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From Origins to Odyssey: Could Assassin's Creed be heading to Greece? Wishlists Share 13 May 2018 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Blackett Back To Database We are now less than a month away from E3 2018, and several rumours are stating that the next Assassin's Creed game will be set in Ancient Greece, this game is rumoured to be titled Odyssey. This means that the game is likely to act as a sequel to AC Origins, potentially confirming initial rumours which revealed that Ubisoft were working on an ancient trillogy (Egypt, Greece, Rome). Although nothing official has been revealed about the game, we can assume that it will have similarities to Origins. Here are my thoughts on the potential features that should be included in a Greek Assassin's Creed game. (In no particular order) An Established Brotherhood One of the big problems with Assassin's Creed Origins was 'The Hidden Ones' faction, a proto-Assassin order with no clear tenets or goals other than stopping the order than stopping the Order of Ancients and protecting the innocent. Other than the ambiguous drives and goals of the group, other than Bayek and Aya, are quite simply not memorable. As I'm writing this, I can only actually think of a couple (Taharka's son Phanos and Tahira). One of the reasons for this could be because The Hidden Ones act individually, and are rarely seen together in the same location. Many of the interactions between The Hidden Ones are done via messages sent between bureaus. This is unusual for an Assassin's Creed game, and make it difficult to understand each member's role within the group. For example, in the Ezio games, we would be present at Assassin meetings, and would hear everyone's thoughts on missions and strategies. For AC Odyssey, it would be clearer for the audience to understand the drives and motives of the group if we were able to see them interacting together (as was the case in Origins). An established brotherhood, with a clear plan and philosophy is definitely needed in the next game. Return of Bayek and Aya Bayek is arguably one of the best characters we have seen in the franchise for a long time, and deserves to be in another game. Whilst it is unlikely Bayek will be the main character in the next game, as it's been a while since Ubisoft took this approach with the franchise (Ezio games), it would certainly be interesting to see Bayek return as a side character. An older Bayek would be a great mentor to the next generation of Hidden Ones. Furthermore, Aya/Amunet was also a strong character in Origins, showing real strength and conviction during missions. Her transformation from Aya to Amunet left her as a shell of her former self, embodying a cold and calculating proto-Assassin. Although Aya's character thoroughly changed, traces of her old self could still be seen when interacting with Bayek,showing that she still cares about him. If an Assassin's Creed game were to take place in Greece, we could potentially see Aya develop even further as a person, and watch the final process of her transformation. It would also be interesting to see the conclusion of the marriage between Aya and Bayek. Will they, or wont they get back together? Either way, there's more story left to be told for these two. Explore the relationship between Aya & Khemu One thing that was noticable in Assassin's Creed Origins was the representation of grief. It's true that everyone experiences grief in different ways, but the game showed Bayek as a man dealing with real internal struggle over his son's death, whilst Aya focussed solely on getting revenge, and therefore we never see her taking the time to properly grieve. We hear that Aya was unable to accept the loss of her son, so she moves back to Alexandria, whilst Bayek dedicates his time to Egypt as a Medjay. Bayek was the only one present at the event, a horrific moment that changed his life forever. Whilst we see Bayek's interactions with Khemu during flashbacks, dreams and missions, the relationship between Aya and her son is scarcely featured. As the death of Khemu was an event that acted as a drive for both Aya and Bayek, it's something that would be interesting to see in a sequel. For every star gazing puzzle solved by Bayek and Khemu, there was surely a mother-son moment that was neglected from the game. These could be valuable interactions that Aya remembers fondly and could allow us to better understand her character and what motivates her as a member of The Hidden Ones. Participation in Historical Events Although Bayek and Aya participated in the political side of Ancient Egypt's history, it's fair to say that they didn't participate in actual documented historical events such as war etc. Once again, this was a new move for the franchise, with several previous instalments feeling unrealistic due to too much participation. (AC3: Connor was basically one of the sons of liberty. Unity: Templars cause the French Revolution conditions). I personally think that documented historical events should take place in all AC games, as long as the Assassin/Templar conflict remains secret. A great example of this is the Siege of Viana in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, where the historical event is the backdrop to the conflict between Cesare Borgia and Ezio.Although we did learn a lot about Ancient Egypt in AC Origins, and the political struggle between the Ptolemys, it was lacking in historical events. The Order of Ancients was a great addition to the franchise, but their goals and motives are nearly as ambiguous as the Hidden One's. In an Ancient Greek Assassin's Creed game, it would be interesting to see more documented historical events, outside of politics. However, it is important for Ubisoft to get the balance right for this to work or the game will feel too fictional. - An example of this would be the Olympic Games, which originated in Ancient Greece. Maybe the Order of Ancients used the event as a backdrop for a planned assassination of an Emperor?"Assassins are meant to be quiet. Precise. We do not go announcing conspiracies from the rooftops to all who pass by." (Achilles Davenport) Eagle Vision Explained Assassin's Creed Origins introduced a new ability to the franchise that allowed for Bayek to see through the eyes of his pet eagle, Senu. This was extremely useful for the player, with Senu acting as a personal drone with the ability to attack, distract and tag enemies from above. Bayek is not the first character in the franchise to have control over animals. In Assassin's Creed Reflections #4 , Connor's daughter Io:nhiòte is shown to possess a very similar ability, somehow connecting with an eagle in order to send a message to her father. This very rare form of eagle vision could be down to precursor DNA, but no lore explanation was given in AC Origins.In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, it would be