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Assassin’s Creed Virtual Photography: 4th to 15th November Community Share 28 Nov 2024 Written By: Edited By: Aaron Young Renzo Back To Database Welcome to the biweekly virtual photography roundup hosted by Aaron Young from the AC Partnership Program. Every two weeks we will be picking our top 5 favourite Assassin’s Creed shots and showcasing them on The Ones Who Came Before website, in order to promote virtual photography and talented content creators within the community. This theme has been run alongside Magnus Bruun the wonderful actor behind Eivor/Odin. You may also know him as Cnut in the hit TV series The Last Kingdom. This is the second time Magnus has joined us for a theme week, and we would like to thank him for giving up his time to select our winning shots. His kindness to the Assassin’s Creed community is really appreciated. Keep an eye on the site as more shots are added, we are looking for captures across all Assassin’s Creed games. Tag your photos to #ACFirstCivVP for a chance to be featured. Theme: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Blood Will Prevail Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ BetweenDPixels The Ones Who Came Before Photo of the Week Judge: Magnus Brunn Magnus This picture captures a lot of the soul in the game. I love the fiery frame, and the depth in the photo. It’s savage and beautiful at the same time. Also cool people don’t look at the things they burn to the ground. Aaron “For a hundred years there was chaos in our lands.” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gives you the perfect platform to showcase those Norse inspired shots. Such as this one which looks like its straight out of the movies. Lauren has really brought the drama with this epically framed portrait of chaos. The flames encircling the gateway bring so much theatre, while the bodies hanging from the rafters show the brutality of the time. The shadows serve the shot well by emphasizing the light at the end of the tunnel. Eivor has that hero pose as she walks away from another triumph over the order. The foggy battle ensuing in the distance shows that this fight might not yet be done. Congratulations on capture of the theme. Sýnin Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ FoxPourple “Guide Me.” A Raven was the obvious choice for a companion in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Especially with those strong links to Odin, and Eivor being part of the Raven clan. There are many iterations of Sýnin in the game, but this one stands out. The design is just so striking with those white patterns contrasting beautifully with the black feathers. I feel like this capture has a painting vibe due to the use of fog in the background, and the blueish hue adds to the sense of flight. I love the composition with everything aligned perfectly to showcase the beauty of the raven. It would have been wrong not to have Odin’s eyes in this article. Stand Together Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ Murphys_Law_Vp “Shields Up! Shields Together! SHIELD WALL! The art of the shield wall was pivotal during the Viking invasion of England. The battle could easily be lost if you didn’t stand shoulder to shoulder with your warriors in this defensive position. Personally, I was disappointed that we did not get more of this in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. However, you would never think that after seeing this badass shot from Murphy. I feel like this is one of my favourite Valhalla portraits, because the details are just so good. Eivor’s stance is epic, and the shield position works really well. The outfit, tattoos and that amazing snowy background all combine to produce such a Viking photo. A Fine Warrior Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ FoxPourple “I will not be captive to another man’s gaudy design. My destiny is mine to weave.” The ability to play as both female and male versions of Eivor is a real plus point for virtual photographers in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. I believe both Magnus and Cecilie brought their own flair to each version, and thanks to the animus we can swap whenever we like. In this portrait Eivor looks so majestic and full of honour. The lighting on her face is a nice touch and the stance with hands wrapped around the weapon so graceful. I really adore how grounded this capture is with a real feel for the time period. I suspect she is looking on after the battle defiant against her destiny that Odin would try to manipulate. New Horizons Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ PodToGo (@ podtogo.bsky.socia l ) “Shall we raise the sail here, Eivor?” The longship in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a thing of beauty. The customisation options really allow you to personalise your vessel. In essence it is just a flamboyant means of travel, but what a way to do it. Pod has clearly gone all in with the pirate longship as he pays homage to Black Flag. Those sun rays are so strong you can almost feel them, and I do like the warmth of this shot. It is nice that we can see Eivor commanding the longship too. I feel like this is a fitting capture to end our Valhalla special. The ship sailing out into the sunset is a perfect metaphor. Although I would rather believe this is just the start of another adventure. And that sums it up for this Assassin’s Creed virtual photography recap list! Thank you for checking out the photo collection. This would not be possible without the virtual photographers out there so a huge thanks to them. Until next time keep those shots coming in! comments debug Comments (1) Write a comment Write a comment Sort by: Newest vprepost Nov 29, 2024 Excellent piece. Great VP by all! Like Reply About the Author Aaron is a passionate Assassin's Creed fan who joined our AC Partnership Program as an Online Article Writer back in 2021 after the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. After building momentum and interest on TOWCB website for Virtual Photography, Aaron established TOWCB Virtual Photography Team, of which he is now Team Leader. Throughout 2024, TOWCB VP Team will be sharing community captures in dedicated articles, and providing a positive environment on Twitter for gamers to share their shots. Aaron Young

