The latest Assassin’s Creed game by Ubisoft, called ‘Origins’ was released on Friday, and it has the most authentic reconstruction of ancient Egypt ever produced. Game designers worked closely with Historians and Egyptologists to create a magnificent, highly-realistic world that brings Ancient Egypt to life in stunning detail. And for the first time, the game includes a combat-free ‘discovery mode’ so it can be used by teachers as an educational tool in classrooms.

“We had to work very closely with historians and Egyptian experts to help us fill in the gaps of Egyptian life not easily found in history books,” writes Ubisoft in their press Q&A . “For some elements, this lack of reference also challenged us to create and illustrate parts of Ancient Egypt rather than recreate known history as we did with past games. For this, we heavily relied on the amazing work done by our Art team to really capture the look and overall feel of what Ancient Egypt would have been like at the time.”

One of Ubisoft’s consultants for the project was Evelyne Ferron, Egyptologist and professor of history at the Université de Sherbrooke and a professor of general history, research, and policy methodology at Collège Mérici in Quebec City.

I helped the team… to figure out things like what would houses look like and what were the colors used at the time. One specific thing I had to think about was the fact that at the time of Cleopatra, the pyramids of course were there, but they were old at the time, more than 2,000 t0 2,500 years old,” said Ms Ferron [via MobileSyrup]. “So we knew that they still had the white cover of limestone, but they also needed to be faded by the sand because the sand was really washing up everything in Egypt.”

Assassin’s Creed: Where Historical Fiction Meets Historical Fact

Assassin’s Creed, the action-adventure video game series developed by Ubisoft, mixes historical fiction with real-world historical events and figures, taking players from ancient Jerusalem and Damascus, to Ottoman-held Constantinople, 15 th century Florence, Venice, and Rome, and Victorian Era London, enabling them to experience in vivid detail major historical events. Now in the latest series, Assassin’s Creed Origins, players explore Ptolemaic Egypt in life-like detail.

“In terms of the exact date, the action starts in 49 BC, at a pivotal time in Egypt’s history,” writes Ubisoft. “After centuries of grandeur and accomplishments, Ancient Egypt is now at the beginning of its demise. Soon the line of Pharaohs will end, the Gods will die and the way of life will forever change. A new world order is coming. And it all starts with these bigger than life people like Cleopatra fighting to ascend her throne”

The new game takes players on a journey through history, triggering the fantasies and mysticism that has surrounded ancient Egypt for thousands of years - What is underneath the great Pyramids? Who are these men with animal heads? Who were the Gods and what did they do?

Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour

But what about those that want to see the amazing graphics and reconstruction of ancient Egypt without all the blood and guts? Thanks to a new mode called ‘Discovery Tour’, players can now do just that. The educational mode enables users to delve into the history of ancient Egypt as they go through dozens of guided tours curated by historians and Egyptologists, exploring ancient cities, the lives of pharaohs, reconstructions of real artifacts and ancient practices like mummification, in outstanding detail.

“You have different stations and when you reach one, you have a written explanation — an example being the mummification process — but you’ll also have an orator who will tell you about mummification,” said Ms Ferron [via MobileSyrup]. “You’ll even have sound, so there’s this ‘squishy’ sound when [non-player characters] take out the organs. It’s visual, it’s informative and also written down, so even depending on the age of the student, elementary, high school, university, it’s mostly universal.”

Whether you are a gaming fan or not, there is little doubt that history buffs will be awe-struck by the visually-stunning reconstruction of ancient Egypt seen in Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

Top image: A scene from the new Assassin’s Creed, called ‘Origins’. Credit: Ubisoft

By April Holloway