useful for the main character to have both forms of Eagle Vision. Animus Pulse made sens e, but was a weak version in comparison. In or der to learn both versions of the ability, the main character will surely have to develop their senses. For this to happen, a valid lore explanation is needed for this rare form of eagle vision which has now appear ed twice. It's possible that a lore explanation was cut from Assassin's Creed Origins, but the next game should really explain the ability. Modern Day Progress Assassin's Creed Origins was the first game since AC3 that allowed players to control a third person protagonist. Ever since the death of Desmond, fans have been tormented with an inconsistent modern day experience, ranging from nameless first person characters, to limited cutscenes. Readers of the Assassin's Creed Uprising Comics have been following the return of Juno, a storyline that should have taken place in the games. Layla's story was standalone. New fans to the franchise could pick up the game without needing to understand the previously established lore or events. Although Layla was a new character, Ubisoft did a great job in making her seem like she'd been a part of the world for a while. This was done through Email interactions with Sofia Rikkin (AC Movie) and diagolue. It was discovered that Layla was the one who came up with the ideas for the Movie Animus. The Modern Day storyline in Origins shows Layla defying Abstergo, a mistake that ultimately sees her terminated by the company. This leads to Abstergo sending Sigma Team agents to put an end to her unapproved Animus sessions. With the help of the bleeding effect, and an ancient hidden blade, she kills the agents and returns to her portable Animus.Whilst reliving the memories of Bayek, she is interrupted by William Miles, leader of the Assassin Brotherhood. She was then invited to join the Assassins in Alexandria, where she would be able to work on the Animus Project without the rules and regulations enforced by Abstergo. The next game has to show significant modern day storyline progress in order for it to remain relevant. Layla should have training in order to become an Assassin. Hopefully, William is taking her to an Assassin HQ, where she can meet other members of the brotherhood. This is the perfect opportunity for Ubisoft to finally make the Modern Day in the games worthwhile again, revisiting the conflict between the Modern Day Assassins and Templars. If the conflict looks anything like the comics, then we could be in for a treat! Hopefully, Ubisoft have been listening to fans, and deliver a unique and interesting modern day experience Juno needs to start doing things Following on from the last point, Juno needs to either become a threat to the Assassins and Templars, or be removed from the franchise. I personally think that Ubisoft are going with point A, likely removing her in the comics. This is such a shame for the franchise, but incase I'm wrong, and Juno does survive Assassin's Creed Uprising #12 , then she needs to finally start doing things that affect the real world. In the comics, her Instruments of the First Will are brutal, kidnapping the son of Desmond's Miles, and beheading people. It's only a matter of time before Juno has a body again, so it would be great to see her walk amongst her followers (Not in a comic book though), and wreak havock upon the world. As much as i've enjoyed the AC Uprising comics, this storyline is way too big to be shoved in to print, and should have been in the games or another format such as an animated movie. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Juno needs to start causing damage to the world, and work towards enslaving mankind. Assassins & Templars are already teaming up to work against her (comics), so the next game would be the perfect moment to show a full scale war between the factions. Fingers crossed this storyline isn't completely resolved in comics. Return of the inventor Assassin's Creed Origins was lacking someone who could modify and equip the brotherhood with new weaponary and tools. AC2/ACB had Leonardo Da Vinci, a good friend of Ezio Auditore who crafted may useful upgrades and enhancements for the Assassin. AC Syndicate had Alexander Graham Bell, who equipped the Assassins with Rope Launchers, Voltaic Bombs and other useful gadgets. It would be extremely useful for someone to return in Assassin's Creed Odyssey who could fill the role of inventor. Bayek had a decent range of tools and weapons, but it's always nice to have more. Throwable smoke bombs for example, rather than just dropping them during conflict. Speaking of bombs, Ezio could also speak to Piri Reis in Revelations, who would help him craft and create a range of combinations.Inventors are extremely useful for the brotherhood, and make the weaponry of an Assassin even deadlier. Perhaps a Greek philosopher can help The Hidden Ones with their arsenal? New Animus Model It's always cool to see the latest technology available from Abstergo, but it's been a long time since we saw an Assassin Animus. As William said in Origins, Layla is free to work on their version of the Animus Project for them. It would be great to see another variation of the Animus in Odyssey, possibly something involving water cooling or motion sensors this time. We've seen some interesting variations, but hopefully Layla gets to experience something a little bit more interesting than the Sarcophagus HR-8 Model.Rebecca Crane has surely been working on something special for the Brotherhood.Hopefully we get to see it in the next game! A few other things worth mentioning Ancient Greek Weaponry: Different style to what we saw in Origins. Possibility of seeing the original Olympic games. Could we see missions set in this content? Possibility of seeing more Pieces of Eden (Not just Apples) Return of Shaun and Rebecca Thanks for reading Assassins!I hope that you enjoyed this article.Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Are you hoping for an AC Game set in Ancient Greece? Do any of the points mentioned here interest you? Are you excited for E3 2018? 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)

