The 2020 Facebook Developer Conference has come to an end. In addition to the amazing news about Oculus Quest 2, Ubisoft also brought new news about the Assassin's Creed series. The official announcement is that the Assassin's Creed" series will launch a new VR game and will be exclusively logged in Oculus VR. It is reported that the game was developed by Ubisoft's Red Storm Entertainment.
The grand world view of "Assassin's Creed" has always been talked about by players. There has not been much news about "Assassin's Creed" yet. This time, Ubisoft used the signature IP of "Assassin's Creed" to create a VR game, which really made P Jun, an old assassin fan excited and burst into tears.
I believe that most non-core players know the game "Assassin's Creed" because the modeling data of Notre Dame in "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution" was used in the reconstruction of Notre Dame, which was burned by fire in reality. (Mr. P: Ubisoft received it for free after just two weeks of buying the Revolution! So angry!) But few non-core players know the world view of the Assassin's Creed universe. How can you miss such an interesting thing! Mr. P will lead everyone to learn more!
The image of Notre Dame in "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution"
Stories before the birth of the Assassin
Many players who have never played or just simply understand the "Assassin's Creed" series of games will think that "Assassin's Creed" is a historical game. Because many works "Assassin's Creed" are based on highly restored civilizations of various eras. In fact, as Ubisoft's "Standard" IP, although "Assassin's Creed" does not make history like "King of Pesticides", the content of the story is roughly based on the direction of world history, and is a veritable "learning" game.
As mentioned earlier, many passers-by will feel very strange when they first come into contact with Assassin's Creed: "It is obvious that the cover, title and promotional video all say that this is a game about history, but why is it now as soon as you enter the game? And there are so many high-tech things?"
Yes, to be precise, the "Assassin's Creed" series is indeed a time travel game. Like most literary works, creating a story requires the origin of the story, and the same is true for Assassin's Creed.
In the world view of Assassin's Creed, there is an ancient but very advanced human-like species. They have appeared and dominated the entire world long before humans and created a human race that is regarded as labor force. But in the end, they could not escape the fate of being destroyed.
Like other science fiction works, they have a very cliché name - Those Who Came Before, also known as First Civilisation.
Preliminary Image
The legend pioneer was the human being created by using his own shape as the blueprint and then greatly transforming his genes. Although humans were created, they only treated humans as slaves and used as cheap labor.
Of course, the important props that run through the entire story line in "Assassin's Creed" - "Fragments of Eden", these "divine tools" that were scrambled by later forces are just tools used by pioneers. In the game setting, it is said that the sword of the Xiongnu King Attila can emit an extremely powerful "War God's Wrath" that can kill hundreds of people in an instant. What he holds is the "Sword of Eden" used by the pioneer. Percius killed the snake-haired banshee Medusa with the "Sword of Eden". In the late fifth century, King Arthur pulled out the "curry rod" from a stone, and then used it to be called the King of England.
The weapon that players can obtain in the game - "Sword of Eden"
In addition, the sword in Odin's hand, Genghis Khan's weapon, and Attila's sword of the war god are actually the same sword - "Sword of Eden".
"Sword of Eden" inserted in the stone statue
And these "fragments of Eden" are actually all tools used by pioneers to hypnotize and rule human beings. This is indeed a way to effectively control slaves, but there are always exceptions in everything.
Later, "Adam" and "Eve" sneaked into the Garden of Eden and stole the forbidden fruits that fell on the tree of wisdom, which made humans, who were no longer affected by the "Slices of Eden", begin to awaken, so mans decided to overthrow the rule of the pioneers.
The images of "Adam" and "Eve" in "Assassin's Creed"
Facts have proved that no matter how developed the pioneers are in their technology, they cannot withstand the "human sea tactics" of mankind. Human slaves made the pioneers retreat with their overwhelming numerical advantage, but both of them ignored an important factor - an imminent disaster.