Pitching an Assassin's Creed Game: Black Eden Wishlist Share 21 Nov 2025 Written By: Edited By: James Davis (TopChef1288) Colum Blackett Back To Database During a recent episode of The Ones Who Came Before podcast Rally The Creed , myself and my co-host Colum Blackett were talking about what a Assassin’s Creed game set during the Black Death would look like, the origins of the bubonic plague and a fear system. I just couldn't shake the idea from my head. We discussed that it could be a sequel to Hexe in time but not as a direct sequel, more of a spiritual successor. A new era in the franchise, the “Dark Era” and it was in that conversation, that I realised it wasn't just an idea to be spoken about on a podcast. It needed to be written down and shared. Something that demanded life on the page before it could ever exist in a game. The idea of a “Dark Era” isn't about heroes in shining armour, nor sweeping tales of conquest. It's about survival in the shadows of human failure, about morality bending under the weight of desperation. It's about a city drowning in death and a man whose sins are not just his own, but those of a whole world. Assassin’s Creed: Black Eden exists in that space between faith and fear, love and obsession, death and the memory of what could have been. Marseille, 1348 - The City of Plague Art by Thea_Rivedal Marseille in 1348 was not a city. It was a graveyard pretending to be a city. Smoke clung to the roofs like soot stained ghosts. The river ran dark with filth and blood. Bells tolled endlessly, calling out the dead while the living recoiled at each other’s breath. Shops and marketplaces deserted. The only commerce left was fear, and even that was precious. People whispered that the air itself had turned against them. Some spoke of angels who had abandoned the city, of saints who no longer listened. While others wore amulets, some carved protective symbols into their doors; some even prayed so fervently their hands ached and their knees became blistered. Marseille was a city where superstition had become law, where despair shaped every step. And above it all, moving between alleys and rooftops, someone was watching. Someone who had once believed he could save lives through control. Only to learn that salvation came at the cost of the city’s soul. Lucien de Montfort - The Templar Who Wept Lucien de Montfort had once been a man of reason. An alchemist and a Templar scholar. He believed in the grand design, in the orderly flow of history. In the Templar promise that control could cure chaos. And that's why he helped the Templars with the creation of the Black Death. He did not do it out of malice but out of misguided devotion. Every vial, every calculation and every careful release of the plague was intended to prune humanity. To cleanse what he and the Templars deemed unfit. He loved once. A brilliant, beautiful and terrifying woman called Lilith LaMort. Together they studied the apple, or what was left of it. But obsession and fear coiled around their work, experiments went wrong and people died. One day an accident happened and destroyed their lab. Both Lilith and the Apple were destroyed with it. Everything the two of them had built was gone. He buried both his love and his faith in the same grave. Now months later, the plague begins to strangle the city and he is alone. A man haunted by the faces of the dead, as he moved among the living. He was searching for absolution but he might never find it. The Rot of Eden: The Black Apple Art by Thea_Rivedal The Apple isn't just a relic, it's a weapon. A piece of divine technology that has been corrupted over centuries. Once golden, radiant and pure. It had been warped by the Isu’s war code into an Apple of obsidian black. Its carvings were gold and oozing a hissing, thick sap. Lucien called it the Rot. it was able to prune a population, the Templars deemed unworthy. It accelerated decay and manipulated life itself. wells , wine and incense all distilled into tools by the Templars. Under the guise of salvation but in reality they were tools of control and power. And yet to Lucien, it was more than just a weapon. The Rot was a part of him, after the accident. A constant reminder of his complicity. To him, every death whispered his name. Every coughing child, every corpse was a testament to his sins and failure. The Apple isn't something you wield lightly; it was something that carried the weight of life and death. Lucien had been the one to tip the scales. Faith, Fear and Masks The city devoured itself in silence. Fear spread faster than the plague. It turned every home into a fortress and every neighbour into a threat. Trust soon became a relic. It had been buried and forgotten, even feared as much as death. Lucien adapted. He became what the city needed and what it wouldn't question. He became a plague doctor. Cloaked in soot stained robes and wearing a beaked mask that reeked of herbs and despair. He drifted through the streets like a penitent spirit. The mask was both his sanctuary and his prison. It granted him passage through guarded alleys and restricted areas. Behind the glass eyes, Lucien watched as the world around him continued to rot and he wondered if he could ever atone for the things he had done. Via The Harbinger (2022) Elias - The Modern Assassin Centuries later, in a quiet lab, Elias Moreau strapped into the Animus. He wasn't anyone special, just a field operative; trying to make a difference. He followed orders, gathered intel and blended into the world unnoticed. But this time it was different. His mentor’s words still ring in his ears “if we are to understand what Covid is. We need to find the Black Apple. You need to walk the streets of Marseille and see what Lucien de Montford saw” and with that Elias entered the Animus. And in a heartbeat, the modern day began to fade from his eyes. The plague choked air, the tolling bells and the fear on the street became as real as anything he'd seen before. He could feel Lucien’s guilt crawling along his spine. He could hear Lucien’s whispered prayers to the dead and the smell of the rot that lingered in every corner of the city. The Animus was supposed to be a tool, a window to history. But for Elias it was now a bridge connecting him not only to Marseille but also to the sins of his bloodline. As Marseille began to unfold around him, Elias thought “Death is not the enemy, it is the relief of pain and the end of suffering to those around him” The Whispers of La Maitresse Noire Even as Lucien moved through the plague ravaged streets of Marseille, a shadowy figure lingered. The city whispered of a woman only referred to as La Maitresse Noire. No one knew her true identity and if they did, no one spoke it. Her cruelty was legendary. Entire families vanished overnight. Experiments gone wrong turned into tales of horror. She commanded through fear, her intellect was as sharp as any blade. Her heart, cold and barren. Templars tremble at her name. When they die, their last words weren’t of battles or hatred. But of her, The Maitresse surpassed them all. Lucien now looking at people he once trusted and respected, realised that they all served her and they were merely instruments to her ambition. The Kiss of the Maitresse Lucien had begun to piece it together, the patterns and the names in the ledgers. The whispers of la Maitresse Noire. Every lead drew him closer to the truth. She wasn’t just a myth, she was real. She was orchestrating everything, the plague, the fear and even the city’s slow decline. Lucien cornered a Templar alchemist in the catacombs beneath Marseille, who once looked up to Lucien. The man begged for his life, he mumbled about salvation and sacrifice; as Lucien towered over him. Lucien ignored his pleas and drove his blade home and the Templar looked into Lucien’s eyes and smiled. The pain came later, Lucien felt his veins burning and the bitter taste of iron in his mouth. His vision became blurred and his limbs trembled. In the dying man's hand, Lucien saw it. A broken vial. He had been injected. The Maitresse had turned the plague against its creator. Days bled into nights, fever consumed Lucien. His mind unraveled between flashes of clarity and delirium. Every cough was now a reminder that he is one of the infected and is a reminder of the countless souls he has doomed, in the name of order. Even as sickness ravaged his body, Lucien’s resolve was only sharpened. If this was to be his end, he would make sure it means something. He would drag this plague and Maitresse Noire with him into hell. The Final Act Lucien returned to where his story began, the laboratory buried beneath the cathedral. Once a beacon of Templar ambition, now left to rot and is nothing more than just ash and the echoes of the past. He thought he was alone, that is until a voice calls out to him “I knew you’d come back home, mon cher” from the shadows crept, a figure; La Maitresse Noire, but her veil was gone and Lucien saw a face that had haunted his dreams. Lilith LaMort. Her beauty had not faded, she stood there; like something otherworldly. She wasn’t the same woman he once knew, as she stood there half divine and utterly terrifying. The Black Apple clutched in her hand. Lilith circled Lucien with a predatory gaze. Lucien lunged at her, steel clashed. Assassin against former love & false divinity. Every blow echo screamed through the shadows. Lilith falls to her knees, she reaches for him with her blood soaked hands. A faint smile across her face. “You can kill me” she whispers “but not what I’ve set in motion. This plague will end only when the Apple can’t corrupt anymore” Lucien knew that the Apple couldn't be destroyed. Gameplay Mechanics When I started imagining how Black Eden would actually play, the goal was simple: build systems that make the world react to Lucien, not the other way around. The plague isn’t just a backdrop, it’s the heartbeat of the entire game. And every mechanic stems from that idea. Trust System In a city collapsing under fear and superstition, nobody is going to welcome a stranger with open arms, especially not someone poking around crime scenes and plague zones. So trust becomes a core mechanic. People judge Lucien based on what they see. If he helps gather medicine, deliver food, guide families to safety, or take down corrupt officials, their trust rises. If he sneaks where he shouldn’t, draws attention, or appears too often near death, they pull back. Trust isn’t just a meter; it affects everything: • What missions unlock • Who speaks to you • Whether an area will hide you or betray you • How easily you can move through the city It’s not “good vs evil.” It’s “do they believe you’re here to help, or here to harm?” Disguise System Disguises in Black Eden aren’t cosmetic, they’re social tools with consequences. Plague Doctor Disguise Lucien’s signature look. Great for accessing quarantined districts and moving through zones thick with corpses and infected. Guards assume he belongs there. But regular citizens? They keep their distance. Some won’t talk to him at all. He smells like death, and no one wants to trust a walking omen. Commoner / Peasant Disguise Safer, more social, more immersive. People open up. Hidden pockets of the city become accessible. But guards won’t respect you, and certain areas become blocked entirely. Each disguise opens one door while closing another, making identity itself part of the strategy. Rot Vision Rot Vision is Lucien’s twisted version of Eagle Vision, born from the Black Apple fragment embedded in his palm. It works just like Eagle Vision structurally, but the feel is different: • Infection patterns spread across walls and streets • Trails of sickness reveal where outbreaks started • Corrupted enemies glow with inhuman intensity • Hidden paths and clues appear like veins beneath the city’s skin It’s powerful, intuitive, and story-driven, but every use chips away at Lucien. The player sees the world decay as he does. Parkour & Movement Lucien isn’t a superhero. He’s agile, fast, and trained but grounded. Movement would feel closer to: • Unity’s precision • Mirage’s responsiveness • Shadows’ clean, intentional platforming The rooftops of Marseille become escape routes, ambush paths, and lifelines. There’s no sprawling open-world parkour circus, just tight, dense, believable navigation through a dying city. Combat Lucien fights like a man who learned from two worlds, Assassin training from his father, Templar discipline from his mentors. Simple but lethal. • One hidden blade • One sword • Fast, brutal counters • Precise strikes • No heavy RPG stat nonsense • And a combat feel very close to Assassin’s Creed Shadows It’s intimate and unforgiving. Every fight has weight. Stealth Stealth is the backbone of Black Eden. No modern gadgets, no overpowered tools but just shadows, timing, and disguise. You can: • Blend into crowds • Slip through alleys • Use darkness as cover • Distract guards with environmental tools • Disappear into plague smoke or church candlelight The goal isn’t to erase entire fortresses, it’s to make the player feel hunted, cautious, clever, and resourceful. Conclusion When I started shaping Black Eden, I wasn’t trying to reinvent Assassin’s Creed. I just wanted to tap back into what made the series special in the first place. The atmosphere, the tension, the blurred lines between good intentions and terrible outcomes. And as the idea grew, it naturally evolved into something that felt both familiar and completely new. Lucien de Montfort isn’t a chosen one or a mythic hero. He’s a man whose brilliance and mistakes cost lives, and he spends the rest of the game trying to make sure no one else suffers because of him. That’s the heart of this pitch. Not destiny, just responsibility. Not spectacle, just consequence. And it fits the Assassin’s Creed universe better than anything flashy or supernatural ever could. The gameplay systems, the trust mechanics, the disguises, Rot Vision, the grounded stealth. they all push the game toward a more reactive, human style of play. People don’t automatically trust Lucien. He has to earn it. His disguises open doors but close others. His connection to the Black Apple gives him insight but slowly destroys him. Everything he gets comes at a cost, which is exactly how an AC game set in the Plague should feel. And then there’s the modern day, Elias trying to navigate the fallout of a life he didn’t live but still feels. It brings back that personal, present-day urgency the series has been missing for a while. If Assassin’s Creed ever decided to explore a story like this; something darker, more intimate, more morally tangled. I genuinely believe it could mark a turning point for the franchise. Not a reboot, not a throwback, but a new era built on what made the originals resonate so deeply. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author James is a video creator based in the UK who joined TOWCB's Video Content Creation Team in June 2025. James was brought onboard to help TOWCB with news coverage on TikTok, and creating a consistent Twitch streaming schedule. He is a big fan of the Assassin's Creed series who will be helping TOWCB grow in late 2025, with a particular focus on TikTok, Youtube and Instagram. By joining the partnership program, we aim to provide James with opportunities to grow and further his relationship with the AC Community and Ubisoft. James Davis (TopChef1288)

