Sachi Schmidt-Hori has never played Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but facing an onslaught of online harassment from its fans, she quickly developed her own gameplay style: confronting hate with kindness.
Schmidt-Hori, an associate professor of Japanese literature and culture at Dartmouth College, worked as a narrative consultant on the latest instalment in the popular Ubisoft video game franchise.
The game launched on March 20, but the vitriol directed at Schmidt-Hori began in May 2024 with the release of a promotional trailer.
“Once I realised that I was by myself – nobody was defending me – I just decided to do what I knew would work,” she said. “It’s very difficult to hate someone up close.”
Set in 16th century Japan, the game features Naoe, a Japanese female assassin, and Yasuke, a black African samurai. Furore erupted over the latter, with gamers criticising his inclusion as “wokeness” – or a state of being socially aware – run amok.
They quickly zeroed in Schmidt-Hori, attacking her in online forums, posting bogus reviews of her scholarly work and flooding her inbox with profanity.