As the battle between humans and pioneersWhen the struggle was in full swing, The solar activity suddenly showed abnormalities, which caused the earth's magnetic poles to reverse directly, and a catastrophe swept the entire world, which happened to correspond to the great flood recorded in Western myths. Although humans and pioneers survived this disaster, the number of both sides has decreased sharply, and the "Fragments of Eden" is also scattered around the world because of this disaster. In order to prevent disaster from happening again, the pioneers who had awakened at this time built temples all over the world. For example, the Holy Cellar underground in the Vatican Church is one of them, which is used to preserve the "Slices of Eden" and save humanity from war.
Great Flood
After that, the world has changed and the times have changed, the number of pioneers has not been large. After experiencing wars and disasters with mankind, they eventually went to extinction, and mankind ushered in their era.
The battle between freedom and order, the origin of Assassin and the Templar
The pioneers are extinct, but the story of human beings continues.
The "Shatters of Eden" of the pioneers still exist in this world and has not been destroyed in the original disaster. With the residual impression in memory, humans began to look for these fragments with extraordinary power. They were divided into two factions, and these two factions have fought each other for nearly a thousand years.
"Laa shay'a waqi'un mutlaq bale kouloun mumkin." (Arabic: "Everything is empty, and all laws are allowed")
——Assassin's Creed
As the Assassin's creed says, the assassin's behavior revolves around the two aspects of "freedom" and "human nature". The assassin tried to ensure the survival of free will, because free will allowed the development of new ideas and the growth of independent individuality. These principles run through all aspects of the assassin's daily life, just like their struggle to achieve "harmony in all things".
Fraternity Ceremony
"Even if you are sure to win... we will still make a comeback. Do you know why? Because the sect is born from reality, we do not need creeds, nor do we need to rely on an old man to teach. As long as the world maintains its original appearance, there will be a sect, so the Templars will never die."
—Hitham Kenway, About the Nature of the Templar Organization, 1781
Different from the "freedom" advocated by the assassin, the opposing Templars believed that order is the most important, and that humans need control and constraint to continue.
Templar—Cesare Borgia
The Templar is a military organization that has existed since the previous era. At first, members of the organization were in secret, and it was not until the Middle Ages that the Templars united with the Holy See and gained an open official identity. In modern times, the Templars evolved into a large enterprise. The ultimate goal of the Templars is to build a "perfect world", which they interpret as - attaching importance to purpose, order and control.
A Knight Templar during the Eastern Expedition
Two tit-for-tat organizations, two illusory but simple and easy-to-understand concepts have fought against the survival of human beings for thousands of years.
Assassin Culture Setting and Development
After talking about the relationship between the Assassin Organization and the Templars, after all, the protagonist of "Assassin's Creed" is an assassin! Mr. P will focus on the relevant settings of the Assassin Organization.
First, Mr. P wants to tell you about the mark of "Assassin insignia" - Assassin insignia". Although there are some changes in the emblems of different periods and countries in each generation of works, they basically maintain the same shape and style.
The upper half of the assassin symbol is a variant of the letter A, which just corresponds to the elements in the word "Assassin", while the lower half seems to be in the shape of an eagle flying with wings spreading. Assassins are often as accurate and deadly as eagles, so eagles are the animals that best represent assassin.
From the ending of the game "Assassin's Creed: Origin", we can see that the initial inspiration for the Assassin's Emblem comes from the mark left by an eagle skull thrown by Bayek on the beach in this work, which is also verified with the previous conjecture. After this, the Assassin organization passed down the creeds from generation to generation, and the emblem also incorporated the characteristics of different regional cultures.
In addition, the iconic white robe with a hood is also a logo for the assassins. In fact, in the initial version of the game, such costumes could help the protagonist quickly integrate into the surrounding crowd to hide himself, and in subsequent game versions, it became the standard clothing for the Assassin organization, and various color schemes and decorations were added.
In addition to the assassin's emblem and the iconic hood, Hidden Blade is another major symbol in the Assassin's Creed series.
"Xiujian has been our loyal partner for many years. Some people will even say that it is Xiujian that defines us-they are not completely wrong. If it weren't for usIt is impossible to succeed. ”
——Ataire's secret letter, page 13
As the iconic weapon of the assassin organization, the cuff sword is both an assassin weapon and can be executed in frontal combat. This is the most commonly used weapon by the assassin. The main body of the cuff sword is a retractable blade that can be extended to assassinate without attracting attention, which is an excellent weapon for assassination operations.