Best Quotes in Assassin's Creed Mirage Share Written By: Edited By: TOWCB Team Back To Database kgkhg ''I can be an Instrument that sees us out of this life.'' (Basim) ''I won't let the past define me. This is why I now consider myself to be the daughter of no one.'' (Roshan) 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 Valhalla Orlog Dice Game Review Reviews Share 7 Mar 2022 Written By: Edited By: Michael Smith Ashlea Blackett Back To Database Assassin’s Creed has been a staple for the modern gaming community with its mixture of stealth, combat, and story driven gameplay. Players are immersed into history via interactions with important figures and landscapes, giving a large world to explore and learn about alongside the Assassin vs Templar storyline. Within these worlds players are exposed to the art, language, and culture of each location from Ancient Greece to Victorian London. To better influence the player’s experience of being in the Golden Age of Pirates or Revolutionary America, the design team included playable iterations of historical games such as Liar’s Dice and Dead Man’s Morris. The latest example of this is in the 2019 release of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla where players were introduced to a new and original competitive dice game known as Orlog. Promotional image by PureArts Players are introduced to this game via protagonist Eivor and meet various characters across Viking-era England that challenge her to this game consisting of alternating dice rolls, resource management, and the power of the Norse Gods. A game that can turn its favor in an instant of luck and strategy. Orlog became an instant success with the player base as fans began replicating the game in the real world. This showed Ubisoft that they had an opportunity to create an actual version of the game and via the help of the gaming statue company PureArts this became a reality. In the Spring of 2021, an exclusive limited Deluxe Edition of Orlog was created. A combination of wood, metal, and linen were used to design a tangible game, of which a limited 500 units were sold within Northern and Southern America. This did not take long to sell through and those that were lucky enough to claim one (myself included) would receive one of the most unique real world replicas of a video game asset. However, fans from around the world who missed out on this purchase were upset that they were unable to buy this themselves and voiced their opinions across social media. With this spike of global interest, the PureArts team opened a Kickstarter to fund a retail version of the game for all fans regardless of geographical region. On July 13, 2021, the Kickstarter for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Orlog Dice Game was launched and within 35 minutes met its goal of CA $75,000. By the end of the campaign, a total 12,409 backers had funded the campaign for a total of 1.1 million Canadian, unlocking multiple stretch goals and enhancing the base game (for the Kickstarter) to be nearly identical to the Deluxe Edition that had been sold earlier that year. After a lengthy production process due to issues with materials, transportation, and the COVID-19 virus, PureArts began shipping Orlog to players around the world. I myself received mine within a few weeks of each other as they were shipped separately, the Deluxe Edition first and later the Kickstarter “Tavern Edition”, which included an exclusive resin replica of Eivor’s horn, used to call her raiding party as they invaded England. The game is played in three phases after a coin-flip to determine the first player. In the first phase, much like the dice game Yahtzee, players alternate rolling six dice and selecting dice to attack, defend, or steal God Favour Tokens (GFT's) from the opponent in the hopes of lowering their opponent’s fifteen stone health pool to zero. This is followed by the players being able to use their collected GFT's via gold bordered dice sides and stealing from the opponent to activate a God Favour Card (GFC's) that can deal damage, heal, or even duplicate the dice they rolled to give a better advantage in the round. Once this is selected and the priority of the GFC's is played, the players enter the final round, the Resolution phase where the outcome of their dice rolls are matched against each other in a battle of axes, armour, arrows, and shields. The player that has depleted their opponent’s health to zero is declared the victor. I played both iterations of the Orlog release with my family to compare the quality of the Kickstarter enhanced retail version and the Deluxe Edition. Gameplay was easy to explain with the included instructions and a variety of game modes to alter the difficulty of the game. Within a few rounds, my fiancée, who is not a heavy gamer, shared how much she enjoyed the game. I found myself surprised by my comparison and which aspects of each version I preferred over the other. So let's compare the Deluxe and the Kickstarter Editions as I determine which is the best Orlog release. Packaging To start, let's compare the boxes. The Kickstarter Edition was the standard Retail release of the game but with enhanced materials included (such as stones, tokens, and cards). The box itself has nice official game art and is themed to the Valhalla standard teal and black, detailing the contents of the game and a synopsis of how it is played; a traditional game packaging. The Deluxe Edition came in a carved, individually numbered (1-500), wooden case that shows the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla logo within an intricate etched border and secured by a metal clasp. There is no further information on the game displayed on the box as it is a designer piece. WINNER: Deluxe Edition - the beautiful wood box looks great on the shelf for collectors. Storage The Retail Edition has a traditional plastic tray that houses the materials of the game. Each area is designed to hold half of the pieces divided between the players with a shared coin in the centre, making distributing the game pieces quick and easy. The Deluxe Edition does the same but in a much more snug foam material. WINNER : Retail Edition - the plastic, while a lesser quality than the foam, is much easier to remove the components from, as it has space to grab the pieces, whereas it takes more time to remove the wood and metal pieces from the foam of the Deluxe Edition. Dice Bowls The dice bowls in the Retail and Kickstarter versions are made of plastic and detailed to look like wood. Due to the Kickstarter reaching a stretch goal of CA $575K, they were able to add a felt liner, as backers were concerned with the sound of dice hitting the plastic. While this is a nice addition, it is visible that the felt was not cut to size and looks poorly installed. The Deluxe Edition bowl is real wood and has a great quality but doesn’t appear as defined in the detail as it was carved by machine and not by hand. WINNER: Tied - While the wood of the Deluxe Edition is higher quality, the plastic bowl and felt liner have nice sound and feel when rolling the dice. I prefer the wood myself but wish it had the detail of the plastic. Coin The Retail Edition of Orlog will include a cardboard coin (not shown) to determine player order. Both the Kickstarter (after meeting the CA $200K stretch goal), and the Deluxe Edition have a metal replica coin designed after the Silver from the game. WINNER: Kickstarter/Deluxe Edition - The metal has a very nice weight and feel to it over the cardboard that I could compare from other pieces in the game. God Favour Cards In my opinion, this is the biggest comparison between the game pieces of different versions of Orlog. In