Answers Lost in Time: A Review of Assassin’s Creed Escape Room Puzzle Book Review Share 17 Feb 2023 Written By: Edited By: Michael Smith Ashlea Blackett Back To Database Banner Art by TOWCB Artist Thea Marie Rivedal (@ Moonchildgecko ) This article contains amazon affliliate links which help to financially support TOWCB #AD Glyph Puzzle from Assassin's Creed II (image by ActualSpider-Man) Stealth, combat, parkour, and puzzles have all been staples of Assassin’s Creed since the first game, but more so since AC II. Clay Kaczmerek was the first puzzle master that we unknowingly followed as we solved his clues to find “The Truth” of the Isu and the core of the Assassin’s Creed story. Solving the various glyphs that were sprinkled around Italy brought a logical aspect to the games that players hadn’t experienced in the first instalment. With each release after AC II, puzzles of some sort have been included to reward the player with additional stories or physical rewards (in-game) that we could use with our character. Author James Hamer-Morton Influenced and crafted by the mind of Escape Room artist James Hamer-Morton, comes a new experience for puzzle enthusiasts and fans of Assassin’s Creed titl es ' Assassin’s Creed Escape Room Puzzle Book .' A new adventure that traverses previous locales of the games as the reader follows an original character Joey through the ages, solving puzzles to stop an impending vision of the future, where a mysterious new villain uses an Isu Artifact to control the masses. Through the use of various puzzle types, readers of this book will pull at the threads of the interwoven story and have an experience similar to that of an escape room themed within the AC Universe. The escape room company that James co-founded “James Hamer-Morton is one of the masterminds behind UK boutique escape room chain 'Deadlocked' - the pioneering powerhouse behind hit episodic online escape rooms 'The Insiders' and 'The Cyphstress'. He was created in a lab specifically for the world of immersive experiences - whilst cutting his teeth starring in art house films and moonlighting as games level designers, he soon turned their hand to the world of 'alternative reality games' -devoting his life to transporting their audiences into the centre of their own artisan adventures. From this he came up with the 'Escape Room Puzzles' series, of which there are now four books.” (Quote provided by the author) The third Escape Room book by James Hamer-Morton I learned during a chat with James that he was approached by Ubisoft as they wanted a similar book for the Assassin’s Creed series to that of his previous works; something he was very excited to do being a fan of the series himself. Having a chance to write an original story for Assassin’s Creed and injecting the pages with puzzles, guiding the reader from one era to the next via the use of the Animus, is a dream for any author and fan of the series. The print error from the end of Chapter 3 While I will be breaking down the contents of the book fro m the story to the dificulty of puzzles, I must start this review with a note for anyone that is planning on picking up this unique entry to the transmedia line; the book has a handful of editing errors that resulted in a broken progression half way through the book. At the end of the third chapter, the Assassin that Joey is controlling within the Animus is provided incorrect information by the target of the confession room. This incorrect information, which is a puzzle itself, provides a list of numbers that are clues to the letter placement of the various identifiers of the target “My name 4, my location - 3,...” This will lead readers to a collection of letters that do not solve the puzzle, in turn stopping them from progressing without looking at the answer section of the book, or turning the page and disregarding the error. The answer section is the correct answer to the puzzle but due to a change of Editors and the publishing of a draft that James had provided to show what he would do, before making the actual puzzle (which changed the order and numbers used in confession), the book in the English version was printed with this broken experience. The correct solution from Chapter 3 James shared his annoyance with this issue as, before I reached out to him about it, prior to our chat he was not aware that his latest work was released with such an error. He shared his process of how he will write the story of each chapter and decide the puzzles he wants to use before sending them to the puzzle checkers and editor to make sure that they will work in all translations. For example, if the phrase “Leaving something up to chance” is said for a puzzle that uses directions such as up, down, left , and right, you can’t use that clue as in another language the key word “up” would not translate in the context that he was using. This is why puzzles that use names or deliberate translations are used. So when he was sent the copy for the test read, it was the correct version, but unfortunately the printing did not follow that same copy and was released incorrectly. He also informed me that he did not write the Answer section of the book, but thankfully the answers are correct so the reader can progress with its assistance. So knowing this, please keep in mind that the current English publication has this error, but can be solved via the Answer section or by just continuing to read the story. The story is a great read and worth purchasing the book for this alone. It fits well within the confines of the series’ lore without damaging anything. Both the author and myself consider it canon, but there isn’t a hard yes to the question of if it actually is. When asked about it by another fan, Aymar Azaïzia (Transmedia and Business Development Director for Assassin’s Creed) stated in his response, "It’s a puzzle book! It’s full of riddles inspired by our lore and characters. It’s definitely not bi[n]ding and would not affect our games with crazy twist that would jeopardize the universe" ( Source ) Readers complete puzzles as they work through the story The story follows a new character Joey (an easter egg to fans of the game Tunneling Through Time , another Deadlocked creation), a museum security guard that notices an artifact having moved when watching the CCTV feed. What is really cool about Joey is that the author deliberately did not gender the character so that the reader could give their own choice to the protagonist much like how you can choose your gender in some of the most recent titles in Assassin’s Creed. This leads to the book’s first puzzle (a letter organization puzzle based on the sides of dice) and the introduction of the Isu Artifact (a double bladed dagger ) which the adventure is shaped around. In this prologue, and the following first chapter, Joey meets the Assassin’s Brotherhood and begins to learn about the opposing Templar Order and the use of the Animus. From here, each chapter takes place in both the modern (day for story progression) and a genetic memory for the bulk of the puzzles, as well as exploring the mystery of the artifact that Joey found. The Animus revisits Ancient Greece, Egypt, Viking London, Damascus, and Venice, with cameos of main characters such as Bayek and Altair, but also supporting characters like Leonardo Di Vinci and fan favorite Markos from Kefalonia. With this and the addition of a new Isu who influences Joey and acts as a sort of AC III Juno (another Isu) with each page turn. Each memory fits within the timeline of their respective game which provides the story the possibility of being canon. However in certain chapters such as Chapter 4 where the Animus Avatar and Masyaf Assassin, Faisal watches Al Mualim give his speech to the attacking Templar forces as his three Assassins take their Leap of Faith from the fortress above (the opening scenes of the original Assassin’s Creed), to then read that Faisal is assisted by a horse riding Altair is a bit confusing as the time frame of making said jump and getting to the gates seems possible but out of place. However the speech Al Mualim is giving is cut directly from the game; another point towards the book being canon in my opinion. The first puzzle of the book The puzzles progress in difficulty and as the story moves forward and each will provide solutions for other puzzles in the chapter. So while in the first chapter, the reader will find a solution to every puzzle when they complete it, later chapters won’t give clues for a puzzle right away, but the solution to a later one will provide what is needed to complete said challenge. This is clearly explained in the “How to Use This Book” section in the opening pages. The reader is directed to read the story up until a labeled stopping point and then review the content of the story up until that point to gather what is needed to solve the forthcoming pu zzles. However, the story does not have false answers, or dead ends like similar books of this type that would make the reader restart an area in the chapter. This is something that I shared with James, about being a cool idea to improve on replayability. We also discussed how some of his earlier books had suggested time frames for puzzles, but that was not something the publisher wanted going forward. Additionally, some of the puzzles can be answered just by knowing the history of the games and which genetic memory follows the current one depicted in the chapter the reader is on. Puzzle 1 Difficult Hint If the reader still has issues figuring out a solution, the answer section is broken up into 4 levels of hints and solutions. Difficult Hints for inspiration on how to approach the puzzle. Puzzle 1 Medium Hint M edium hints prov ide pointers for those that are stuck. Puzzle 1 Easy Hint Ea sy hints provid e help to those that are truly lost, and the final section contains the actual answer to the puzzle. I myself had to reference all of them at some point for individual puzzles either due to being stuck, just wanting to see what the hints would be for a puzzle, or due to the unfortunate misprints in the text. So every level of puzzle lover should get a fun experience from the book and the challenges it presents. One of the various cut-out sections of the book Discussing the physical book itself, I mentioned the fact that while only a $15 USD book, being informed that certain pages would require you to cut out sections to make things like a cipher disk or sliding items into place to get a phrase, is hard for myself and a lot of other collectors who do not like to damage their items. I had made suggestions on adding additional pages that are left blank on one side or even having sliding pieces like those used in a children’s book would be nice. Understandably though, this would add to the production cost of the book and raise the cover price. James shared that in his other titles, a QR code is provided for all of the pieces that need to be removed for puzzles on a printable document so the reader didn’t need to do this to the book itself. When reading, I used a combination of a document software on my phone, a notebook, and scraps of paper to make what I needed to solve the puzzles without making marks or cuts. It was also mentioned that Jame’s bio or “About the Author” page was not included in this book unlike his previous releases, which is sad as it would be a great insight into who this author is to the series, learning that he is a master at his craft in escape rooms and puzzles. Luckily, the publisher is aware of the various errors I brought to his attention and will hopefully print a revised edition in the future. An addition that I will easily repurchase to have a complete and working copy of this enjoyable experience. I hope we get a sequel to Assassin’s Creed Escape Room Puzzle Book as I loved this entry to the series and, now knowing the level of care the author puts into his work, makes me want more. In addition, compared to the VR Escape Rooms that Ubisoft has released in the past, this is something that requires no physical and expensive hardware which means anyone and everyone can pick up a copy and “play” this title at their own pace no matter where they are. For fans of the series and those that enjoy the escape room experience, this is worth picking up and spending an afternoon with. Currently the book has only been published in English (from what I can find) and is available from various bookstores at an MSRP of £14.99/$16.95. Amazon US: Amazon UK: comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Mike Smith is a collector of all things Assassin's Creed and a major supporter of transmedia who joined TOWCB as a writer from 2021 - 2024 With nearly a full library of Assassin's Creed media, his work explored the universe in order of Genetic Memory. Notably, his Assassin's Creed Timeline became an essential tool for fans of the franchise looking to complete their collection and consume AC media in a particular order. Michael Smith

HomeCon 2020: Bringing the Comic Con to your Home Events Share 12 Apr 2020 Written By: Edited By: Lisa Zaman Ashlea Blackett Back To Database What happens when the world goes into lockdown and comic cons around the world are postponed? The actor Paul Amos known as the voice of Jacob Frye from Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (also Lost Girl and The Murdoch Mysteries ) teamed up with his friend Rachel Skarsten (Lost Girl, Reign, Batwoman) to create their very own and unique, stay at home Comic-con, the aptly named HomeCon which debuted on April 10th-11th 2020. From the moment Paul Amos went live on Instagram on the 30th March and declared a new project he’d created alongside Rachel Skarsten, we knew he had something big up his sleeve and it would be a game changer. A few days later via Instagram Live HomeCon was announced and a comic con like no other had been born. With the world on lockdown and comic cons being postponed or cancelled left right and centre, Paul and Rachel had the genius idea to create HomeCon, as the name suggests a comic con at home. But how would it work? What would it entail? And who would be there? With everyone at home, HomeCon literally had a captive audience and with many of the voice actors in the same boat as the fans, they were available to participate. Like with any Comic-Con, there would be panels, Q&A’s and the chance to have 1to1’s with your favourite actor. So with less than two weeks Paul, Rachel and many other incredible people behind the scenes pulled an incredible feat and HomeCon was ready to go live. HomeCon would take part on April 10th and 11th. All panels would be live via Twitch and with a subscription of $4.99 (or free of you had an Amazon Prime account) you could view it all. HomeCon’s Social Media platforms ( Facebook ) informed us frequently with panel information and guests. As the HomeCon website went live, it provided fans with schedule’s and allowed them to book their 1to1 sessions. Of course, there were a few teething problems, as there always is with technology and the rapid interest in HomeCon meant that the website traffic sent it into a mini meltdown. With all new ventures, there were a few teething problems, but personally speaking I felt that the HomeCon support teams did a phenomenal job in handling issues prior and during the event. A few questioned the cost ($53 for 5 mins) for the 1to1, some feeling that they couldn’t justify the spend during these uncertain times, but as Paul explained very diplomatically that many actors had dedicated their time free of charge to be available and that 10% of proceeds were going to the charity First Responders First.What I felt was impressive it that they devised an almost perfect timetable, the different time zones taken into account, allowing those around the world to tune in.Day 1 started strong, with a live introduction and welcome by Rachel and Paul.Assassin’s Creed fans eagerly awaited the AC panel at 6pm BST. I noted as I tuned in to watch that over 26,000 people were watching. Suddenly all the familiar faces (or should that be voices) appeared on screen and the discussions began. I felt the moderator Ming Chen did a great job in keeping the pace and allowing each person to talk. However, as is the way with this incredible bunch of people, the conversation steered off course in the best possible way, usually led by Paul himself. It was great to see the interaction between them all, each one giving a little insight into their character and sharing anecdotes. As the hour long panel continued it was a joy to see fans sending questions and even communicating with one another as the message board scrolled furiously. Image source: Cas Anvar Before Day 1 came to an end, Paul popped back on to Instagram to send love and thanks to all involved and teased us with the hint that there could be a HomeCon 2.0. Victoria Atkin (Evie Frye) also hosted a quick Instagram live with Melissanthi Mahut (Kassandra), and then siblings Alexios and Kassandra did the same over on Michael Antonakos’s Instagram. It was evident at this point that everyone was having the best time and that HomeCon really was bringing everyone together. Day 2 and Assassin’s Creed was represented in the Motion Capture Panel which featured Elias Toufexis (Federico Auditore da Firenze - AC 2), Melissanthi Mahut (Kassandra - AC Odyssey) and Kris Holden-Ried (Crawford Starrick - AC Syndicate), alongside Greg Bryk (Joseph Seed - Far Cry 5) and Adam Croasdell (Ignis Scientia - Final Fantasy XV) The panel was insightful and again thoroughly amusing. Meanwhile remaining AC actors were busy meeting and greeting fans via the 1to1’s. I myself had the pleasure of talking with Victoria Atkin all whilst being photobombed constantly by my excited son! Image Source: Lisa Zaman As Day 2 drew to an end for the Assassins Creed fans, Michael Antonakos went live on Instagram with HomeCon’s co creator Paul, who we discovered, was sat in his shower with a beer and a box of kitty litter. Would we have expected anything less from the Welshman? As the conversation passed between the two it was obvious that there had been another lightbulb moment for Paul and that perhaps another HomeCon would focus solely on Assassin’s Creed.As HomeCon came to an end it became clear that it had been a great success. Not only in bringing excitement and entertainment to the fans at such a tumultuous time, but it allowed those who have been unable to participate in Comic cons previously (be it mentally, physically or simply geographically) to enjoy and embrace the atmosphere that so many of us cherish. Yes, it was a fabulously entertaining 2 days, but what I took away from this experience is, as Paul highlighted, it allowed us as humans, to connect with others, something that is so important in these current times. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Lisa is a talented portrait artist specialising in graphite work. Back in May 2018, she turned her attentions to the world of Assassin's Creed art, and began creating lifelike portraits of key characters. By joining the program, Lisa's work will be viewed by a larger number of community members, allowing her to build a captive audience. The partnership also means that we will be working closely with Lisa for upcoming art giveaways and competitions for the community. Lisa Zaman

