I love to travel and I love history, so the Assassin's Creed games are a real gift for me. And although on our site and in general on the Internet lately it has become customary to criticize, if not to say disparage the series and its developer, I will put in my two cents in defense of Assassin's Creed and Ubisoft, because each of the games in the series brought me real pleasure, also enhanced by the fact that I had the opportunity to visit some of the places shown in the games and compare them with reality. Believe me, the work that Ubisoft has done in terms of building the world and giving it a resemblance to real cities and countries deserves at least respect.
My acquaintance with the Assassin's Creed series began not with the first part, but with the second, in 2009. I skipped the first one, either because the Crusades period seemed not very interesting to me, or because something else distracted me, I don't remember. I paid attention to Assassin's Creed II (2009) and became a devoted fan of the series after several trips in real life.
It so happened that between 2001 and 2008 I was in Northern Italy four times. Once as a tourist and three times on business trips with Samsung and AMD. Milan, Venice, Modena, Bologna, Florence, Monza, Maranello are incredible cities that leave an unforgettable impression. So when I saw a game that takes place in Florence and Venice, and one of the heroines belongs to the Sforza family (the Dukes of Milan), I couldn't resist.
To climb up to the roof of Santa Maria del Fiore in the game and see the multi-layered, like in the paintings of the old masters, the hills of Tuscany melting in the evening twilight, almost the same as you saw from this very roof in reality... it's something incredible. To go out onto the Piazza della Signoria, over which the Palazzo Vecchio hangs, which has not changed at all in the last 500 years. To walk along the bustling Ponte Vecchio to the other side of the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti...
And then there's Venice - the restless Piazza San Marco and its eternal pigeons, the austere but elegant Doge's Palace and the cake-like St. Mark's Basilica, the towering campanile of St. Mark's Basilica, which, of course, was the synchronization point in the game. Ponte di Rialto, Santa Maria della Salute, the islands in the Venetian Bay... Venice is incredible, both in the real world and in the game.
Assassin's Creed II literally captivated me and made me read about this historical period, which previously didn't seem very interesting to me.
Of course, after such a second part, I found and completed the first one - Assassin's Creed (2007). I liked it less than the sequel, but when in 2012 I got to Jerusalem (thanks, Intel ), I was surprised how much the old city resembles the one shown in the game, as if these 1000 years had not happened. Yes, ice cream shops and pizzerias appeared on the narrow streets, but most of the houses seem to have survived all the conquerors. Just like the inhabitants of this ancient city. To be honest, I barely restrained myself from climbing to the roof along the cracked walls of old buildings.
And then there was Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) and the Eternal City. When I finally got to the real Rome in 2018, I seemed to have returned to a city that I already knew well. Here is the same Pantheon, we lived nearby and walked past it every day, and I remembered the missions I completed in this temple. Here is Castel Sant'Angelo, which I climbed from top to bottom in the game, in reality it is exactly the same. Here is St. Peter's Basilica, in the game its construction has only just begun, in reality you can climb to the roof and take cool shots with a view of St. Peter's Square, the Vatican obelisk, the same Castel Sant'Angelo and the Tiber. By the way, on the roof of the main Catholic temple there is a coffee shop and a toilet, you can eat a donut with coffee and refresh yourself.
In Rome, I took my family to Tiber Island, where the Brotherhood headquarters are located in the game, to the Pyramid of Cestius, and to the Circus Maximus (the largest hippodrome in Ancient Rome). And of course, the Colosseum, which plays an important role in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
The next part, Assassin's Creed Revelations (2010), in my opinion the best in the trilogy (except that street defense is terrible), showed us Constantinople, which had not yet turned into Istanbul. I visited the real Istanbul in 2013, just during the protests in Taksim Square. We lived near the Galata Tower (yes, in the game there is a synchronization point, in reality there is a restaurant on the top floor) and every day, crossing the Golden Horn on the Galata Bridge, we could admire the mosques and rooftops of the city, which, again, were almost the same as in the game. I was home again, and it was as if I could navigate even without a map. Hagia Sophia, the Obelisk of Constantine, the Obelisk of Theodosius and the Serpent Column (in the game there is still a hippodrome), the Basilica Cistern - I had already been here before I got to reality.
I've been lucky enough to visit some of the cities that have been recreated in the Assassin's Creed games. London, where I spent over two weeks in 2013, is in Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015), another very underrated game in the series, and partially in Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020). Athens ( 2017) and Thessaloniki (2019) – Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018). And each time I was amazed at how much the game's authors feel and carefully recreate what they are telling about. It's truly a masterful work.
You can argue about the gameplay, about the fallacy of the idea of turning the last parts of the series into games-services, you can. But the love with which Ubisoft builds its worlds for cities, countries, and their history only inspires respect.
Of course, I hope to one day visit all the cities where the events of the Assassin's Creed games took place, even the spin-off Assassin's Creed Chronicles, which, in my opinion, are also cool, except for the fact that the events of one of the parts take place in Russia (I've already been there, unfortunately) during the Bolshevik uprising. By the way, the reds in this game are the bad guys.
For now, all I have left to do is travel through virtual worlds. And right now, I'm traveling through Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1600) in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to talk about the game until the NDA ends on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 at 19:00 Kyiv time, but... I want to go to Japan again.