the Retail Edition, the GFC's are printed on cardboard showing great detail of a carved wood design and a cheat sheet of what each god does on the back. For the Deluxe Edition, wooden GFC's are included to mirror those which are used in the video game version. Kickstarter backers were able to upgrade their GFC's to wood (CA $35) after feedback from the players influenced PureArts. WINNER: Retail Edition - While the wood is nicer than the cardboard, it is very hard to see the image of each god in the Deluxe Edition, and requires the use of the included detail card that shows each GFC and what it does. Being able to flip over the card and read right away what it does is a plus. God Favour Tokens Unlike the GFC', the tokens are instantly identifiable regardless of edition. The Kickstarter backers upgraded (CA $42) the Retail Edition’s cardboard tokens to the Deluxe Edition’s metal tokens. The only drawback to the metal tokens is that they have a finish to them that make them oily and hard to stack at times. WINNER : Deluxe Edition - While the finish can be annoying at times, the metal tokens are very nice and look great. I love clinking them like poker chips when I play. Dice Now this section isn’t as much of a comparison as both the Retail and Deluxe Editions of the Orlog dice are sold with the Bone Die option. With the Kickstarter, a stretch goal at CA $300k allowed backers to switch the base dice to a glow-in-the-dark option for free, or add them on at the end of the campaign for CA $15. However these dice though are difficult to read because of the golden borders. Alternatively, the green glittery dice or “Valhalla Dice” were sold as an add-on for CA $25. WINNER : Kickstarter - Due to the options available, the Kickstarter was the best way to get dice. My personal favourite were the Valhalla Dice. Health Stones & Rules The original plan for Orlog was to include cardboard counters to track the health of each player, however after the Kickstarter reached its first stretch goal of CA $100K, the counters were upgraded to the higher quality polished stones of the Deluxe Edition. This success also allowed the retail edition to be shipped with these stones. The linen bags with the Valhalla logo were included with the Deluxe Edition as well as the Kickstarter after its CA $250K stretch goal was reached. These are used to house the health stones in the packaging. All versions come with an Instruction Guide and God Favor Cards Reference List. Kickstarter Exclusive Items With the exception of the play mat that was included in the Deluxe Edition, the Kickstarter campaign for Orlog offered multiple items for purchase via stretch goals or included with the Tavern Edition. The playmat (55 cm x 86 cm) was expanded in size after the CA $850k stretch goal and sold (for those that just backed the base game or wanted multiple mats) for CA $30. This is a beautiful mat that feels fitting for the historical setting. The main draw for the Tavern Edition of the Kickstarter campaign, and the reason I decided to purchase the game after buying the Deluxe Edition, was an exclusive Horn Replica from the game. Valued and sold for CA $185, the horn made the purchase of The Tavern Edition at $200 great value for money. Its quality of resin, cloth, and wooden base not only look fantastic on my shelf but actually allow you to blow the horn and call your party to the table. At CA $400K a tournament bracket and Orlog Champion Coin (based on the in-game achievement art) were provided to all backers. Edition Winner The best value and version overall in my opinion would be the Kickstarter. Being able to upgrade the various game pieces on top of the Tavern Edition with the horn replica and playmat included, allowed users to have everything that the limited Deluxe Edition had except for the wooden box and bowls. This game as a whole is easy to play and easy to learn. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Orlog Dice Game can be purchased from PlayArts, Ubisoft, and various retailers. 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

Louise (TheNerdyArcher) is a UK Assassin's Creed community ambassador and former member of The Mentor's Guild and 'Scholars of the Creed' community. She is an Archaeology graduate and passionate historian. By joining TOWCB Writing Team, we aimed to provide her with structured guidance, early access to transmedia, and a platform for her written works. Louise left the program in 2025 to focus on her studies. Previous Next Louise // TheNerdyArcher Writer Previous Partner Louise (TheNerdyArcher) is a UK Assassin's Creed community ambassador and former member of The Mentor's Guild and 'Scholars of the Creed' community. She is an Archaeology graduate and passionate historian. By joining TOWCB Writing Team, we aimed to provide her with structured guidance, early access to transmedia, and a platform for her written works. Louise left the program in 2025 to focus on her studies. Blog | Twitter | Instagram Work Louise (TheNerdyArcher) Joins The Ones Who Came Before Writing Team News

Assassin's Creed Shadows Eve of Launch Statement Community Share 19 Mar 2025 Written By: Edited By: TOWCB Team Gargudon Back To Database 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 is delayed yet again to March 20th Ubisoft announces News Share 13 Jan 2025 Written By: Edited By: UbiCypher (Joe) Colum Blackett Back To Database Yes, this is happening, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft's most anticipated title for 2025 has been delayed yet again. The sad news delivered by the Assassin's Creed Content Director Marc-Alexis Côté in a official statement made public a little while ago. At this point we can but only speculate what this could mean for the French company looking at the future it may lead its most coveted franchise to. Official statement made by Marc-Alexis Cote -"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," -Marc-Alexis Côté said in his statement. Ubisoft is now in a more delicate situation than ever before and albeit the second delay being due to prefectionist reasons aiming to "ensure and even more ambitious and engaging day-one experience" the wave of criticism that will befall on Ubisoft will be even more non-filtered this time. Hopefully, Shadows delivers and is the product we all deserve after all this years craving for a game set in Feudal Japan. Now we will have to wait and see for the upcoming days and weeks what Ubisoft has to offer in compensation for this, specially in terms of marketing and blogposts of which only one remained to be released prior to the announcement of the delay. It is important to note that the pre-orders weren't active still at only a few weeks before its previous accorded release date being February 14 as well as no statements on whether the Game's development achieved GOLD status, normally being a transparent indicator from the company behind a game towards the consumers, which in this case has been absent compared to previous games from the franchise. Lack of confidence or a buggy mess? One only wonders if February 14 was never going to be the real release date and it was but an attempt at handling the situation in a shady way -dare I say. Don't lose hope.🏯🦅 Article adapted from Isu_Network article 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)

