Set in Feudal Japan Officially Titled Assassin’s Creed Shadows appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

In the trailer, a wide shot of the Round City can be seen with giant walls surrounding the epicenter in a full circle. Attack on Titan fans will get a kick out of the city’s design, which is based on the historic Round City of Baghdad that was first built in 762 CE.

The game aims to capture the spirit of the first Assassin’s Creed game with its focus on a living, breathing historical city with gameplay mechanics including stealth, assassinations and parkour.

About Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Synopsis: “In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, you are Basim, a cunning street thief with nightmarish visions, seeking answers and justice. After an act of deadly retribution, Basim flees Baghdad and joins an ancient organization – The Hidden Ones. As he learns their mysterious rituals and powerful tenets, he will hone his unique abilities, discover his true nature, and come to understand a new Creed – one that will change his fate in ways he never could have imagined.”

Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be released for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC on October 5, 2023.

The post New Assassin’s Creed Mirage Gameplay Trailer Features the Round City of Baghdad appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage follows Basim as a young street thief in Baghdad, and he’ll be recruited by the Hidden Ones, the precursor to the Assassin Brotherhood. Players will feel different sensations as they control Basim, from the feeling of impact to parkour and other exclusive sensations.

The OWO Haptic Gaming System will include the exclusive ACM Edition skin, inspired by Basim’s outfit.

It will first be available on OWO’s official website and at retailers at a later date as a bundle that includes the Assassin’s Creed Mirage game. It will be compatible with the PC and console versions of the game.

“By leveraging OWO’s groundbreaking technologies and expertise, we are able to immerse players in the world, sounds and sensations of Assassin’s Creed Mirage in an innovative and enhanced way. We can’t wait for our players to discover and enjoy the coming-of-age story of Basim with the power of OWO”, Fabian Salomon, Lead Producer at Ubisoft Bordeaux.

“We are excited to unveil our strategic partnership between Ubisoft and OWO. This dynamic alliance merges the immersive gameplay of Ubisoft’s world-class video games with the cutting-edge technological prowess of OWO. It is an incredible opportunity for OWO to collaborate with a publisher such as Ubisoft. We are proud to have Assassin’s Creed Mirage in our game portfolio and we can’t wait for players to start feeling the game. Together, we are on a mission to reshape the gaming landscape and push the boundaries of interactive entertainment.” affirmed Jose Fuertes, Founder and CEO at OWO.

About Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Synopsis: In this pivotal moment of History, players will become Basim Ibn Is’haq, a young thief with a mysterious past who joins the Hidden Ones in Alamut on a quest for answers. Basim will be voiced by two talented actors: Lee Madjoub for the VO and Eyad Nassar for the Arabic version, as Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is the first Assassin’s Creed game to release worldwide with full Arabic localization, including text and voice. They are joining the incredible Mirage cast with Shohreh Aghdashloo, who will voice Roshan, Basim’s mentor in the Hidden Ones.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage will launch worldwide on October 12, 2023, for the PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Amazon Luna

The post Assassin’s Creed Mirage Is Getting a Haptic System Where You Get to Feel the Impact appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is an upcoming game from the Assassin’s Creed universe, and with the “History of Baghdad” feature, players will get a better understanding of Baghdad’s history. The interactive journey makes for an exciting learning experience, and previous Assassin’s Creed games had the Free Discovery Tour Modes including Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Players were able to learn more about Ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Viking Age by controlling an avatar across the respective country.

The upcoming game recreates Baghdad, and the “History of Bagdad” feature will have players discovering sixty-six historical sites, each with its own categories: Art & Science; Beliefs and Daily Life; Court Life; Economy; and Government. Images will complement the historical information courtesy of museums and institutions like The David Collection, the Institut du monde arabe (IMA), The Khalili Collections, and Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design.

The David Collection is a museum in Copenhagen with collections of Islamic art. In “History of Baghdad,” its collection includes the ivory-carved Casket with gilt-bronze fittings. The Institut du monde arabe in Paris (IMA) has one object featured in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the Ruby Lustre Bowl.

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili has collected a lot of treasured pieces, and one of his collections featured is the Planispheric Astrolabe from the Khalili Collections.

The Blown Glass Jar with Trailed Zigzag Decoration will be showcased, thanks to the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design in Honolulu.

Here’s the list of advisors who helped recreate Baghdad in Assassin’s Creed Mirage along with the “History of Baghdad” feature:

• Dr Glaire Anderson, expert in Islamic art, and the Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections of the University of Edinburgh
• Dr Vanessa Van Renterghem, specialist of medieval Baghdad
• Dr Ali Olomi, Scholar of Islamic History
• Dr Raphaël Weyland, expert of Islamic history who joined Ubisoft for the game’s creation

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, with help from Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Craiova, Ubisoft Kyiv, Ubisoft Montréal, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Odessa, Ubisoft Philippines, Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Singapore, and Ubisoft Sofia.

The game is set in ninth-century Baghdad at the peak of its Golden Age. The narrative-driven action adventure will have an updated take on parkour, stealth, and assassinations gameplay that the series is known for.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be released worldwide on October 12, 2023, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Luna, and PC via Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store.

The post Explore and Learn About Baghdad’s History in Assassin’s Creed Mirage Feature appeared first on Nerd Reactor.