Should Mitsumune kill the prisoners in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

There are a handful of choices you have to make throughout your time in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Your decisions mold the character you’ll be playing while controlling Naoe and Yasuke, and an early decision has to do with Mitsumune and his prisoners.

Shortly after you defeat Wada Koretake, one of the several members of The Onyro who attacked Naoe and killed her father, Mitsunume rounds up multiple prisoners from the castle. He wants to kill them, but before he can make a decision, Naoe has the chance to speak. You have the choice to either back Mitsumune’s decision or encourage him not to do it. Here’s what you need to know about whether you should let Mitsumune kill the prisoners or attempt to prevent him from doing it in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

What happens when you let Mitsumune kill the prisoners in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

When you choose to side with Mitsumune, Yaya comments on how bloodthirsty you’ve become as Mitsumune’s men kills the first prisoner. However, he won’t be able to do the same to the rest of the soldiers. He only receives your permission to eliminate the first one, and can’t dish out the same fate to the others in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Although this doesn’t play into the current quest, this choice does matter in the next one, The Stray Dogs. In this quest, you’ll meet up with Yaya after these events and have a chance to assist her in dealing with monks who have been stealing from her. One of them is someone she used to guide and look after.

There are a handful of choices you can make during this quest, but if you continue to go down the path of revenge and death, Yaya will not join your cause as an summonable ally. This is the prominent choice and consequence of agreeing with Mitsumune.

What happens when you don’t support Mitsumune killing prisoners in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

When you attempt to convince Mitsumune against killing the prisoners, he still takes out the first one he held hostage. However, Yaya agrees with your choice to oppose Mitsumune and killing the rest of them. This scene mostly plays out similar to the previous choice, with the slight alteration with Yaya initially agreeing with you that they need to be spared, but still believing you to be bloodthirsty.

You can use this to your advantage in the The Stray Dogs quest. Here, you can highlight that while you are attempting to avenge your father, you still want to find peaceful resolutions whenever possible. You can choose to forgive the monks who were stealing from her and give them several chances of redemption. If you do this, when you reach the end of this quest and offer Yaya the opportunity to join you, she will accept your offer.

Is it better to side with or go against Mitsumune in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

Going against against Mitsumune feels like the best choice here. Ultimately, it comes down to your decisions and how you instruct Yaya to act toward the monks in The Stray Dogs quest, but your choices with Mitsumune paint a clearer picture. You want to get every advantage you can to get her to join you, and choosing the more bloodthirsty path in our playthrough didn’t feel like a good option. If anything, it gives you the chance to lose out on a potential ally like Yaya.