Deciphering the Secrets of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows Community Challenge and Mystery Box

During the marketing campaign for Assassin's Creed Shadows, we were thrilled to announce that TOWCB / Isu_network Team Leader Colum Blackett (Col_96) was granted the rank of Veteran Master, and received an Assassin's Creed Shadows Mystery Box from Ubisoft!

Straight away we gathered our team of codebreakers and set about trying to crack the secrets of the box.

TOWCB Codebreakers:

Ashlea_97

FrameHoldPhotos

Edenoi

ActualSpider-Man

TheNerdyArcher

We were thrilled to see a community challenge so early on in the AC Marketing campaign, and it provided many twists and turns which kept us guessing right until the very end.

The Mission

Upon receiving the box, Col was invited to a Discord server with other 'Veteran Masters' (content creators and box-owners).

THE EXPERIENCE

This Discord experience is separated in two parts:

• A Community quest that starts on June 3rd. You have 24 hours to solve all the community riddles.

• A Content Creators quest that starts on June 4th. They will be streaming live.

As members of the Assassin's Creed community and thus, Apprentices, you are tasked to solve riddles that will give important information and hints for Content Creators and their dedicated quest. Follow their streams tomorrow to discover the end of the story but also solve their riddles together. In this adventure, you will be referred to as Apprentices, whereas Content Creators will be referred to as Veteran Masters.

In the server, bots would provide clues and questions in order to progress further into the deeper layers of the challenge.

The Box

The box measured 17cm across by 23, and featured Japanese text on the box which translates roughly to ''bravery, honor, respect'', signaling positive virtues.

勇名誉礼思義羊ホ戈仁

The box was also secured using a puzzle lock, which took some time to open. Ash had a great deal of fun figuring it out.

Master Komatsu Uchihira (Discord bot) provided a poem to help Veteran Masters to open it.

The poem refers to the different levels of security on the lock, which all had to be completed in the correct order. Completing one level would unlock another, and so forth.

Also provided was a diagram showing the correct order in which to open the combination.

Here is our video showing Ash cracking the combination.

Inside the Box:

• A blood-stained note

• A scroll detailing the quest

• A Map of Japan

• Hidden Blade poster

Community Riddles

Puzzle #1: Apprentices were invited to the Discord server and encouraged to work together in order to assist Veteran Masters the following day.

Master Komatsu Uchihira (Discord bot) provided a riddle which encouraged apprentices to rewatch the CGI trailer

Answer: D.O

Master Komatsu Uchihira (Discord bot) congratulates the apprentice and suggests that the letters could be initials that stand for something.

Next, Apprentices had to mention the letters to characters (Discord bots) in order to gain more information.

Answer is SACHI

Puzzle #:

Puzzle #: After opening the box, Veteran Masters informed Master Komatsu Uchihira (Discord bot) of their success, who congratulated them on opening the box.

Next, Veteran Masters would receive their first instructions.

It became clear that it was impossible to progress from this stage without the help of 'apprentices', so for those who opened the box early, like us, it was a waiting game.

The event kicked off on the 3rd June 2024 when community members were invited to join the 'Assassin's Creed Shadows: The First Mission' Discord server.

Puzzle: Origami?

Puzzle: Sign language?

The blood-stained note.

VIDEO OF INK FADING AWAY