Ubisoft battling Assassin's Creed Shadows leaks, as main character art appears online

Artwork revealing characters from the under-wraps Assassin's Creed Shadows has been posted online, ahead of this evening's big reveal trailer going live.

You'll be able to watch the Assassin's Creed Shadows reveal trailer at 5pm UK time tonight - but ahead of that, artwork which looks set to be used on the game's box cover has appeared on the internet.

Ubisoft appears to have removed several instances of this image from social media already, inadvertantly confirming its authenticity, but other copies still remain. For those looking to go in completely unspoiled, look away now.

Assassin's Creed Shadows looks to feature two protagonists: a female ninja and a male samurai.

Artwork of the pair shows them posing with a hatchet on a rope and, as you'd expect, a samurai sword. Is one of them wearing the series' iconic hidden blade weapon? It's hard to say for certain.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Official Game Artwork
byu/Lift_Off_ inGamingLeaksAndRumours

The imagery, posted to reddit, lines up with previously-leaked details of the game - specifically that one of its main characters would be the historical figure of Yasuke, a man of African origin who travelled to Japan and later served the Japanese lord Oda Nobunaga.

This also places the game quite firmly in time - around 1582.

As for the female ninja, leaks suggest her name is Naoe, who will have a more traditional Assassin's Creed origin story that pushes her to join the Assassins faction and battle the evil-doer Templars.

Assassin's Creed has featured dual protagonists before, of course, such as siblings Jacob and Evie Frye in the Victorian London-set Syndicate - the first major project from Shadows' own talented Ubisoft Quebec team.

The Ancient Egypt-set Origins also had you play as main character Bayek's wife Aya for certain sections - with the suggestion from the game's developers that these had once been intended to be more integral.

Ubisoft will officially detail Assassin's Creed Shadows later today - join us then for our first look at the game's trailer and plenty of analysis of what's in store.