Eric is an experienced social media manager who joined TOWCB Social Media Team in February 2024 in an effort to help the team establish a clear identity for Isu_Network. Professionally, Eric has managed social media platforms in a number of fields such as fashion, trucking and more, working alongside 300+ brands. Taking on the role of social media coordinator, we will be working alongside Eric in 2024 and beyond to create consistent social media content that is both engaging and memorable. Previous Next Eric Allen // Milz_VP Social Media Team Eric is an experienced social media manager who joined TOWCB Social Media Team in February 2024 in an effort to help the team establish a clear identity for Isu_Network. Professionally, Eric has managed social media platforms in a number of fields such as fashion, trucking and more, working alongside 300+ brands. Taking on the role of social media coordinator, we will be working alongside Eric in 2024 and beyond to create consistent social media content that is both engaging and memorable. Twitter Work 5 Things in the Assassin's Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji Expansion We Want to See More of Breakdown

Netflix Assassin's Creed Live Action TV Series - Fan Casting Wishlist Share 1 May 2021 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Blackett Back To Database We asked our community members to select actors and actresses that they would like to see cast in the upcoming live-action Assassin's Creed TV series that will air on Netflix in 2021. The series is currently in development, along with numerous other Assassin's Creed projects, that will establish a TV Universe. Kicking off the casting, I personally feel that Jamie Campbell Bower (known for Harry Potter and Sweeney Todd) would make a great Simon Hathaway from the Assassin's Creed Heresy novel! Although the model on the right was selected for the book cover photo, I feel that he has a distinctive look that Bower also has. Hathaway was an incredible character, and it would be great to see more of his him in future projects. Two names that always appear when fan casting Edward Kenway are Chris Hemsworth and Charlie Hunnam. They are both extremely talented actors who would no doubt do a great job in the role, but another consideration should definitely be Matt Ryan, the original voice actor who plays Constantine in the CW Arrowverse Universe. Community member Ru from The Mentor's Guild nominates voice actress Melissanthi Mahut to reprise her role as Kassandra for the TV series. The similarities certainly are striking! Another obvious choice is Michael Fassbender, who could reprise his roles as Aguilar de Nerha and Callum Lynch from the Assassin's Creed Movie. Michael also served as a producer on the film, making him a key candidate for a series return. Community member Al believes that Ben Mendelsohn (Known for Star Wars: Rogue One and Ready Player One) would make a good Templar in the TV series. Mendelsohn was particularly impressive in the 2020 TV series, 'The Outsider', and would be excellent in a role at Abstergo. Twitter user Lord Tonio nominates Forest Whitaker to play an Old Mentor in the series, passing down decades worth of Assassin knowledge and experience to new recruits. Recently, Whitaker was exceptional in Black Panther, and also shone in Star Wars: Rogue One, amongst many other great films, so he is definitely a great nomination. Amy Wren is known for her portrayal of Mildrith in The Last Kingdom, and was nominated to join our Assassin's Creed TV Series Fan Casting by community member John Gray. Although John didn't specify a specific character, I personally believe that she would make a great Elise de la Serre, who was tragically killed off in Assassin's Creed Unity. Although Elise had limited screen time in the game, she had a fantastic story of her own in the AC Unity Novel, and even met with Edward Kenway's daughter! 2021 is the year of Shao Jun, in terms of transmedia, and she will be the focus on many upcoming projects. Our Facebook Fan Rick nominates Arden Cho to bring Shao Jun to life in the upcoming live-action TV series. Other Nominations 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 Wedding Ideas Share 16 Dec 2022 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Back To Database Engagement is undoubtebly an exciting time for couples, filled with planning and saving, but it can also be stressful as they aim to make the day perfect. One thing that can be particularly tricky is getting interests and hobbies across in a way that doesn't clash with other wedding day choices. For some, like myself, Assassin's Creed is an obvious choice, and others may also wish to incorporate AC inspired elements into their wedding day. Here you will find some of the best Assassin's Creed Wedding ideas to act as inspiration for a future big day. Venue One of the first things to book when planning a wedding is the venue: The place where it all happens. Although we have never actually seen a wedding occur in an Assassin's Creed game between main characters, you can still find inspiration in the franchise for the perfect setting. Ideas: Monteriggioni / Tuscany Rome Paris London Egypt Venice Istanbul Havana Cuba Norway An old castle An old church The Rings 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)

The Importance of Assassin's Creed Rogue Analysis Share 3 Aug 2024 Written By: Edited By: Hayden Bird Colum Blackett Back To Database When Ubisoft released ‘ Assassin’s Creed Rogue ’ on November 11 2014, it was overlooked for several reasons, mainly because it was a simultaneous release with the more anticipated game, ‘ Assassin’s Creed Unity ’, which was also released on November 11 of that year. ‘ Unity ’ gathered more hype from fans since it was the first new ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ game to be released exclusively on the next-generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One gaming consoles, while ‘ Rogue ’ was seen as more of a filler for the final ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ game released on the older consoles and perhaps a farewell to the console generation where the series was born back in 2007, on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. ‘ Assassin’s Creed Rogue ’ was released exclusively to the last-gen consoles, and was good for those who were still unable to upgrade their gaming consoles. ‘ Rogue ’ was fun and a great alternative to the fans waiting to upgrade and be able to play ‘ Unity ’. Due to its release timeline, ‘ Rogue ’ is very often