Sachi Schmidt-Hori faced online harassment from fans of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, after serving as a consultant on the game's latest installment. The vitriol began with the release of a promotional trailer. “Once I realized that I was by myself — nobody was defending me — I just decided to do what I knew would work,” she said. “It’s very difficult to hate someone up close.” Set in 16th century Japan, the game features a Japanese female assassin and a Black African samurai. Furor erupted over the latter, with gamers criticizing his inclusion as “wokeness." Critics focused on Schmidt-Hori, attacking her and flooding her inbox. “I became the face of this backlash,” she said. She began replying to some of the angry emails, asking the senders why they were mad at her and inviting them to speak face-to-face via Zoom. She wrote to an influencer who opposes diversity, equity and inclusion and had written about her, asking him if he intended to inspire death threats. “If somebody said to your wife what people are saying to me, you wouldn’t like it, would you?” The writer didn’t reply, but he did take down the negative article about Schmidt-Hori. Others apologized. “It truly destroyed me knowing that you had to suffer and cancel your class and received hate from horrible people,” one man wrote. “I feel somehow that you are part of my family, and I regret it. I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
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