Assassin's Creed Day Artwork Released Art Share 21 Dec 2025 Written By: Edited By: Aita_Sageblood Colum Blackett Back To Database To celebrate Assassin's Creed Day 2025, and to honour the legacy of Desmond Miles (1987-2012) who sacrificed himself to ensure humanity's survival from the impending threat of a solar flare, our very own Aita_Sageblood from TOWCB Art Team has released a new piece of artwork inspired by Assassin's Creed III! Thanks to Desmond's bravery, humanity survived and the Assassins were able to prevent Juno from inhabiting a clone body and taking over the world. We love the use of colour on the pedestal, and the ominous glow enticing the hand of Desmond. The date in the top left hand corner is a callback to the glyphs from the early Assassin's Creed games, left by Subject 16, Clay Kaczmarek. We hope that you enjoyed Assassin's Creed Day, but also took a second to reflect upon Desmond's selfless decision which made everything which came after 2012 possible. Safety and Peace Assassins! comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author In June 2025, Aita_Sageblood (Nathan) joined TOWCB's Art Team in an effort to widen the variety of art styles on the team. He is known online for his vibrant digital artworks, bringing colour and energy to each and every project. Throughout 2025 and beyond, Nathan will be working alongside TOWCB's Art Team on a variety of projects which range from creating art for fundraising to live art creation watch-alongs! By joining the AC Partnership Program, we aim to boost his profile within the community and create a meaningful relationship with Ubisoft. Aita_Sageblood

Wales Comic Con Homecoming (2022) Photo Gallery Events Share 7 Sept 2022 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Blackett Back To Database Here are our photos from the Wales Comic Con Homecoming event which took place in Wrexham on the 21st August 2022. We met up with Kim and Mikey from Assassin's Creed United Kingdom, ate Haribos with Matt Ryan (Edward Kenway), and talked everything Assassin's Creed with Insomnia 2022 panel judge Tabitha Lyons! The event was a ton of fun, and we look forward to attending more smaller events like this in the future. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

Laura M. Jung is a variety streamer based in Germany who joined TOWCB Video Content Creation Team in Summer 2024. She has a love for RPGs & Assassin's Creed, and will be helping TOWCB establish a clearer identity for Isu_Network and also with the growth of our Twitch channel. Outside of streaming, Laura is also a copywriter, and is excited to help the Writing Team with editing articles. She has two cats who often appear on stream Previous Next Laura M. Jung Video Content Laura M. Jung is a variety streamer based in Germany who joined TOWCB Video Content Creation Team in Summer 2024. She has a love for RPGs & Assassin's Creed, and will be helping TOWCB establish a clearer identity for Isu_Network and also with the growth of our Twitch channel. Outside of streaming, Laura is also a copywriter, and is excited to help the Writing Team with editing articles. She has two cats who often appear on stream Twitch │ Instagram │ Website (Copywriting) Work

Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC Wallpaper Collection Released by Frame Hold Photography Community Share 16 Nov 2025 Written By: Edited By: Frame Hold Photography Colum Blackett Back To Database The launch of Assassin's Creed Mirage Valley of Memory DLC is fast approaching and the recently released Launch Trailer has only increased excitement for the expansion. Our very own Frame Hold Photography today released the Assassin's Creed Mirage Valley of Memory wallpaper collection, compiled of edits and key moments from the trailer! Let us know your favourites in the comments down below and enjoy Assassins! Desktop Desktop Textless Mobile Feel free to use any of the wallpapers in the collection! comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Frame Hold Photography is a passionate Virtual Photographer who joined our Video Content Creation Team in Summer 2022, as we began our efforts to break away from solely written content. During a period of uncertainty for TOWCB website, FHP stepped up and took on the role of Site Manager, overseeing our restoration efforts. Our website today now sits at the top of many Google searches📈 Outside of AC, she is also a full time editor and visual effects artist on TV commercials, and has been putting her skills to use in the community by creating epic Assassin's Creed tribute videos, miniature figure painting videos and editing episodes of our Rally the Creed podcast! Frame Hold Photography

In November 2025, Evil (AJ) joined TOWCB's Art Team in an effort to widen the variety of art styles on the team. He is known online for his versatile style, where he often uses graphic motifs and powerful color palletes. His mixed media art ranges from sketches, digital art, and illustrations. In late 2025 and beyond, Evil will be working alongside TOWCB's Art Team on a variety of projects which range from creating art for fundraising to live art creation watch-alongs! By joining the AC Partnership Program, we aim to boost his profile within the community and create a meaningful relationship with Ubisoft Previous Next Otamotts (Evil) Art Team In November 2025, Evil (AJ) joined TOWCB's Art Team in an effort to widen the variety of art styles on the team. He is known online for his versatile style, where he often uses graphic motifs and powerful color palletes. His mixed media art ranges from sketches, digital art, and illustrations. In late 2025 and beyond, Evil will be working alongside TOWCB's Art Team on a variety of projects which range from creating art for fundraising to live art creation watch-alongs! By joining the AC Partnership Program, we aim to boost his profile within the community and create a meaningful relationship with Ubisoft TikTok Instagram Work

Celebrating 10 Years of The Ones Who Came Before Community Share 14 Sept 2024 Written By: Edited By: TOWCB Team Colum Blackett Back To Database August 10th marked ten years since the creation of The Ones Who Came Before (@ ACFirstciv ). What started out as a passion project set up at home in 2014, TOWCB today is a recognisable brand within the AC Community which has gained momentum around the globe, today acting as reliable source of information for over 60,000 fans. Today we are officially recognised by Ubisoft as leaders within the community, and we want to thank each and every person who has contributed towards our journey. Here is our round-up as we celebrate the creation of The Ones Who Came Before, and a decade of Assassin's Creed content and community moments! Graphics by MoonChildGecko We kicked off our celebrations with a new wave of graphics thanks to our very own Thea Marie Rivedal (@ MoonChildGecko ) We wanted to replicate the style and colour scheme of the official Assassin's Creed 15th Anniversary but with our twist, and Thea delivered on the brief. We had numerous options so selecting a favourite was incredibly difficult. Which variant is your favourite? Let us know in the comments! Interview with Jesper Kyd We are proud to present our interview with veteran composer Jesper Kyd, hosted by Gustav Poulsen ( Gargudon ). This truly unique discussion covers all things music creation, influences behind the Assassin's Creed soundtracks and more! Additionally to go with the interview, we also put out covers of "Wetlands Combat" & "Flight Over Venice" - arranged and produced by Gargudon also - from Jesper's legendary Assassin's Creed II soundtrack, and two more covers are still to be released coming very soon! Celebrating 10 years of TOWCB as well as 15 years of Assassin’s Creed II, a few weeks ago our team’s fellow musician Gargudon, had the opportunity to sit down with renowned composer Jesper Kyd - the man behind the soundtracks of Assassin’s Creed I, The Ezio Trilogy & Valhalla, and some of the most iconic tracks of the franchise - for a chat about everything from Jesper’s journey in music, writing process and influences, capturing the sound of AC, sound design and production, advice for aspiring composers and more. Rally the Creed #10 : 10 Years Of The Ones Who Came Before In this special tenth episode of our community podcast Rally The Creed, site founder Colum and Gargudon reflect on 10 years of The Ones Who Came Before. From the site’s origin and growth, the evolution of our team, our hosts’ 9 years of friendship, looking to the future and much more. Enjoy listening! Thanks for 10 years to every single one of our followers, whether you have been with us from the beginning, have just hopped aboard, or anywhere in between. Cheers Assassins and here’s to 10 more! Assassin's Creed Mirage Giveaway Finally, to conclude our 10 Year Anniversary Celebrations, we gave away an Assassin's Creed Mirage Collectors Case (without game code), courtesy of Ubisoft UK! Congratulations to our winner! The Isu Network Expands ''It's an absolute privilege to work alongside such a creative group of content creators each day as we seek to produce an array of unique and interesting content for our audience members around the world. The Isu_Network is the heart and soul of The Ones Who Came Before, and I'm thrilled to be working alongside such an incredibly talented team. In the final months of 2024, I'll be working alongside the team to identity our strengths and weaknesses, and recruiting even more members to our ranks to ensure that TOWCB remains the home of AC Community content.'' Colum Blackett (The Ones Who Came Before Team Leader) comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author A collection of articles from The Ones Who Came Before team. TOWCB Team

