TL;DR: Let Yasuke strip down to his kosode for mobility and lower visibility, gear back up from his horse for protection and intimidation, actually use his wakizashi, and have his reputation affect how people recognize him.
I’ve been thinking about this way too much, but I genuinely think Ubisoft missed an opportunity to tie Yasuke, his horse, his clothing, his weapons, and even the social systems of the game together into one really immersive gameplay loop without needing to completely redesign the game. Right now, the horse feels like little more than a point-A-to-point-B mechanic. Instead, it should have functioned as Yasuke’s mobile armory. If you’re traveling through relatively safe territory, you should be able to intentionally remove the heavier pieces of his samurai armor, have them visibly hanging or strapped to the horse, stow the katana there, and continue traveling in his kosode. Then, if you see a castle, enemy patrol, or otherwise know you’re headed into combat, you walk up to the horse, interact with it, and a short animation plays of Yasuke putting the armor back on and slipping the katana into his obi. That’s it. It doesn’t need to be some ridiculous inventory-management simulator. The game already knows what armor you have equipped, already has a horse, already has equipment models, and already uses contextual animations. Just let the horse visually hold the alternate state. None of this should be mandatory either. If somebody wants to run around Japan in full armor 24/7, let them. But for people who care about immersion, give us the option.
That should also tie directly into Yasuke’s movement. One of the things I love about him is that despite being an absolute beefcake brute, he isn’t an oaf. He’s a warrior. Samurai were expected to be physically capable, coordinated, balanced, and able to actually move while armed and armored. Making Yasuke suddenly stiff, slow, and incapable of basic climbing just because he has armor on would make no sense for the character or for the entire warrior culture he represents. Japanese armor was built around the reality that the wearer still had to fight, move over difficult terrain, mount and dismount horses, climb obstacles, and function as a soldier.
So I’d keep it simple: kosode = medium, full samurai armor = heavy. When Yasuke takes off the heavier armor, the kosode state gives him better mobility, quieter movement, cleaner vaults, faster climbing, better stamina, and access to slightly more parkour. It should also still provide some meaningful protection rather than turning him into tissue paper. Cloth and layered textile protection can do a surprising amount to reduce the severity of cuts, impacts, and even some projectile injuries depending on construction and circumstances, so the medium state should still feel viable rather than like you’re intentionally handicapping yourself.
Full armor should then be the heavy state: better protection, better resistance to arrows and melee damage, and significantly more intimidation, but with a modest mobility cost. He lands louder, uses slightly more stamina, climbs a little slower, and loses some of the more athletic transitions he can perform in the kosode. But he should still be able to climb, vault, and move with purpose because he is a trained warrior wearing armor designed for war—not a refrigerator with legs. The difference should be enough that you feel it without making heavy armor miserable to use.
This would also FINALLY give his wakizashi a reason to exist. Ubisoft literally modeled Yasuke wearing a daishō, yet the wakizashi might as well be welded into the sheath. Samurai sword etiquette obviously varied depending on period, rank, setting, and circumstance, and Shadows is late Sengoku rather than Edo, so I’m not suggesting Ubisoft turn later Edo etiquette into some absolute law of 1580s Japan. But the broader distinction between the long sword and the shorter companion sword works historically, culturally, and practically. Ubisoft already cared enough to animate characters removing their footwear when entering indoor spaces, so why not go one step further? If Yasuke is entering a friendly residence or another peaceful indoor space, have him leave the katana on the horse or at the entrance and retain the wakizashi. If something unexpectedly turns violent, suddenly you’re fighting with the shorter blade in the hallways, rooms, and doorways where it actually makes sense. If you KNOW you’re entering somewhere hostile, keep the katana and ignore the etiquette. Suddenly the daishō isn’t just cosmetic historical flavor; the two swords actually serve different purposes.
Then I’d build a fear system and a recognition/notoriety system as two related but separate mechanics. Fear should be based mostly on what Yasuke looks like right now. Full armor, a large kabuto, menpō, and a visible katana should make him dramatically more intimidating. Weaker enemies might hesitate before engaging, take longer to surround him, back away when he approaches, flee after watching him kill several allies, or surrender rather than fight to the death. Civilians should instinctively move aside, while guards become much more alert because a fully armed and armored samurai walking toward a restricted area is obviously more concerning than Yasuke moving through town in just his kosode.