possibly the most forgotten ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ game still to this day, nearly ten years since its release. However, gamers who may not be familiar with most ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ games, would likely not believe that ‘ Assassin’s Creed Rogue ’ was the most creative and influential game in the entire series. Somehow a game that is somewhat forgotten at times, and it happens to be Ubisoft’s most daring story. For one, ‘ Rogue ’ is often overlooked due to its more familiar gameplay seen in the game a year prior to this one, ‘ Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag ’. It followed a very identical formula that was actually very well received by fans, so repeating a very similar style was only just adding onto an already great gameplay style that fans grew to love so much. ‘Rogue’ was another naval combat based game in the series. The combat on your ship in the game is nearly identical to that of ‘ Black Flag ’, and the hand to hand fighting formula was very similar to its predecessor as well. Specifically wielding a variety of weapons like cutlass swords, the famous hidden blade, pistols, and a ranged device to knock out or confuse enemies. The two games had a lot in common, but in the eyes of gamers and ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ fans alike, it continued to work. In ‘ Rogue ’ the device to disorient enemies was a rifle, while in ‘ Black Flag ’ it was a blowpipe with darts, so a lot of familiar gameplay aspects returned, but still unique in its own way. In a way, Ubisoft was really just giving players more of what they loved. The gameplay, however, isn't the main important difference in ‘ Rogue ’, it was instead its storyline. Since 'Rogue' released alongside the much more anticipated 'Assassin's Creed Unity' , it was already at a major disadvantage, and it got even worse when 'Unity' launched in a broken, bug-filled state. The game quickly turned into a internet meme. With pictures of ridiculous glitches of both the characters and the environment. The poor initial reception to 'Unity' only made things worse for 'Rogue' , even though the game launched in a graphically stable state, the damage had been done already from the failures of 'Unity' . Fans already labelled ' Rogue' as a glorified DLC, and discouraged its full game price tag. 'Rogue' however, did have some unique connections to 'Unity' . Both games had similar timelines, so once 'Rogue' ended, it led directly into 'Unity' . The prologue of 'Unity' showed Arno, the protagonist of the game, arriving in Versailles with his father, Charles Dorian, who had to leave his son temporarily and told him to wait for him. Arno then meets Elise, who was also a main character throughout the game. Both Arno and Elise are children at this time and around the same age. The story takes off after that when Arno's father, Charles, is mysteriously murdered while Arno was exploring with Elise. That point in the game was a mystery, until the very end of 'Rogue' , when we play as Shay Cormac, who's mission was to enter Versailles and assassinate Arno's father, which connected the two games together. We even see Arno and Elise talking together in the hallway while Shay walks past them and finishes his job to kill Charles. The crossover between the two games was a pleasant surprise, and some gamers did not even know about this connection for some time because of how badly 'Rogue' was overshadowed. ‘ Assassin’s Creed Rogue ’ did the unthinkable, playing the game as a character who sides with the infamous Templar Order, the main antagonist group throughout the entire series. Ubisoft decided to show gamers the perspective of a Templar for once, and not that of a member of the Assassins Brotherhood. The story showed how there are always two sides to a story. For the longest time ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ fans were only accustomed to, of course, being on the Assassin’s side, and never the idea of following and understanding the viewpoint of the enemy, as all Templars were considered evil and power-greedy. ‘ Rogue ’ however showed us the story of a man named Shay Patrick Cormac, who initially was a member of the Assassins Brotherhood, but was turned to the Templar Order after a major disagreement with his mentors. The story explained how the Assassins were looking to capture and obtain certain artifacts in history, but they were unaware that the artifacts were not supposed to be meddled with. Shay finds this out the hard way, and so he leaves the Assassins and becomes a member of the Templar Order, with Shay knowing he’s made the right decision for himself. This viewpoint change showed us that the Assassin’s can very well be wrong for once, and that the so-called evil Templars could be on the right side of history. This idea would’ve never made sense to fans of the games before ‘ Rogue ’ released, because realistically we have been shown from the beginning that Assassins were the heroes and Templars were the enemies. Fans couldn’t believe the Templars could actually be right, which is very understandable. Ubisoft clearly took another major risk with this game. Having the main character betray and hunt down members of the Assassins Brotherhood. This choice could clearly upset some fans, but the importance of showing that not one side is always right and winning every single time was vital to the narrative of the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series, and to other game franchises as well, showing major depth to the story. ‘ Rogue’ may very well be a less heard of and underrated game, but in a way it may have the most important narrative angle in the entire franchise. It shows Ubisoft’s job at creating stories for games isn’t predictable or repetitive, and instead shows risky, but very wise storytelling and creative depth. A lot of game developers and gaming franchises are unable to create and show the importance of dual sided storytelling, but Ubisoft took this path and proved their brilliance in the narrative arts. It is ironic that a game like ‘ Rogue’ could be this important and be so less talked about compared to the other major games in the series. This game did an excellent job being a bridge to the next generation of ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ games, as it marks the end of a historic generation of gaming consoles for the franchise, but also ends on a strong note and successfully set the stage for the then-hyped PS4 and Xbox One consoles. Maybe Ubisoft was onto something here. Storytelling isn’t supposed to be one sided, and often is in need of narrative depth. There might always be fans who disagree with the direction ‘ Rogue ’ took, and may not like the turncoat side of the story, but there is no denying its evident importance. Ubisoft took an angle to this story that we may not see again in another ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ game, but for now we can be thankful we were able to experience the important idea of having two sides to a story. Ubisoft knew exactly what they were doing when creating this game, and still to this day it remains a creative masterpiece for the ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ series. 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