Ubisoft stuns with new article diving deeper into the world of Assassin's Creed Shadows News Share 17 Jan 2025 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) FrameHoldPhotography Back To Database Dynamic weather. Cherry blossoms. The sun rises over Japan in new Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay. We would like to say a huge thank you to the Assassin's Creed community team for providing early access to AC Shadows material. The marketing campaign for Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally ramping up with the release of regular articles covering core aspects of the game. In the latest article featuring Game Director Charles Benoit, released today on the Ubisoft website, we get a better look at the expansive world of Assassin's Creed Shadows, and the activities that fill it. SNIPPET 1: WORLD MAP The clip starts with a closer look at an uncovered part of the map, showing that the player is on a river north of Shoryuji. The player leaves the map, and we get our first look at navigating Japan by boat. “When exploring the world, you should look out for undiscovered locations (i.e. “?” icons), because there are so many interesting places to seek out, whether in a destroyed camp or a hidden shrine, we want you to always feel a sense of discovery.” Thunder and lightning provide a moody atmosphere, and the perfect cover for a stealth approach. It looks like fireflies act as a lantern, sitting at the tail of the boat to provide a flicker of light. This method of transportation appears to be silent, moving swiftly with the river towards a destination. SNIPPET 2: VIEWPOINT Synchronization has changed Viewpoints are a staple of the Assassin's Creed series, and are returning in AC Shadows but with a difference. According to the article, “Rather than unveiling large sections of the world map along with all its opportunity icons, climbing viewpoints now reveal nearby points of interest as you observe your surroundings from the top of the high point: city districts, temples, shrines, castles - most of which are tied to quests or activities you’ll want to engage in.” We can see that the player is at the Osaka Tenshu viewpoint. From the vantage point, you can see that icons are visible on the mini map, and players have the option to place markers to highlight a specific destination. “By using the observe mechanic – first shown in our stealth overview article – you can move the camera manually through a 360-degree range to contemplate these points of interest and tag them” “Our goal in evolving the way viewpoints work was to give players a more intentional and active way to find their next adventure. For our long-time fans, you'll be pleased to know that on top of the new manual camera move feature, the iconic synchronized camera movement will also return. This will let you fully appreciate the stunning scenery around you.” It's interesting to see synchronization evolve after so many iterations, but it sounds like the more manual approach will allow players to discover opportunities and plan accordingly. SNIPPET 3: VANTAGE POINT Tagging enemies In the clip Naoe can be seen on a rooftop overlooking Kameyama Castle tagging enemies until her target is located. She observes her surroundings, highlighting enemies, watching their patterns, and discovering entry points, all giving her time to plan the perfect stealth approach from above Looking to her left, a beautiful cherry blossom tree sits within the castle walls. It also seems that numerous options are available around the perimeter for Naoe to use her grappling hook. For Yasuke however, gaining access to a rooftop will be trickier. “Yasuke will likely need to take the stairs and go through the guards to reach the top” Observing the enemies, we can see a level 34 guard, and another marked with a skull, indicating that he is an extremely high level. “In Shadows, we don’t have any companion Eagle to help you; now, you are the Eagle.” After locating the target, the camera zooms in and gives further details. This quest is all about finding Masatoshi Nakahara, who is marked on the objectives board. Throughout the map, players can discover ‘kakurega’ safehouses which act as ‘extensions of the Hideout (i.e. your central homebase that is fully customizable) and offer some of its practical functionalities such as refilling your rations/tools/ammunition, accessing your gear stash, managing and accepting contracts, and replenishing scouts as well as managing which allies can be summoned for help.’ This will be incredibly useful for players who venture far away from the hideout, and wish to resupply before planning their next attack. SNIPPET 4: PATHFINDER Horse travel In the next clip, we see Yasuke travelling through the trees on a horse, looking for the next objective, 1500 meters away. At the bottom, players have the option to turn on pathfinder. This will be incredibly useful as Japan's landscape is full of hills, some of which may be difficult to climb without paths due to the height or quantity of trees. When switched on, pathfinder appears as a winding line which the player follows until a path has been discovered. SNIPPET 5: OBJECTIVE BOARD Next we see the objectives page, which features allies and enemies. At the top we can see members of ‘The League’, which is marked with the Assassin logo. Could this be the local name for the Assassin Brotherhood? Presumably this footage is taken at the start of the game before further recruits are added, as only one member of The League can be seen around the Assassin insignia: A female dressed in a golden robe. Could she be the Mentor, or even Naoe’s mother? Another group at the top of the board, (allies), are ‘The People of Settsu’, who also appear to be quest-givers. Naoe and Yasuke can help the local people, which may lead to information or rewards. The player scrolls down, and we get our first look at the main enemy faction in the game, ‘The Onryo’. All dressed in masks, it is currently unknown if this faction are an offshoot of The Templar Order, or if they follow similar beliefs to The Order of Ancients. Wikipedia translation: In Japanese traditional beliefs and literature, onryō (怨霊, lit. 'vengeful spirit', sometimes rendered "wrathful spirits", "hatred spirits", "resentful spirits", "ruthless spirits", "envious spirits", "dark spirits", "fallen spirits", or "downcast spirits") are a type of ghost (yūrei) believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living, injuring or killing. I love the idea that the enemy faction in the game are seen across Japan as otherworldly, causing harm to the living. This is likely due to them operating from the shadows, and rumours spreading about their presence. The masks all look unique, some featuring horns, others imitating animals. Assassin's Creed Origins and most recently, Mirage did a great job at matching specific masks to enemy personalities, so it will be interesting to see if AC Shadows does something similar. Close to ‘ The Onryō’ at the bottom of the page are ‘The Kabukimono’, whose circles are positioned around a sword. Wikipedia translation: “Kabukimono were rōnin, wandering samurai, or men who had once worked for samurai families who, during times of peace, formed street gangs.” The in-game definition of this faction can be seen below. In particular, the player highlights ‘The Grave Dancer’, who seems to be the leader of a group of Kabukimono calling themselves ‘The Defilers’, believing that the world is corrupt and therefore nothing is sacred. From the objectives board, players can track quests using information they have gained, or go back to the map to send scouts to areas of interest to discover further details in regards to target locations. Finally, “When an alarm has been rung and an entire province has been put on high alert by your actions, you will be wanted and tracked down by deadly groups of enemies: the Guardians. While you can wait for the turn of the season, which happens dynamically over time, you can also switch protagonists or deploy some of your scouts to cancel the provincial alert. This will remove the aggressive attitude of the military patrols in the province and reduce the readiness levels of guards in military zones.” It sounds like this enemy faction will operate in a similar way to the zealots in Assassin's Creed Valhalla or the Mercenaries in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, chasing the player across the map. SNIPPET 6: SCOUT A short 20 second clip shows the map being used to locate a target in a specific area. The map is done in a Japanese watercolour art style. “The World Map is the backbone of exploration. You will start the game with a map that only reveals region names and drawings hinting at the potential nature of key locations. “ Similar to Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, the game hints at a location and the player has to investigate. On the AC Shadows map, hints can be found in the top left corner. At the bottom of the map, you can see the option to dispatch scouts to retrieve information from a specific location. It looks like the maximum number of times a player can dispatch scouts is three times before they need recharged. “Once deployed, scouts will return at the end of the season and become deployable once again. However, you can always pay with in-game currency at a kakurega to speed up their return” “In Shadows, information is something you need to look for and earn, whether through your spies, NPC encounters, or through your own eyes.” ‘They are central to exploration and play a significant role in the war of information, which is an important aspect of your journey in Shadows.’ In the recently released episode 11 of our Rally the Creed podcast, Andy and Jen detail their hopes for the AC Shadows scout recruitment system. In a way, the scout system calls back to the original Assassin's Creed game, where information had to be earned before action could be taken. This exploration mentality returned in Mirage and is a great way for players to uncover details first instead of charging blindly into an important mission . SNIPPET 7: SMUGGLING Smuggling is a useful way to gain resources for the hideout, finding enemy supplies and marking them for collection. Over time, supplies can be used to upgrade the hideout, with lots of options available across an acre of land to truly make each hideout unique to the player. As the supplies are too large to be transported by Naoe or Yasuke, '‘they need to be marked with a flag to be smuggled out over time by one of your scouts. At the end of the season, all flagged stockpiles are cashed in for you to upgrade your Hideout.’' We can't wait to see what players do to their hideout to make it a central base of operations! SNIPPET 8: SUMI-E Japanese ink painting, al so known as sumi - e. Naoe sneaks up on a grey heron and observes her surroundings. After watching the bird bask in the sunshine, she captures the moment by painting. “For the more contemplative players, both Naoe and Yasuke can participate in the painting of wild animals of Japan, showcasing the diversity and majesty of its ecosystems.” In these quiet moments Naoe and Yasuke both have the opportunity to practice stealth and also enhance their focus, but for players, it's a nice calm activity that acts as a break from combat. “Naoe has a unique Kuji-kiri meditation activity that helps her focus her mind and reveals more about her life and backstory, while Yasuke will encounter people in the world that can teach him new weapon-specific Kata — special maneuvers you can unlock by performing a series of fight moves in a specific order with good timing. Yasuke can also show off his skills in various horse archery events.” “There is a lot to discover in the open world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, from temples to castles, hidden parkour trails to training grounds, and other secrets.” It's clear that the world of Assassin's Creed Shadows has a ton of activities for players to sink their teeth into, and the world offers a huge variety of opportunities for players to embark on that are both memorable and entertaining. Once again we would like to say a huge thank you to the Assassin's Creed community team for providing early access to the exploration article and for always supporting The Ones Who Came Before. Assassin's Creed Shadows releases March 20th 2025. Check out our video summary of the new exploration article by FrameHoldPhotography! comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

New Member Dave Rutter joins TOWCB Virtual Photography Team News Share 15 Oct 2023 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) TOWCB Team Back To Database We are pleased to announce that Dave Rutter ( @ dpruttz_vp ) is the latest member to join our @ Isu_network , taking on the role of Engagement Strategist for the Virtual Photography Team! Dave first started playing Assassin's Creed back in 2020 when Valhalla launched, capturing memorable moments using his expertise with the photo mode tool. By joining the program, Dave will have access to our social media platforms and website from which he can use to promote his captures and virtual photography in general. He will also take on new responsibilities as a moderator for our VP Twitter Community, making him a recognisable leader in the AC VP Community. Team structure We look forward to working with Dave & the rest of the Virtual Photography Team as we aim to shine a spotlight on community captures. Twitter Community Do you plan on using photo mode in Assassin's Creed Mirage? If so, it's time to share your captures in our Assassin's Creed Virtual Photography Community! VP Safe Space Here to support the #virtualphotography community. Because sometimes everyone needs a #safespace & someone to talk to. VP Save Space is a DM support service for the Virtual Photography Community for people who need someone to talk to. Here to support you when you need it with a place to reach out, vent or for a friendly chat. You are NOT alone. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

TOWCB Website - One Month Since Launch News Share 10 Sept 2019 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Blackett Back To Database It has been exactly a month since we launched the new website, and we're pleased to say that it has been well received! Here's what we've been up to since launch: 1) Adding content from the old website. Every day the website grows, as we are slowly adding all of our old articles and projects. As you can imagine, this is an extremely time consuming process, as we first created our community in 2014. This means that 5 years worth of content will soon be available on the website. You can track our progress here 2) Navigation As we are continually adding new pages, navigation of the site becomes a priority. In order to improve this, we have added a grid to the bottom of every page, so that our fans can find the current top stories on the site. This will be updated regularly using google analytics. We are also improving navigation on the site by frequently testing hyperlinks, and changing their colour to green when they are working. You may stumble upon a few red links when browsing the site. This is most likely because the page does not yet exist. We are hoping to have all our old articles and projects on the site very soon! 3) SEO We are also frequently updating our SEO (Search engine optimization), so that we can increase traffic on the site. The website can now be found on Google, but eventually we would like our pages to be ranked higher. This is done by updating the SEO, which allows search engines to show relevant content that users are searching for. Keywords, snappy page descriptions and more content will surely help us to improve traffic, and help the website become the #1 location for fans searching for Assassin's Creed Community content. 4) Launch of Mobile Version Shortly after the launch of our new website (10/8/19), we launched the mobile version! Using the same URL, the site should now work on mobile devices! We have tested it many times on mobile phones and iPad, and it seems that many hours editing the site were well spent! We currently have a majority of users viewing the site on mobile devices, so it's a good thing we managed to launch the mobile version so quickly! Let us know if you have any tips on how we can make the site even better on mobile devices! We have a ton of new content planned for the site, so make sure to add it to your bookmarks and check back regularly to see what we've been working on! comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

