Assassin’s Creed Shadows is getting a prequel to its story in the form of a newly announced manga. There’s still over a month to wait before players can get their hands on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but fans around the world will be able to pick up the manga sometime after the game’s release, with one region getting it on launch day, reported by GameRant.

The Ubisoft role-playing game was originally scheduled to release in November 2024. However, a couple of delays for Assassin’s Creed Shadows have pushed its launch date back to March 20, 2025. As fans of the long-running series eagerly await the release of the next game, they can now also look forward to reading a story that adds a bit of historical atmosphere to the feudal Japanese setting.

Naoe from Assassin’s Creed Shadows

The manga will be released alongside the game in Japan only. Players in other regions of the world will still be able to read it, but they’ll have to wait until an unannounced date before they can dive into the game. Despite the hype surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ dual protagonists, the cover only features a single female assassin.

Additionally, the description provided on social media leaves some doubt as to whether the prequel’s story will center around the game’s more hidden character, Naoe, vaguely noting that it weaves together a story about a young female assassin apprentice fighting against the growing presence of the Templar Order in Japan. While the character featured on the manga’s cover bears some resemblance to Naoe from Assassin’s Creed Shadows, there’s some reason to doubt that the two characters are one and the same.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Artbook

Naoe is believed to be the fictional daughter of the real-life leader of Iga Province, Fujibayashi Nagato, who also appears in the game and did not have a daughter in real life. She also offers a more stealthy approach to gameplay than her fellow samurai warrior Yasuke. Many of the mythical aspects of ninja legends come from her home province. However, early reports indicated that Naoe begins the game without any knowledge of the Assassins or the Templars, suggesting that the manga’s cover star will be an entirely new character who follows a similar path.

The manga’s cover has already garnered a lot of positive feedback on Twitter, but it’s not the only tie-in to the publication that represents the game’s visual aesthetic. The official Assassin’s Creed Shadows artbook was recently leaked online, showing hundreds of images detailing the game’s character designs, regions, and potential plot points.