‘Assassin’s Creed Unity’ video game offers up immersive trip back in time

TORONTO – Having spent months working on a virtual Paris for “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” Ubisoft Toronto producer Lesley Phord-Toy found herself in the City of Lights recently for a promotional event at Les Invalides.

She couldn’t resist scratching a virtual reality itch about the historic Paris landmark complex, so she opened up the video game and placed lead character Arno Dorian exactly where they were.

“We were sitting there looking at the dome (des Invalides, a famous chapel) in real life and there was the dome in the game,” she said. “It was like this weird ‘Inception’ moment, with reality and virtual reality.”

Dan Sutton, an associate producer of the game at Ubisoft Montreal, had a similar feeling putting the game up against the reality of Paris.

“When you see them side-by side it’s just amazing the detail we’ve put in the game. … It almost feels like an interactive Google Maps type thing,” he said. “You can actually go through and play history.”

“I was just overwhelmed,” he added. “I think I was awe-struck.”

The latest instalment in the hit franchise, which has sold some 78 million copies already, focuses on the French Revolution in the late 18th century.

In the words of Ubisoft Montreal creative director Alex Amancio: “Welcome to the streets of Paris, the most beautiful city in the world, in the throes of a bloody revolution.”

Ten Ubisoft studios, including Singapore and Shanghai, combined on the game with Ubisoft Montreal leading the way. Ubisoft Toronto helped create part of the world and poured its co-op expertise into the game.

The result — the game came out Nov. 11 — is a sprawling maze of history and humanity fuelled by next-generation hardware.

Using photos, maps and drawings, with the help of two historians, game developers were able to create seven districts of Paris, with a scale of near 1:1 in the city centre.

Notre-Dame, Palais-Royal, the Palais du Luxembourg, Louvre, Tuileries and Bastille (which no longer exists) are just some of the iconic Paris sights rendered in the game.

“You stand in front of a landmark in ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity,’ you stand in front of one in Paris and it feels the same,” said Ubisoft Toronto level design director Nitai Bessette. “All the details are there and the scale’s the same. It’s an amazing feeling, I don’t think we’ve had that in a video game before.”

The power under the next-gen console hood has allowed developers to populate some scenes with as many as 5,000 people. Roughly one in four buildings have interiors, allowing you to seamlessly explore and interact.

And below ground, there is a network of catacombs to explore.

“Assassin’s Creed” is known for its immersive worlds, be it Florence in 1476 or Constantinople in 1511.

“Every ‘Assassin’s Creed’ game is a gigantic experience,” said Bessette. “But for next-gen and going to Paris for the first time we knew that we wanted to make the largest city that we’ve ever made and really do Paris justice and really make it the star of the game.

“And I think with the new hardware, we’ve been able to do that. It’s by far the largest city we’ve ever made.”

Developers cite three pillars of the game: fights, stealth and navigation. All three have been enhanced or revamped.

The expanded combat system is expanded and more demanding. Stealth plays more of a role this time, as befitting an assassin. And the navigation (parkour) system has been smoothed to ease getting about Paris, be it on the rooftops or via tunnel, easier.

Co-op plays allows for four people to work together in the game’s environment, rather than in separate game modes.

“We learned how to design missions to make co-op a real-thing,” said Phord-Toy. “It’s not like ‘Well stand on these pressure plates and then something opens.’ It’s about playing to your play style, making sure that there’s complementary situations that you can play together.”

One player or four, you can be part of history or just watch it unfold.

Just make sure you take the time to get lost in the world and appreciate it, says Bessette.

“It’s not hard to do, it’s such a beautiful city,” he said. “I encourage people just to explore, look at landmarks, look at the details, look at the crowd life and just take it all in.”

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