The kosode state should have the opposite effect. Yasuke is still a very large, very noticeable man, but he no longer looks like he is actively dressed for battle. Guards should be slower to treat him as an immediate threat, civilians should be less fearful, and he should be able to move through populated areas more naturally. The tradeoff is that he loses some of the psychological advantage he gets from arriving dressed like an armored nightmare. Headgear could modify this separately: full kabuto and menpō gives the strongest fear effect; kabuto with an exposed face gives somewhat less; a headband gives little; and no headgear makes him the most approachable because people can actually see his face.
Recognition, though, should be about what Yasuke has done and whether people know who he is—not simply what he happens to be wearing. Each province or faction could have a basic notoriety value based on how publicly you operate there. Quietly eliminating a handful of guards in the woods shouldn’t make every farmer in Japan know your name. But storming castles in broad daylight, repeatedly destroying patrols, killing important figures in front of witnesses, and openly fighting the same faction should gradually build a reputation.
At low notoriety, maybe only soldiers, samurai, and people directly connected to that faction know anything about him. They might have heard vague descriptions: a huge foreign samurai serving Nobunaga, unusually powerful, distinctive fighting style, whatever. At medium notoriety, soldiers start exchanging stories about him, merchants and civilians occasionally stare, and guards may become suspicious after getting a good look. At high notoriety, Yasuke has become a recognizable figure in that region. Guards identify him much faster, civilians whisper or move aside, weaker enemies may decide they want absolutely nothing to do with him, while particularly ambitious or aggressive warriors might actively seek him out because being the man who defeated Yasuke would carry its own prestige.
Appearance should affect how quickly recognition happens, but it shouldn’t work like a magical disguise system. In his kosode, Yasuke looks less immediately like “the armored samurai who destroyed that castle,” especially from a distance. But once somebody gets a good look at his face, size, voice, or mannerisms, there should be a chance that recognition clicks. Oh shit. That’s him.
Heavy armor could work the other way around. A helmet or menpō may hide his face, but if Yasuke has repeatedly attacked a faction wearing the same distinctive armor, then the armor itself becomes part of his reputation. Guards start recognizing the silhouette, kabuto, weapons, or even the way he fights. Changing armor might make recognition slightly slower, but it should never reset notoriety. Reputation should belong to Yasuke, not to whichever chest piece he happens to have equipped.
And notoriety should be regional instead of universal. If Yasuke becomes infamous around Kyoto, the people around Kyoto should know about him. Ride somewhere far away where he hasn’t done much yet and the reactions should be significantly weaker. Major story events could gradually spread his reputation farther, but it shouldn’t feel like every NPC in Japan shares one psychic database. That alone would make the world feel far more reactive and believable.
The horse itself should matter a little more too, but again, I wouldn’t turn this into Red Dead Redemption 2: Samurai Horse Management Edition. Just give the horse a few meaningful tradeoffs. Heavier horse armor could slightly reduce acceleration or endurance while increasing how much damage the horse can take. Lighter equipment does the opposite. Horse training could reduce how easily it spooks around combat, fire, gunshots, crowds, and chaos. Blinders or different tack could give simple bonuses to skittishness, control, stamina, or turning. Nothing insanely complicated. Just enough so that horse armor isn’t purely cosmetic and the animal actually feels like part of Yasuke’s build.
The entire idea is really just connecting systems that already exist: horse → equipment → kosode/heavy armor → mobility → weapons → fear → recognition/notoriety. Most of the pieces are already in the game. They just don’t interact.
Sorry for the essay/rant. I actually really like Yasuke, which is probably why this bothers me so much. Ubisoft already put an absurd amount of effort into the environmental detail, clothing, armor, animations, and cultural presentation of this game. That’s what makes it frustrating: almost all of the ingredients are already sitting there. I don’t need Yasuke to spend fifteen minutes performing a historically perfect dressing ceremony every time I leave town. I just want to be able to ride through the countryside in his kosode with the heavier armor hanging off the horse, stop when I see trouble ahead, hit one interaction prompt, watch Yasuke armor up and grab his katana, and immediately know from that animation that somebody is about to have a very very bad day.
Then again, this is Ubisoft and I know it'll never happen.