Partnership with A Nutrition Transformation Announcement Community Share 10 Jun 2025 Written By: Edited By: TOWCB Team Colum Blackett Back To Database We are excited to announce that we have agreed terms with Andrew Brown from A Nutrition Transformation for a promotional partnership! Andrew is a qualified GPNi Sports Nutrition Specialist who is looking to work with members of the Assassin's Creed Community seeking to achieve their health, fitness and wellbeing goals. Through our collaboration, Andrew will be offering his services at reduced rates, providing expert advice and education at an affordable price. We can't wait to get started! Keep an eye on our socials for updates. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author A collection of articles from The Ones Who Came Before team. TOWCB Team

Assassin's Creed Shadows: First Impressions and Gameplay Analysis Share 23 Jan 2025 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) TOWCB Team Back To Database We are now just two months away from the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows, and we are thrilled to reveal that two of our team members, Col and Taylor were selected by Ubisoft to participate in a remote early-access play session event along with other content creators and media outlets around the world. Below you will find the initial thoughts and feelings written by Assassin's Creed Community Ambassador @ Col_96 after a four hour play session, brand new screenshots, and exclusive gameplay captured during the session. Keep an eye on the page as we will continue adding content throughout the week! Enjoy! Possible spoilers for Assassin's Creed Shadows First Impressions Hello Assassins. I'm Col, Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, and I was lucky enough to participate in an early access event for Assassin's Creed Shadows thanks to the AC Community Development team at Ubisoft. I'll start off by saying that I had a really positive experience, as the world of Assassin's Creed Shadows is incredibly beautiful, intertwining two stories in a way that creates an experience that is both shared and standalone, as Naoe and Yasuke, two outsiders in the world, find comfort in each other's pain, and try to make a difference to heal Japan. I think what the development team at Ubisoft has done is incredibly clever, weaving history into the main characters for the first time, selecting Yasuke, a historical character, and Naoe, the fictional daughter of real life ninja Fujibayashi Nagato. For me, both characters make perfect sense, and show a different perspective on the brutal history of the time period. AC Shadows takes a stab at bringing back a sense of mystery that long-time fans of the series will love. The game encourages you to uncover the next secret in a land of danger, something which is incredibly rewarding for players. The passage of time is interesting too with a fixed day/night cycle that provides atmosphere as every storm is different. You can feel the effects of the wind as your riding through an open field. Lightning can flash across the sky and light up the whole scene. Naoe ''The life of an assassin is pain , You suffer it, you inflict it, you watch it happen in the hope that you can make it disappear in time.'' Ezio Auditore I feel that this quote perfectly describes Naoe. Although not strictly an Assassin during my playthrough, or at least, that word was never said, her quest for revenge after the attack on her village is fuelled by a hunger for vengeance. Rather than blind rage, she is incredibly focussed, seeking those who are harming Japan and its citizens. You can feel her pain, and she takes no joy in inflicting it upon others. It is a necessary evil. Throwing knives are lethal when timed correctly, but can also be used to extinguish candles from a distance, creating darkness and the perfect environment for a stealth attack. I particularly liked the dialogue options, as they can make a difference to the outcome of a mission. This is why the team added a canon mode, so that the Animus makes the decision for the player. I like how Naoe is the sum of her history, learning from the past, but also taking onboard the teachings around her. She is thoughtful, reflective, and resourceful. She will no doubt be a fan favourite. Yasuke An outsider in a foreign land, Yasuke has to learn the true meaning of honor and respect when he is stripped of his name, all authority and ownership of his own decisions. He shows a willingness to survive in a hostile environment, learning the language, customs and more, and is rewarded with his life. Often shown as a 'one man army' Yasuke is all that and more. There is a kind side to Yasuke that makes him relatable and more human in side quests. He is not the brute he has been portrayed to be. I was really surprised by this as I suspected it would be the case that he was the brawn and Naoe the brain, but that's not the case. He shows intelligence and understanding, opting for a more physical approach to quests due his size, but I also found stealth with Yasuke to be incredibly satisfying considering his limited capabilities. Combat is great, as Yasuke can take a lot of damage, giving you the chance to recover, reset, change strategy and break down enemy armour before delivering a brutal finishing move. I can see players being very happy with the weapon choices, enemy types, finishing moves and overall effort that is gone into crafting a brutal combat system that is all about breaking the opponent down and destroying their armour. Things I liked The Scout System: You can recruit scouts and send them to attack enemies. It's extremely satisfying, and you can customise everything from their weapons to outfits. Building the network of spies has its benefits as they can also be sent out to collect information across the map! Eagle Vision can be used indefinitely: I didn't notice Eagle Vision timing out, which means it can be used without the worry of it disappearing. You can use it to highlight points of interest or observe and tag enemies. Voice Acting : I was really impressed with the voice acting, from all age ranges. Music: Absolutely incredible score! This will be a soundtrack that players will adore for sure, as it captures a mix of emotions. Sadness, anger, and hype! I was really motivated by an incredible fast paced track at a key moment early on in the game. Facial Expressions: Game looked absolutely incredible on my PC (Nvidia RTX 3070 TI), and the facial expressions, especially in cutscenes were so lifelike! Parkour: Feels quick, rebuilt from the ground up. Naoe is easily the fastest character in an AC game. It feels like a mix of balance and precise manoeuvres. She is lightweight and nimble, moving silently Grappling Hook: Like the rope launcher but more useful. You can swing from trees to perform air assassinations. Extremely satisfying. Tall grass, low grass and prone: The introduction of prone is perfect for an Assassins' Creed game, and I particularly like that AC Shadows has heights of grass. Brutality during combat: Decapitations, impaling, you name it, AC Shadows will shock and surprise with it's brutal combat system. The World has so many opportunities: Uncovering secrets, side quests and moments of tranquillity create a game of many tones, dark and light, and I feel like it encourages the player to get lost in the world. You have to unfog the map yourself, as viewpoints only uncover so much. This is great news for completionists. Enemy Types: Guardians are my current favourites. You'll see why when the game launches! Very similar to the mercenaries in AC Odyssey that hunt the player! Visuals: I didn't get to use photo mode but I know that players are going to have a great time with this game. It's incredibly beautiful. Stealth: It will take some practice, but with more time, I can definitely see players perfecting stealth and using all the tools at their disposal to their advantage. Things I Didn't Like The night is incredibly dark: I had to turn the light off in my office to see the screen as when the game takes place at night, it is incredibly dark. Hills and thick trees: Without the pathfinder, my horse would still be stuck up a mountain somewhere trying to find a way past the incredibly thick trees. Hunting isn't in the game, or at least, I didn't find any way to kill a deer. I thought it would be similar to AC III where pelts could be used for crafting, but I didn't see this in my playthrough. Health potions don't fully heal , or at least, with my current skill level and abilities during the playthrough, I needed to use two to fully reset the health bar. Yasuke doesn't have Eagle Vision: I understand that this could be for a lore reason, but it would have been a useful addition. I didn't see any Modern Day Gameplay. Animus Hub has huge potential though. Enemies can literally walk away from smoke bombs and be unaffected. I died so many times when playing as Naoe in combat situations. Some of the enemies have huge health bars compared to Naoe, and thick armour so it's a real challenge to defeat them in combat. I will say that it is incredibly satisfying when you do though, but similar to Basim in AC Mirage, the game encourages a stealth approach. Not a bad thing, just worth mentioning for those looking for a fight. I genuinely think that fans will be surprised when they pick up Assassin's Creed Shadows in March. There's a lot to love about the game, as you'll see in our exclusive gameplay below! Enjoy! Dev Comments We reached out to the development team at Ubisoft Quebec regarding our experience and received a response from Game Director Charles Benoit! ''I think once settled, you could play with contrast setting for the night. We wanted to have a black night, not a blue one. About Hunting, we saw the hunting wasn't a big thing compare to the respect of nature, so we wanted to turn hunting in something more positive, it's why we introduce the Sumi-e activity instead. For healing potions, it's with some Hideout upgrade that you can boost it. You can boost efficiency and quantity. And about the smoke bombs, it's Only Samurai that deny it by running away, we wanted to avoid cookie cutter strategy and have some enemy "smarter" than other. And yes, Naoe and fight can be challenging, Preview is not the ideal learning curve. But Naoe can be very lethal if you build your gear in some was, using the fight system in the best way too.'' We would like to say a big thank you to Charles for reading our first impressions article and for providing insight into the creative decisions! Animus Hub Welcome to the Assassin's Creed Animus Hub: An Explanatory video by Ubisoft showcasing the Animus Hub, a new platform and gateway to Assassin's Creed content which launches alongside Assassin's Creed Shadows. Analysis by UbiCypher Exclusive Gameplay Stealth and Combat Youtube TikTok Sumi-E Painting Boars Youtube TikTok Naoe Combat Youtube TikTok Desyncronization Youtube TikTok Cherry Blossom Trees Youtube TikTok Deploying scout, combat Youtube TikTok Syncronization Youtube TikTok Shrines Youtube TikTok Failed Assassination Attempt Youtube TikTok Naoe Projectiles Youtube TikTok Assassination Compilation Youtube TikTok Leap of Faith Youtube TikTok Brutal Naoe Finisher Youtube TikTok Naoe Customisation Options Youtube TikTok Yasuke Customisation Options Youtube TikTok Switching Character Youtube TikTok Synchronization Youtube TikTok Horseback Riding Youtube TikTok Yasuke Sumi-E Activity Youtube TikTok Bamboo Destruction Youtube TikTok Brutal Finishing Move Youtube TikTok Sumi-E Activity Youtube TikTok Killing a Guardian Youtube TikTok comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