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Sword of the White Horse Temporized Breakdowns Share 7 Jul 2022 Written By: Edited By: ActualSpider-Man Ashlea Blackett Back To Database A Celtic warrior defending her people from Viking raiders infiltrates an ancient sect to save her homeland, in this gripping original saga set in the world of Assassin's Creed® Valhalla Mercia, 878. Witch-warrior Niamh discovers a new order called the Hidden Ones is seeking to establish a foothold in Lunden. Her land is already scarred by Viking raiders, bloody wars, and clashing cultures. Determined to protect what remains of her homeland, she infiltrates this new group to discover whether they stand with her… or against her. Yet when Niamh learns the Hidden Ones have stolen an artifact sacred to her people, her own loyalties are challenged. Casting aside newfound alliances and friendships, Niamh soon discovers that betrayal comes with a heavy price and it will take everything in her power – her gods willing – to survive. Document contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Sword of the White Horse Welcome to another Assassin's Creed deep dive, this time covering the recently released Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Sword of the White Horse novel by Elsa Sjunneson and Aconyte Books. In this extensive breakdown, ActualSpider-Man from the Isu Network Writing Team explores the events which take place in the book, analysing the key moments of importance by chapter. Different factions are highlighted using a colour system, which you can find on page 2 of the document. We hope that you find this comprehensive research useful! AC Valhalla - Sword of the White Horse Temporized .pdf Download PDF • 1.78MB comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Author of the all-encompassing timeline, Codex Temporis, and the Isu-to-English dictionary, Codex Transferendum, Your Friendly Neighborhood Mentor is here to help unweave the confusing web of AC! ActualSpider-Man

This Week in Assassin’s Creed Virtual Photography: 17th to 23rd April Community Share 25 Apr 2023 Written By: Edited By: Aaron Young Colum Blackett Back To Database Welcome to the weekly virtual photography roundup hosted by Aaron Young from The AC Partnership Program. Every week I 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. Aaron is a keen virtual photographer and loves to post his journeys through Assassin’s Creed on Twitter. Keep an eye on the site as more weekly shots are added, we are looking for captures across all Assassin’s Creed games. Tag your photos to the #TOWCBWeeklyCapture for a chance to be featured. This week’s theme: Assassin’s Creed Hidden One Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ 9b75 We start this week’s showcase with a captivating shot of Eivor appearing from the shadows. The lighting of this capture is truly breath-taking. The elegance of Eivor’s position allows the light to enhance the details on Ezio’s famous outfit. If you wanted a shot to epitomise the saying ‘we work in the dark to serve the light” then this is it. The Eyes Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ warriorqueenvp Eivor always wanted the Raven clan to be feared. Well with a stare as intense as this she can’t help but succeed. I admire the use of colour in this shot, with just three elements the capture stands out incredibly. The face tattoo works so well with the yellow eyes, it also creates conflict with it looking very Christian but on a Pagans face. An excellent portrait of our favourite Viking. The Dogs of War Game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey VP Artist: @ lightfallimage Kassandra may be a fearsome warrior but facing a three headed dog is something else. This is one hell of shot, I love the depth of field, just enough to make the situation seem threatening. Kassandra’s stance is so good with the spear and sword at the ready. I have to say the capture and quote go hand in hand and make for a powerful package. Truly spectacular stuff from Jonnybubs. The Ones Who Came Before Photo of the Week: Judge: Colum Blackett (Col_96 from TOWCB Admin Team) This shot is incredible. It captures one of the most memorable moments from Assassin's Creed Odyssey and makes it cinematic. For me, this shot is worthy of recognition for numerous reasons. Kassandra's stance is incredibly powerful, with the three headed threat lurking in the background. She just looks so calm in the presence of an intimidating foe. I particularly like the depth of field in this shot, as although the background is out of focus, the colours shine through, creating a striking contrast to the calm, collected Misthios. Great shot. An epic capture. Winter Game: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla VP Artist: @ Cll3ar This week’s #Thorsday shot is pure brilliance. The details on show here are magnificent, showing the VP artist skills and also Ubisoft’s epic world building. I believe this is from the Northumbria arc of the game. It was such a great idea to split the season over the different Kingdoms of England, allowing us to take vastly differing shots. I don’t think you could wish for a more Norse feel for our unofficial Thorsday theme. Checkout the set below. Link to set Vigilante Game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey VP Artist: @ JPGphotomode We end this week’s showcase with a spectacular shot of Kassandra with her hood up. You can’t help but admire the shadow work in this shot. Mixed with the awesome face paint, Kassandra looks like she belongs to the league of assassins from DC. I would have loved to see Kassandra in a traditional assassin role, but maybe one day through the Infinity hub. And that sums it up for this week’s Assassin’s Creed virtual photography recap list! Thank you for checking out this week’s photo collection. This would not be possible without the virtual photographers out there so a huge thanks to them. Until next week keep those shots coming in! comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. 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

