Deciphering the Secrets of the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows Marketing Campaign

The Assassin's Creed Red marketing campaign has finally begun, teasing the release of the Official Cinematic World Premiere Trailer, which will launch 15th May 2024.

Eagle-eyed fans were quick to spot a series of numbers hidden within promotional images, and the hourglass in Osaka promo video.

Here are the findings by TOWCB Team members ActualSpider-Man and Edenoi.

Code 1: A pattern and key found on the Ubisoft website

  1   2  3   4  5   6   7   8  9

1 カ セ ゾ ノ ョ ソ ィ ゴ ケ

2 ム 。 ギ マ ブ ジ リ 〜 ゥ

3 ン ヅ タ ユ レ ア ビ ョ コ

4 ヌ ロ オ ヂ ヒ ォ イ ニ ホ

5 ル ・ ツ ウ ー ラ デ ッ ハ

6 ネ サ ミ ボ ワ エ メ テ ド

7 ス ゲ ガ フ ゼ ェ バ ヤ ュ

8 チ 、 ベ モ ザ ナ ト ※ シ

9 ズ ァ ク ダ ヲ キ ャ へ グ

Numbered pairs are deciphered columns 1st, rows 2nd to find the correct katakana:

62 11 13 95 43 45 27 13

ジ カ ン ハ ユ ウ ゲ ン

Ji Ka N Ha Yu U Ge N

時間 は 有限

Time is limited

11 91 65 95 16 85 78 56 55 39 84 18 72 77 76 65 53.

カ ケ ラ ハ ネ ッ ト ワ ー ク ニ チ リ バ メ ラ レ

Ka Ke La Ha Ne T To Wa - Ku Ni Chi Ri Ba Me La Re

欠片 は ネットワーク に 散りばめ られ

Fragments are scattered throughout the network.

17 68 96 91 74 95 94 45 98 97 45 41 11 32 78 68 15.

ス ナ ド ケ イ ハ ホ ウ シ ュ ウ ノ カ ギ ト ナ ル

Su Na Do Ke I Ha Ho U Shi Y U No Ka Gi To Na Ru

砂時計 は 報酬 の 鍵 と なる

The hourglass is the key to the reward.

74 61 99 37 83 74.

イ ソ グ ガ ョ イ

I So Gu Ga Yo I

急ぐ が 良い

It's better to hurry.

1SS1SS9NS3R55D.COM/????????? = ASSASSINSCREED.COM/HOURGLASS

This leads to a website where you can enter a code to get some sort of in-game item! We won't say what the code is for now, but the clues are available...

Code 2: Numbers hidden in Assassin's Creed Social Media Banners

74 18 78 84 95 47 33 35 75 54 78 35

イ チ ト ニ ハ フ タ ツ デ ヒ ト ツ

I Chi To Ni Ha Fu Ta Tsu De Hi To Tsu

１ と 2 は  2つ で 1つ

One and two are two in one.

26 13 59 98 15 84 95 78 69 59 42 86

サ ン ヲ シ ル ニ ハ ト キ ヲ マ テ

Sa N Wo Shi Ru Ni Ha To Ki Wo Ma Te

3 を 知る に は 時 を 待て

Wait until you know 3.

Code 3: Binary hidden in a promotional image emailed out to fans

33 11 33 11 11 21 11 21 33 11 33 11 33 11 11 21

33 11 33 11 11 21 11 21 33 11 11 21 33 11 11 21

33 11 33 11 11 21 11 21 33 11 11 21 11 21 11 21

33 11 33 11 11 21 11 21 11 21 33 11 33 11 11 21

33 11 | タ カ | Ta Ka | 鷹 | Hawk = 0

11 21 | カ セ | Ka Se | 風 | Wind = 1

Converting the binary pairs into ASCII:

00110001 = 1

00110101 = 5

00110111 = 7

00111001 = 9

[1579, the year Yasuke arrived in Japan! Kudos to @edenoi_ / u/BPotatoes for deciphering all this themselves, and giving us all the breakdown!

