Assassin’s Creed Shadows Localization
Client: Ubisoft Entertainment
Client’s area of activity: Develops and publishes games for PC, consoles, and mobile devices
Project goals: Create a historical atmosphere and authentic characters through text
Our client is one of the world’s largest video game developers and publishers. Founded in 1986, the company now has over 45 studios in various countries as of early 2025. Over the years, they’ve created many successful franchises, proprietary game engines, and a platform for digital distribution and gamer communication.
The company’s games are played by millions of people worldwide. One of their flagship franchises is the action-adventure Assassin’s Creed.
Task
We were tasked with localizing the latest installment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Each game in the series is dedicated to a specific historical era, with the aim of immersing players in its culture and everyday life. To preserve this immersion in localization, the text must stay true to the particular time and place, with special attention paid to actual names and geographical locations.
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it was especially important to recreate in Russian the unique features of Japanese language and culture, including the many levels of politeness.
Why us
Logrus IT has over 30 years of experience in the industry, during which time we’ve localized hundreds of games. We work with major publishers and produce translations of only the highest quality.
Our team has been working with this client since 2001 through a regional publisher and directly since 2012. The client values our careful approach to localization, efficient and clear communication, and our ability to meet deadlines while strictly adhering to their workflow.
Solution
Before starting work on each game, the client holds a video call with all the studios involved in the various localizations. During the conference, the client shares their vision for the game and the desired player experience, gives instructions, and addresses any potential difficulties. Additionally, there is an opportunity to ask questions and request references — materials to use as a guide for translation.
After reviewing the client’s requests, we conducted preliminary research on the era and selected sources, including authentic historical texts (The Chronicle of of Lord Nobunaga and the famous samurai treatise Hagakure), scientific and popular literature (such as Japan: The Complete History of the Country by Taiji Tanaka), and works of fiction (The Way of the Samurai by Eiji Yoshikawa and The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho). These materials helped us understand the cultural context.
We also identified potential linguistic challenges that could arise during translation. Based on the client’s materials and our own research, we created localization guidelines, updating them as we gathered more information. Besides general style and formatting guidelines, we established the following rules:
- Translating proper names. Despite the popularity of Japanese culture, Russian has no standard way to transcribe Japanese names and toponyms. Official transcriptions, historically established names, and commonly used versions often do not match. We aimed to maintain maximum historical accuracy without sacrificing recognizability.
- Translating so-called “exoticisms” — words and phrases left in the original languages (such as Japanese or Portuguese) to achieve the developers’ desired effect.
- Replicating the features of different characters’ speech. For instance, the speech of an educated priest will differ significantly from that of a simple warrior. A character’s vocabulary and syntax are influenced by their environment and many other factors, which must be taken into account in translation.
- The system of address between characters. Since English doesn’t have grammatical distinctions between formal and informal ’you’, we could hardly rely on the source text to replicate Japan’s 16th-century system of politeness in Russian. We needed to reflect not only the feudal hierarchy but also the nuances of personal relationships between main characters, who differ significantly in character and social status, and non-playable characters, numbering in the hundreds.
Our core team consists of six linguists and two managers, with the occasional involvement of other staff and consultants. As always with this franchise, we began localization on Assassin’s Creed Shadows early in the development process. On the one hand, this makes the task more challenging as game texts often change, and some sections are sent back for revisions multiple times. On the other, this means we aren’t just localizing an existing title, but actively participating in its creation. Often, our specialists’ feedback helped the developers find more precise wording and correct errors that had slipped into the game.
Outcome
We fully localized Assassin’s Creed Shadows, recreating the atmosphere of 16th-century Japan in Russian. Our team not only translated the subtitles and interface but also suggested several solutions that helped the developers improve the text in all languages. The client appreciates this approach and Logrus IT’s complete dedication to projects. We continue to collaborate, working on new titles and striving to not only maintain our established quality level but constantly improve it.