In the plot of "Assassin's Creed: Origin", Bayek lacked experience in using the first generation of sneak swords, resulting in the ring finger being cut off by the sneak sword. After that, in order to avoid the ring finger hindering the assassination, the assassins gradually formed the custom of actively breaking their fingers after joining the society. It was not until Altaire improved the sneak sword that the assassins avoided the pain of breaking their fingers.
A grudge and entanglement that spans thousands of years
In the setting of the Assassin's Creed world, every major event in history is mixed with the struggle between the assassin organization and the Templars. From ancient Greece to modern France, from the Odyssey to the Industrial Revolution, the "Assassin" robe and sleeve sword run through the entire history. Mr. P has compiled a few interesting events to share with you, please read the following~
At the end of the 18th century, the Bastille became the commanding heights for bureaucrats to control Paris and the prison for political prisoners. In 1789, the people finally captured the Bastille. The imprisoned Yano and Belek, who he met in the prison, took the opportunity to escape from the Bastille. This also brings the story of "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution". (Mr. P: To put it bluntly, the Revolution is worthy of being a classic work, with full stories and diverse playback. It also helped the French people to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, and provided important data. It was so delicious!)
Ano and Belek were in the Bastille
In "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution", players will meet Napoleon Bonaparte in the palace who came to find the "Slices of Eden". He is almost the same as his image in reality - he is not tall, but full of the charm and temperament of a leader. From this we can see the heroic figure of a future hero.
The image of Napoleon in the game
It is worth noting that in "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution", the hero Arno later followed Napoleon to fight on the battlefield and became Napoleon's right-hand man. Napoleon used the "Slice of Eden" to greatly expand the territory of his rule.
In addition to the characters in early history, modern and modern characters - Hitler have also appeared in the world of Assassin's Creed.
In the setting of "Assassin's Creed", Hitler was 19He became a puppet of the Templars 33 years ago. He once obtained a "Slice of Eden" from the Templars as a catalyst for the launch of World War II, which was actually planned by the Templars.
In 1945, Hitler was assassinated by an assassin when he left the bunker. As the Japanese Emperor surrendered to the Allies, the war in human history finally came to an end.
Hitler bunker
In addition to the famous characters mentioned above, the world view of Assassin's Creed also includes famous characters such as Washington, Dumas, Dickens, Darwin, and Marx, who are all given rich and full background stories in the world of Assassin's Creed.
The image of Washington in the game
There is no doubt that Ubisoft has played a big game, and Ubisoft will make the world view of "Assassin's Creed". After the story of the industrial revolution of Assassin's Creed: The Heroes, Ubisoft began to dig deep into the original story of Assassin's Creed, so the next generation of games is Assassin's Creed: Origins. In this generation of works, players learn about the initial grudges and hatred between the Assassin Organization and the Templar. The subsequent "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" and the upcoming "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla" expand the overall structure of the "Assassin's Creed" universe.
2019 Ubisoft CEO Guillemot believes: "If VR platforms want to develop into the homes of ordinary people, they need a cheap and excellent entry-level device, as well as a large number of high-quality games on the platform." Considering that Ubisoft usually actively embraces some new platforms, such as the previous Switch, Epic Mall and Google Stadia. The Oculus Quest 2 launched by Oculus this time may allow Ubisoft to see the hope of the development of VR platform.
The new VR work of "Assassin's Creed" is undoubtedly a new attempt to combine classic IP and VR hardware. Mr. P has no idea whether this new VR work will optimize the previous work to the VR platform, or create a new story based on the VR platform. No matter which one it is, once the player's response is good, it will prompt other manufacturers to invest excellent IPs in VR content, which is quite a happy thing for the VR game industry. I hope this new VR work of Assassin's Creed can be launched as soon as possible, so that P-Mr. can also experience the joy of "killing one person in ten steps, leaving a thousand miles away" in VR!