Code 4: Engraved on the Hourglass

There was also one more minor puzzle seen solved by u/Ajxtt on Assassin’s Creed News:

Code 5: Second Hourglass Message

The Assassin's Creed Twitter followed that last video up with another, containing a separate code:

Code 6: Assassin's Creed Twitter Bio

66 85 39 17 62 39 75 98 15 98 59 36 35 91

エ ッ ク ス ジ ク デ シ ヲ ミ ツ ケ

E K Ku Su Ji Ku De Shi Wo Mi Tsu Ke

X 軸でし を 見つけ

Find on the X-axis.

56 74 62 39 75 48 39 86 69 59 98 15 75 63 24 45

ワ イ ジ ク デ モ ク テ キ ヲ シ ル デ ア ロ ウ

Wa I Ji Ku De Mo Ku Te Ki Wo Shi Ru De A Ro U

Y 軸 で 目的 を 知る で あろう

You will know the purpose on the Y-axis.

Code 7: New Twitter Banner

38 38 38 38 37 35 34 33 30 30 30 30 29 28 27 26 25 23 17 18 13 10 9 9 8 8 10

11 11 13 13 13 15 17 19 19 21 24 24 23 22 21 20 20 19 18 18 18 17 15 13 13 13 11 9 7 6

4 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 6 7 9 10 12 12 11 10 11 11 12 12 11 13 15 16 22 26 28 30 31 31

31 31 30 29 30 34 37 38

19 18 17 15 15 15 15 14 13 12 11 10 8 4 2 2 2 1 2 3 3 3 4 6 8 9 10 11 14 16 19 21 22

21 23 25 26 30 32 33 35 34 31 30 29 28 26 25 21 22 21 19 16 15 14 13 13 14 14 14

15 16 17 18 22 24 23 27 28 29 31 31 31 32 33 33 33 34 36 37 38 39 39 39 39 38 38

37 36 34 33 30 27 25 23 21 21 22 21

These numbers don't fit the usual cipher, but interestingly, there are 99 numbers in each block. If you pair them together as coordinates, you get this:

(38,19) (38,18) (38,17) (38,15) (37,15) (35,15) (34,15) (33,14) (30,13) (30,12) (30,11) (30,10) (29,8) (28,4) (27,2) (26,2) (25,2) (23,1) (17,2) (18,3) (13,3) (10,3) (9,4) (9,6) (8,8) (8,9) (10,10) (11,11) (11,14) (13,16) (13,19) (13,21) (15,22) (17,21) (19,23) (19,25) (21,26) (24,30) (24,32) (23,33) (22,35) (21,34) (20,31) (20,30) (19,29) (18,28) (18,26) (18,25) (17,21) (15,22) (13,21) (13,19) (13,16) (11,15) (9,14) (7,13) (6,13) (4,14) (3,14) (2,14) (1,15) (1,16) (1,17) (1,18) (2,22) (2,24) (2,23) (3,27) (4,28) (6,29) (7,31) (9,31) (10,31) (12,32) (12,33) (11,33) (10,33) (11,34) (11,36) (12,37) (12,38) (11,39) (13,39) (15,39) (16,39) (22,38) (26,38) (28,37) (30,36) (31,34) (31,33) (31,30) (31,27) (30,25) (29,23) (30,21) (34,21) (37,22) (38,21)

Now if we graph those points:

Okay, it definitely looks like something. In fact, it looks like a map! Now, the first hourglass video depicts the Shinsekai neighborhood in Osaka, and the second hourglass video depicts Todai-ji temple in Nara:

Osaka and Nara are both in the Kansai region of Japan. Let's take a look at a map of Kansai:

That sure looks a lot like our graph up there!

Could this be where Shadows is set?

Code 8: Facebook Banner

17 68 96 91 74 95 34 36 35 59 11 39 21 96 48

ス ナ ド ケ イ ハ オ ミ ツ ヲ カ ク セ ド モ

Su Na Do Ke I Ha O Mi Tsu Wo Ka Ku Se Do Mo

砂時計 は お密 を 隠せ ども

Hourglass, hide your secrets.

93 13 62 35 95 61 41 96 49 74 84 63 72

コ ン ジ ツ ハ ソ ノ ド ダ イ ニ ア リ

Ko N Ji Tsu Ha So No Do Da I Ni A Ri

今日 は その 土台 に あり

Today we are at that foundation.

Possibly this is a reference to the messages written on the bases of the hourglasses?

Did we miss anything?

Let us know in the comments!