Assassin’s Creed Unity – so realistic it could help restore the real thing

Notre Dame may have avoided total devastation but there’s still a lot of restoration work to do, and a five-year-old video game could be key to it all.

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At first it seemed as if Paris would lose one of its most iconic structures, but while Notre Dame has avoided complete disaster it has certainly not escaped unscathed, with years’ worth of restoration now laying ahead of it, as well as the loss of important historic artefacts.

One of the most difficult problems is trying to recreate the cathedral exactly as it was, and while there’s obviously no shortage of photos what would be more useful is 3D models – such as the kind created for 2014 game Assassin’s Creed Unity.



Set in Paris during the 18th century, Unity features an extremely accurate portrayal of the city and, in particular, the cathedral of Notre Dame.


Lucky the damage to the real Notre Dame isn’t as bad as feared (pic: AFP/Getty Images)

An article by The Verge, at the time of the game’s release, reveals that the computer artist responsible worked on the virtual reconstruction for around two years, even fussing over the placement of individual bricks.

Publisher Ubisoft still have all the 3D models, photos, and other reference material and would no doubt be more than happy to share them (not least because Ubisoft themselves are a French company).

As website GPS World points out though art historian Andrew Tallon has also used laser scanners to carefully model the interior and exterior of the building, scanning from over 50 locations and collecting more than 1 billion points of data.

It’s far too early for historians to start any real work yet but when it is finally complete it could, in part, be thanks to Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Metro has reached out to Ubisoft for further comment.

Update: Ubisoft has said it stands ready to help but hasn’t yet been contacted by anyone involved in the eventual restoration. They have, however, pledged €500,000 to help with the reconstruction work.

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