Assassin's Creed Shadows - First Impressions, Naoe & Yasuke, Gameplay & World & More News Share 27 May 2024 Written By: Edited By: SisterlyThrower Back To Database In one of our many videos to come, covering the newly announced Assassin's Creed Shadows, SisterlyThrower shares first impressions of the game and thoughts on the trailer, dives deeper into protagonists Naoe & Yasuke, the game's portrayal of Japan, gameplay and more. Stay tuned for more content on Shadows! Video written and narrated by SisterlyThrower , background music and editing by Gargudon . comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author SisterlyThrower is a Twitch streamer who began streaming in 2019. While initially covering a variety of different topics and games, he eventually leaned into one of his first loves of modern gaming, Assassin’s Creed. While he was playing through the series much, much later than most everyone else, he quickly grew to love the lore, the gameplay, and yes, all those pesky achievements. This love for Assassin’s Creed has blossomed into his current suite of projects, lovingly entitled, “Assassin Academy”. Working to learn more about the Assassin’s Creed universe, Assassin Academy places SisterlyThrower into what will soon be a whole host of different themed videos and streams. Currently, SisterlyThrower is conducting a series of playthrough streams under different challenges (Assassin 1001 – Fundamentals of Assassin-ing). While not streaming or looking up achievement lists, SisterlyThrower spends most of his time with his wife, WifeyThrower and their two cats: Mary, who was supposed to be SisterlyThrower’s cat at first, but of course glommed onto WifeyThrower and won’t let go, and Jimothy, the quintessential essence of what happens when you give a cat only three brain cells and he loses two of them. SisterlyThrower also enjoys making videos under his other moniker, The Video Game Therapyst, where he utilizes his real-world expertise as a therapist to analyze the mental health messages found in today’s games. SisterlyThrower

Possible Ubisoft Employees spotted photographing Italian architecture Rumor Hub Share 30 Jul 2018 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Colum Blackett Back To Database Freelance journalist Jordan Oloman recently visited the area surrounding Lake Como in Italy, which is situated roughly 2 hours away from Milan. On his travels to the beautiful location, Jordan and his travelling companion Helena had the opportunity to visit Villa del Balbianello, which was used for the filming of Naboo in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Image by Jordan Oloman Image by TREMEZZINA It was on this visit to Villa del Balbianello that Jordan and Helena noticed two possible employees from Ubisoft taking very particular photos of the architecture. He notes that the two people carried a Ubi30/ UbiProud bag, which were campaigns run by the company. After describing the two individuals, Jordan jokingly wondered if the sighting could be connected to an unannounced Assassin's Creed project. Could the two employees be location scouts? Although the Assassin's Creed franchise has already visited Italy in two major installments (AC2& AC Brotherhood), rumours circulating in 2017 suggested that the franchise would be soon be introducing an Ancient Trillogy, visiting Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The reveal of Assassin's Creed Origins confirmed these rumours for many fans, and the introduction of Assassin's Creed Odyssey made the claims even more believable. We contacted Jordan, who informed us that he has no concrete proof that the two individuals worked for Ubisoft, and may have just be tourists interested in Italian architecture. Do you think that the two individuals were Ubisoft Employees scouting out locations for an unannounced AC Project or just tourists? Could the Assassin's Creed Franchise be heading to Italy? Would you like to see the franchise return to the country? Does this sighting confirm the Ancient Trilogy rumors for you? Photos by Jordan Oloman You can find Jordan on Twitter Information source comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Col is one of the UK's leading Assassin's Creed Community members, and is best known for establishing both 'The Ones Who Came Before' fan community and 'Isu_Network' content creation program. As Team Leader for The Ones Who Came Before, Col was officially recognised by Ubisoft, becoming one the UK Assassin's Creed community ambassadors in 2016. He has attended many events after spending a decade in the AC Community, and has worked on countless projects, all of which you can find here on TOWCB website. He is also a former Ubisoft Star Player and member of The Mentors Guild, two recognisable community programs which opened doors and took his status within the AC Community to the next level. Colum Blackett (Col_96)

Discovery Tour by Ubisoft: The Educational Software and Books for Exploring History Breakdown Share 14 Sept 2021 Written By: Edited By: Michael Smith Ashlea Blackett Back To Database Assassin’s Creed was first introduced to the gaming world in 2007 with the release of its titled release “Assassin’s Creed”. The game told a fictional story of two warring factions seeking an artifact of unknown power during the real historical setting of the Third Crusade in the Holy Land (modern day Jerusalem). Throughout the game, players were provided information via game dialogue and recaps from the perspective of the protagonist to provide historical insight of the world around them. This idea of historical education embedded in an action stealth video game would progress further as the series continued, adding codex libraries of reference data for historical locations, people, and various additional subjects. Ubisoft, the publisher of the Assassin’s Creed games, decided in 2017 alongside the launch of Assassin’s Creed Origins, to release a new game mode titled Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt where players and those interested in history would be able to control a character within the digital representation of Egypt and participate in walking tours that educated them on the history that influenced the flagship series. This was successful enough that a second entry of the new mode was released the following year with Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece. In 2020, Larousse (a French publishing house) released a physical print of the Discovery Tours via the Discovery Book by Assassin’s Creed Series, titled Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Within these reference books, 1001 facts about the eras were collected with their pages. At the time of this review, these books have only been released in French, but are advertised on the Great Britain and French Assassin’s Creed Stories publishing sites. For this article, the Ancient Greece version of the Discovery Tour and Book will be examined after completing the full game mode, and reading the book with Google Translate. In both the book and the game, the history of Ancient Greece is broken down into “Themes” and within those themes are the “Tours” that educate on one of 30 different subjects. Within the game mode, the player can select a character from a list of fictional and historical persons, such as the main protagonist Kassandra/ Alexios or a simple farmer from that era, some of the characters must be unlocked by completing a set number of tours or themes, as well as a horse to travel from location to location without having to worry about combat and stroll through the vibrant environment designed by the Assassin’s Creed team while listening to a narration of the history of Greece. The player is greeted at the start of the tour by one of a small handful of tour guides, such as Herodotus and Aspasia. The player can ask the guide questions about themselves to learn of these historical figures/characters from the game. From here, the game's narrator will highlight numerous stops that players will traverse the environment by following a lighted pathway to get to a stop and interact with it to play the audio information about the subject of that stop. Once completing the tour, players will return to the tour guide at the end of the guided pathway and take a short multiple choice quiz to see if the player remembers what they just learned. There is no failure to the tour quiz as the guide will correct you and reeducate about the correct answer if necessary. Players can discover new tours by Fast Traveling to the starting location or exploring the map at their own pace and tracking their progress via in-game menus and checkpoints on the Map. Each tour informs of the number of checkpoints, known as Stations, and the estimated time it should take to complete that tour. Tours can take anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour, but are filled with visuals, camerawork, real pictures and sketches of the subject to compare to the ingame models. Players of the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey title will notice that locations in the Discovery Tour are different than they were in game as the developers adjusted the locations to be more historically accurate and less focused on integration with game mechanics. Players that would like to experience the history of Ancient Greece also have the option of taking the tours in order of the timeline available in the menu. This option is partially how the Discovery Book is organized. The book is sectioned into 9 sections of interest and within those are 42 subjects over 95 pages. The information provided in the book is the same information provided in the game mode, arranged alongside images of items from the real world or screenshots of the game. As you can see in the images below, the information provided is similar, appearing differently due to translation and where said information is provided on the page. The book, while providing the same information as the game mode, provides a better sense of educational value as it reads like a traditional encyclopedia, with the downside of being currently available in French only. However the gamification of unlocking additional characters and mounts as well as traversing the beautiful landscapes of Greece make the adventure of finding and going through the tours more entertaining. With children these days generally more intrigued by computer screens than books, this software provides a great way of educating children and classrooms in a new way. The potential of coming into class and playing a Discovery Tour game versus watching a film would be beneficial to students absorbing information and talking more about what they learned and found while exploring the Greek World. This could also be a great format for museums to expand exhibits and offer new experiences from home via live service updates similar to that of the main Assassin’s Creed games. Both the Ancient Greece and Egypt Tours and Books are a great way to learn about the history that inspired the Assassin’s Creed series and a great addition to any collection. For those that are not interested in purchasing the full games that include the Discovery Tour, the tours are offered as a stand alone product for PC users and videos of the tours are available on the Discovery Tour by Ubisoft website. Previous fans of the game mode will be happy to know that the next entry Discovery Tour: Viking Age for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be releasing in the fall of 2021 (October 19th) . In this new era, locations from around the Valhalla game will be explorable, such as Englad, Ireland, France, and even the home of the Norse Gods, Asgard. Players will be able to play as favorite characters and NPCs from the game and explore the real world influences in depth. Information provided by the Ubisoft team working on this mode confirms that it will be more immersive than the previous iterations. This could mean new mechanics such as puzzles to learn secrets of the past, or possibly the introduction of a more interactive tour that is more than a stop and admire version that players are used to with museums and games like this. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Mike Smith is a collector of all things Assassin's Creed and a major supporter of transmedia who joined TOWCB as a writer from 2021 - 2024 With nearly a full library of Assassin's Creed media, his work explored the universe in order of Genetic Memory. Notably, his Assassin's Creed Timeline became an essential tool for fans of the franchise looking to complete their collection and consume AC media in a particular order. Michael Smith

