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It was November 2007, when the first Assassin’s Creed made its appearance in game stores around the world: a game born to be part of another famous saga and not a standalone video game. However, from a simple decision by the marketing department of Ubisoft Montréal, the original game development house, something much bigger was born.
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In fact, as the following years have shown, the gameplay, the story, the settings have been widely appreciated by gamers from all over the world, thus pushing Ubisoft to launch a new chapter after another. Sixteen years later, the main saga has reached its thirteenth chapter on the way, with numerous spin-offs, crossovers, landing on numerous platforms, from cinema and to streaming channels. But how did it all start? Where has the saga taken its players on a journey?
History, the absolute protagonist
Although it is a video game, the developers of Assassin’s Creed have created the first chapter and all subsequent ones by immersing them completely in history, creating what could be defined as a sort of historical novel, albeit in the form of a game. This is how, among the different games in the series, new characters will always be known, some of which, particularly appreciated, have returned along the various chapters published over the years.
The common feature of the main characters, fictional personas created ad hoc game after game, is that they are perfectly immersed in the era described, meeting, facing or cooperating with real characters, participating in events that really happened, not changing the outcome, but nevertheless becoming an active part of it.
Another characteristic that all the protagonists share is, of course, being part of or coming into contact with the Assassin Brotherhood, which fights against the faction of the Templars by protecting free will, jeopardized by the enemies, who want the order imposed in a absolute, even through the control of minds through tools, known as artifacts of Eden.
The Brotherhood of Assassins
Even the Brotherhood of Assassins, albeit a fictional order, was born from a real cult: that of the Nizarites, born in the eleventh century and led by al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbāh, a legendary character even met by Marco Polo.
Divided into orders, from adepts and novices up to the maximum rank of Grand Master, like the order described in the game, the Nizarites acted in the shadows, influencing history with single but striking murders, during which they often lost their lives. The term “assassin” would therefore derive from the term hashashīn, from the name of the narcotic they probably chewed before completing a mission, accepting death with serenity since they were “anaesthetized” by the substance they took.
The Mediterranean countries explored in Assassin’s Creed
Thanks to the numerous chapters of the video game series, developed with an open world formula to allow the player to fully explore the settings and not focus only on the missions, it was possible for gamers to “travel” through numerous places: from North America to the Caribbean, passing by, of course, some Mediterranean countries.
Among these, it is certainly worth remembering Renaissance Italy and, subsequently, Constantinople (Istanbul), explored through the eyes of one of the most famous characters of the franchise: the master assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze. The first game’s main character, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, travels from Masyaf, Syria to Jerusalem, Israel during the Third Crusade.
In more recent times, the very long adventure of Kassandra, protagonist of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, set during the Peloponnesian War, has been explored; a bug of the latter game allowed to create another one set in the same land, although belonging to another video game series: Immortals Fenyx Rising. Finally, the story of Bayek of Siwa,the last medjay of Egypt, is set during the period of Caesar’s campaign, meeting important characters such as Cleopatra and Apollodorus of Sicily.
The new chapter of the videogame saga, Mirage, will be out in October 2023: the main character will be Basim Ibn Ishaq, already known by players because of his appearsnce during the previous chapter, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, following his transformation from a simple thief to an Assassin, in the Baghdad of the Islamic Golden Age.
Far from being at the sunset of its fortune, the Assassin’s Creed series continues to evolve, touching more and more platforms, even the most unexpected: just think of the film released in 2016, and to the Netflix series, whose production was announced in 2022. More and more territories are waiting to be discovered, stories to be told: it’s real journey, capable of captivating all those who decide to embark on those lucky Ubisoft titles.
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