Yes, Naoe can seemingly do the Naruto run in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as the game’s creative director describes her as being the fastest playable character the series has seen yet.
That’s per an Entertainment Weekly interview with Shadows creative director Jonathan Dumont (via PC Gamer). Dumont describes the shinobi as “the fastest Assassin we ever made.” He adds: “She runs super fast, she has a lot of gadgets to keep her stealth so that she doesn’t have to fight often. We wanted to satisfy that for players that come in for that ninja-Assassin game.”
Dumont also explains that she’ll also have a ‘Naruto run’ of sorts – an iconic sprint from the popular anime series that sees the characters leaning forward while running with their arms fully behind them. “We do have a run on top of buildings that has a little bit of a wink-wink to it,” he says.
As a big fan of the Tenchu series and stealth games in general, I’m happy to see the Assassin’s Creed series attempt to fully embrace a more shadowy playstyle once again. While I’ve enjoyed recent entries like Odyssey and Valhalla, it was all too easy to overpower most enemies with their protagonists’ aggressive combat abilities.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is currently scheduled to launch on February 14, 2025 after a delay. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC and Amazon Luna.