Assassin's Creed Nexus VR Non-Spoiler Review Reviews Share 21 Nov 2023 Written By: Edited By: UbiCypher (Joe) Colum Blackett Back To Database I have always loved when a videogame that I like becomes much more than a simple matter of sitting in front of a TV and playing it. The universe in which the game itself is rooted in, that’s what appeals to me. I love exploring the deepest corners of such worlds and all their possible adaptations and literary works that would help me expand on those very worlds. This is exactly what Assassin’s Creed Nexus does, being a VR title and also a lover of virtual reality ever since it was a thing, having the opportunity to be in the world of my favourite video game franchise ever makes me feel so satisfied and it will most likely be a point of no return in terms of experience, as after several hours of gameplay this is without a doubt, the true Assassin’s Creed experience, in which YOU are the Assassin, and it all depends on you. First and foremost I should say for the record that this is truly an amazing experience. The fact that you can climb and assassinate in first person is simply a dream come true. I know that this is nothing new and there are certainly mods that some adventurous souls dared to make for games like Boneworks or Blade and Sorcery, however this is of course executed much better, on top of the fact that it comes from Ubisoft’s hand itself. Assassin’s Creed Nexus behaves itself mostly as any other VR action/adventure title available on the market, with the ability to choose between smooth movement or teleportation, which comes in handy to reduce motion sickness. When it comes down to movement and traversal, this is where the game really shines and allows you to freely interact with the world around you however you like. You need to grab ledges and climbable surfaces with your controllers without losing grip, otherwise your character falsl flat on their face, which is pretty cool, adding an extra feel of immersion/stress, constantly reminding you that you are about to take a long fall if you somehow think it is ok to release the grab button for some reason. Of course, this comes with some cons that I find are a bit draining at times while playing the game for a long session. However I would say this is somewhat compensated by the feel of actually being able to scour through the streets of Monteriggioni and revisit the iconic church of the village or the Auditore Crypt with a now 1:1 scale of how the statues really look, it is simply a constant rush of those sweet 2009 memories when you first ventured into the villa’s main hall, and where I felt at home, just as if I picked up right where I left it back in the day with a complete knowledge of the villa’s room distribution. But I digress. Don't be afraid! In the game menu you can swap to the option of one press of the grab button to make the climbing easier, allowing you to forget the danger of falling down and focus on the next anchor point for your hands but honestly, I recommend for you to try and train yourself into actually manually climbing walls for extra immersion. Even though you can customize your climbing experience, since the climbing system is a constant movement of your arms in real life, you will most likely end up tired the longer and more aggressively you play the game as there is no speed limit to how you can actually climb surfaces, which is a nice feature on its own but it may encourage players to take a more proactive approach while starting your game and ending up tired and walking in the streets rather than rooftops the longer you play. While the grab and climb system is mostly accurate and effective, due to the clunky nature of the yet underdeveloped VR technology, you may have a hard time actually climbing on surfaces. As for the pull-up you need to pull yourself up as if you were climbing an imaginary ledge and the subsequent jump performed by the character in-game can sometimes eject you or simply not mantle over the spot you would like to land on, leading to a very frustrating experience and sometimes even more tiring for your arms. (It's as if this bug follows Assassin's Creed everywhere it gets ported to!). You can manually jump but only in the vicinity of actual surfaces that require mantling or vaulting over them to perform the jump itself, which at times can be inconsistent and you might find yourself not reaching some specific ledges or roofs and having to start over and climb your way up again which is rather annoying. The fact that they made jumping only available when near objects that trigger the action often causes the game not to register the input properly and it can lead to the alternative of taking a ladder instead, which you can find conveniently placed around the map as if developers knew of this problem. Movement aside, the combat however is really something that needs to be reworked completely. The game encourages you to act as a real swordsman but the hits and parries don’t register that well either. You will often find yourself leaving your hand held up with your sword to automatically block the enemy’s attacks. The game allows you to use multiple weapons from ranged weapons like Bows and Throwing Knives to close-quarter combat ones like Swords, a Tomahawk and the iconic Hidden Blade. Even though the combat might feel inconsistent at times, the blade feels very satisfying to use when you engage in combat and land successful finishers. This can be an instakill if the enemy is weakened before performing a Hidden Blade attack depending on the enemy type which range to basic, medium and professional (elite) NPC’s carrying a wide variety of weapons in the likes of ranged and close quarter weapons. (Bows, Spears, Heavy Swords etc..). In some sections you are given the option to use Throwing Knives but there is no HUD or indicator as to where your knife will end up, resulting in a random throw with the hopes of actually hitting the target, which I missed on multiple occasions hitting the wall next to the enemies and of course since the game has a noise detection system if you miss you will attract uninvited NPCs. For my first walkthrough I immediately decided to set the difficulty option to hard to see what the game has to offer and to add another level to that feel of immersion. To my surprise, the game is relatively easy. As for my first few hours of gameplay, the game doesn’t throw too many NPCs at you and their AI is somewhat dull, similar to that of the franchise’s main games showing once again Ubisoft’s lack of dedication to their NPC’s AI. Most of the levels can be passed easily using stealth which is highly encouraged, distracting enemies by throwing objects or whistling behind cover, putting your fingers in a circle position at the height of your mouth which the game automatically recognizes as a whistle, which in itself is amazing, but again as many of the other features that are on-point and add an extreme level of immersion to the game, you will sometimes find yourself attempting to perform the whistle, and in the heat of the moment, were it adrenaline or simply excitement of getting past guards undetected while crouching, you will most likely hit your headset with your controller’s detection ring once or twice. Be careful with that. Also I should add that while in combat with your Hidden Blade deployed, if you get your hand close to your headset while in a defensive stance you might get distracted by a whistle sound that the headset mistakenly recognizes for some reason. Don’t do that either. The levels are fairly open and nicely merged with linear sections for what the VR has to offer in terms of power and rendering capability, obviously not as good as the main open world titles but still visually impressive for the regular VR titles available out there. In the levels, you can take the time to perform various activities like free running challenges or looking for hidden objects scattered across the small open world as well as during the linear-levels pretty much like in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’s Romulus Lair missions where you had to look for hidden chests. It isn’t something too rewarding as there isn’t anything substantial rewarded to you for obtaining them, but you still can access special historical database entries that you can find across the levels sharing some juicy historical facts supplied by Shaun Hastings, and let’s be honest, we all love Shaun. They also included some puzzles in a good old fashioned AC II style, with parkour puzzles and secret rooms pretty much like what you would find in the original Resident Evil games. But I won't spoil them. Overall Assassin’s Creed Nexus is a dream come true for long-time fans who craved to be in the shoes of their favourite Assassins. The Hidden Blade actually retracting and extending at will with a flick of the wrist is one of the most satisfying feels the game has to offer. From the soundtrack to the level of details on the maps I would say Assassin’s Creed Nexus surely deserves some praise, especially for the amazing soundtrack composed by Christ Tilton, who managed to capture the Modern Day-esque feel of the Animus in the VR headset, as well as the nostalgia of our most beloved adventures of Ezio back in the day blended with well known tracks refreshed with a modern touch. This wraps it up for the spoiler-free review covering the core mechanics of Assassin’s Creed Nexus, stay tuned for the upcoming spoiler review that will be available soon in which I will cover the story and the memories of each Assassin, as well as the ties to the actual lore of the franchise. Assassin’s Creed Nexus is now available for Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 on the Meta store for $39.99 comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author UbiCypher (Joe) is an Assassin's Creed Transmedia expert who worked as the Lead Admin for the Isu_Network social media team, providing consistent social media content in the form of Assassin's Creed lore trivia, puzzles and news coverage, spending countless hours researching the series and real history. In 2025, he stepped back from his social media duties to pursue other opportunities. UbiCypher (Joe)

Why Assassin's Creed Remakes Will Succeed Wishlist Share 12 Jul 2024 Written By: Edited By: Hayden Bird Colum Blackett Back To Database Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced recently that some of the classic original Assassin’s Creed games would be getting remakes, which means completely rebuilding and overhauling the original games in the series to hold up better against modern gaming years later since the beginning days of the series. Given the technology in the gaming industry has rapidly advanced since the start of this franchise, it makes sense for Ubisoft to use this modern tech to their advantage. The Assassin’s Creed series has been active and alive for over 15 years and counting, and over that time the games have changed a lot. The original games from the beginning were ground-breaking games in the industry that still have impacts to today’s game development. The stealth and parkour formula became an inspiration for other games following this same template. Even today, stealth themed games are in some way created by the foundation that is the Assassin’s Creed series. Now that Ubisoft has shown more interest in their roots of the franchise, only good things can come of this development direction from the company. Assassin’s Creed as we know it is unlike its past. Which has been a change for the good, as certain aspects of the older games simply do not hold up today, like oblivious side characters and enemies, old reused mechanics, or features from the original games that would make the current state of these games seem outdated and considered being out of touch with the rapid change of the gaming industry. Times have changed in this business, and to survive, Ubisoft has to evolve with the median, otherwise the series would remain stuck in the past and unoriginal. Ubisoft shows they not only care about the future games of the franchise, but also showing their appreciation to their beginnings. Creating these remakes is a huge step forward for this world-wide game industry giant, as they are aware that Assassin’s Creed is still as popular as ever, and doubling down on their best franchises is the way to succeed as a company. The future of the series already has several games announced and rumored, and now the idea of remaking the older games would be great for the reputation of these all time classic games. While the originals still are impressive and great, some of them do not hold up well in today's standards, both graphically and mechanically. The technology used in 2007 is much different than what we have today. The tech industry is a quick and ever evolving business, meaning you're forced to adapt with the change, or you could be left behind. The graphics from the original games were considered impressive at the time of their release, but now in an era where games can be created in almost life-like visuals, the state of the classic games look outdated. So, remaking these games can do justice to their legacies by improving on what are already industry-changing games, and making them hold up in our modern standards. Ubisoft has many years to plan and decide on the exact direction to take for these remakes, but from what we know already, fans should be excited for what to expect in the future. Ubisoft could make these games impressive in today’s vision by not only improving their visuals, but also going in depth into development and changing the way these games are played that would match what we expect today. It's clear Ubisoft knows that to create these remakes, the games should be updated but not abandoning its core. A way Ubisoft could approach this idea is by changing the more outdated mechanics of the past, but keeping the concept the same. Such as updating the parkour from the original games, by cleaning up the outdated parkour such as accidentally ejecting off tall building one has climbed by pressing the wrong button, which, thankfully, has been changed in the more modern Assassin’s Creed games where accidentally jumping to your death is not very possible anymore by not allowing it to be so easy to fall down. Ubisoft could also update these games with adding enemy AI awareness. In the past when playing the game it sometimes would be easier to pretend to be spotted until the enemy notices enough to come and investigate your position and you could take them down from there. This altered the way enemies are traditionally supposed to react, and is unrealistic to how modern enemies in gaming are. Which makes you have to be more careful about being spotted, instead of using it as an unfair advantage. Ubisoft is capable of perfecting these remakes to the point where it plays similar to current Assassin’s Creed series mechanics. The graphical updates could also have the game look as the developers would have originally envisioned, given the lack of advanced technology at the time of the games creation. Now, since games look so close to life-like graphics, these classics will look like they would have if the gaming world had today's technology available years prior. It is up to Ubisoft on how to approach these remakes. Whether it be remaking all of the originals, or remaking the ones they think would play best in modern standards. Ubisoft has plenty of options to choose from as the production could begin in the near future. However they decide, fans should trust that the vision Ubisoft has selected for these remakes will be a faithful adaptation of these all-time great gaming masterpieces. It is smart Ubisoft is investing their efforts so much into the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and not only focusing on future installments, but other ways to bring this beloved franchise to life. Remakes of these games are a brilliant idea from Ubisoft, as it will cater to all fans of this series, and those who may be new to Assassin’s Creed . Now that remasters and remakes are all the rage now, plenty of popular classic games are getting that treatment, so Ubisoft has picked a smart time to take advantage of this rise in popularity, and honor the roots of this franchise with remakes that rejuvenate the history of the series and perhaps one day have all the rather outdated Assassin’s Creed games match modern standards and once again have them become a staple of the industry, just as the did when they originally released many years ago. The Assassin’s Creed fan base should be excited for the future of these games, and Ubisoft’s dedication to admiring and adapting their massive money-making franchise. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Hayden is a passionate Freelance Writer based in South Carolina who joined TOWCB's Writing Team in 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic, writing articles on all things Assassin's Creed Valhalla. He left the group to focus on studies, joining our Alumni program, but triumphantly returned with fresh ideas in 2024 to pick up where he left off, only this time covering Assassin's Creed Shadows. In 2025, Hayden took on the position of Team Leader for TOWCB's Writing Team, overseeing article releases, assisting with recruitment and providing assistance with internal operations. Hayden Bird