Decoding the Creed: Assassin's Creed Mirage Arabic Poems Analysis Share 15 Jul 2023 Written By: Edited By: Noon (TheHiddenVirtuals) Colum Blackett Back To Database Welcome to the second article in a new series dedicated to decoding the secrets hidden within the Assassin's Creed series. In this article, new recruit The Hidden Virtuals examines the mysterious text from recent Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay footage, which can be seen in the background of the contracts board which Basim can interact with in the Hidden Ones Bureau. Here is our analysis of the three poetry pieces! Poem 1: Written by Ali bin Mohammed bin Abdul Rahim Al-Warznini Al-Alawi “Sahib Al-Zandj” ( Leader of the Zanj Rebellion) Died: 884 AD | Abbasid Caliphate لهف نفسى على قصور ببغداد … وما قد حوته من كل عاص The self weeps upon the palaces of Baghdad … and what they hold of sinners وخمور هناك تشرب جهرا … ورجال على المعاصي حراص Where Spirits are shamelessly chugged …and where men are thirsty to sin لست بابن الفواطم الغرّ إن لم … أجُلّ الخيل حول تلك العراص I am no Fatimi descendant …if my stallions did not surround those walls “al-Ghor” was referring to Ali ibn Abi Talib prophet Mohammed ’s cousin as an Epithet of Ali ibn Abi Talib which means “Leader of Believers” hence “ the leader of the Zanj Rebellion ” is claiming to be a descendant of his, something which scholars now argue to be false. Poem 2: Written by Abu Tammam Habib bin Aws bin Al-Harith Al-Ta'i Died: 846 AD | Abbasid Caliphate يُتَرجِمُ طَرفي عَن لِساني بِسِرِّهِ…فَيُظهِرُ مِن وَجدي الَّذي كُنتُ أَكتُمُ My eyes speak for secrets with that my tongue withholds…for they reveal from my sorrow what i kept untold أَلَيسَ عَجيباً أَنَّ بَيتاً يَضُمُّني…وَإِيّاكَ لا نَخلو وَلا نَتَكَلَّمُ How strange ! One place embracing us together you and i … yet apart (Known for his literature in the 9th-century, including a collection of early poems known as the Hamasah , considered one of the greatest anthologies of Arabic literature ever assembled, featuring over 880 entries) Poem 3: Source: Found in Abu Tammam Habib bin Aws bin Al-Harith Al-Ta'i's Poetry Collection Died: 963AD وإني لإشفاقي عليكَ وصَبْوتي ... إليكَ كأني في المنام أراكا And as i worry and yearn for you …i vision you in my sleep تُحدّثني نفسي إذا غِبتَ ساعةً، ... بأنّ لقاء الموتِ دون لِقاكا For in your absence my soul wonders…if death would meet me before i meet you This short poem was written by a servant of Ibn Asem, a Scholar who wrote literature covering history, poetry and religion. The poem was originally written on footwear belonging to the servant. The scribbles were then featured in Abu Tammam Habib bin Aws bin Al-Harith Al-Ta'i's Poetry Collection. It may well have been written in times previous to or during the events of Assassin Creed Mirage, also potentially pre-dating the Abbasid Caliphate, but the exact date of it's creation remains unknown. We hope that you found this article interesting. Look out for future articles in the Decoding the Creed series, as we begin to unravel mysteries hidden in plain sight. Related Articles Decoding the Creed: Assassin's Creed Mirage Calligraphy Drawings comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Noon (@HiddenOnesN) is a Virtual Photography enthusiast and writer who joined TOWCB social media team in Summer of 2023 as an Arabic Translator. In a series of Twitter threads decoding hidden messages within the Assassin's Creed Mirage Marketing campaign, Noon made a strong impression online as a codebreaker. By joining TOWCB, we boosted her findings with a larger audience, and are working together to improve our social media strategies and grow our community. In late 2023, Noon notably be led our 'Decoding the Creed' series, diving deep into the mysteries hidden within the franchise. She also worked alongside the Virtual Photography Team to grow our Twitter community, and encourage interactions. Noon (TheHiddenVirtuals)

Q&A with Eric Baptizat: Assassin's Creed Valhalla Game Director Interview Share 6 Sept 2020 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Buckley Back To Database We're proud to release the first interview in a new series dedicated to the development of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, featuring Game Director Eric Baptizat from Ubisoft Montreal! Col: First of all, congratulations on the reveal of AC Valhalla, it looks absolutely phenomenal and we can't wait to learn more. Are you pleased with the response to the game so far? Eric: We are very happy about the first public reactions. It is very encouraging for our team to see how much the community is already commenting and creating content around the game. It is a morale boost on our side and we are eager to let everyone play the game in a few months and discover all the surprises we have for them. Col: Have you seen any of the Valhalla fan content created so far, and if so, does anything special come to mind? Eric: We have been very surprised by the way fans have created their own versions of Eivor. There are already a lot of cosplayers, weapons replicas and a large variety of beautiful artworks, the quality of those creations are also quite high and very impressive. We have also been pleased to see that the logo was appreciated, our Art Director Visual Design, Nicolas Rivard , was very adamant from day one to deliver a high quality logo that people would appreciate. Seeing fans already using it everywhere is really pleasing for us. Col: How excited are the team to be working on such a unique project? Eric: The team is energised to deliver a high quality game. People have spent several years on this project and are proud to be able to soon to let everyone play what they have been working on. There are many elements we want players to discover and talk about, many wonderful locations to visit, tons of secrets and gameplays to discover. Assassin's Creed Valhalla releases November 17th 2020 Col: Have the team taken inspiration from TV shows such as Vikings or The Last Kingdom, and how is Valhalla different to traditional Viking media depictions? Eric: The team has analyzed all references related to the time period from books, movies, tv-shows, video games, but it is really the real history that comes as a first source of inspiration. Our goal is to deliver a true Viking experience. When we create a game, we define first an objective we want to reach, a simple sentence that describes the type of game we want to make. Then, we study everything we can related to this time period and we select the relevant elements that will help us to concretise our objective. Col: How does Norse mythology tie into established Assassin's Creed lore, and will it make sense to longtime fans of the series? Eric: The pantheon of Nordic gods and Norse mythology played an important role in the daily life of the Norse. Norse customs and practices are integral to the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the characters inhabiting this world, but otherwise we want to let fans discover it when they play the game! Col: Assassin's Creed Valhalla brings back Social Stealth, and adapts it in a new way. What tools are available to players who wish to approach the game from a stealth perspective? Eric: As a Viking during this time period, Eivor is not welcome into the different towns and villages of England. The cloak you can wear allows you to pass undetected within the crowd and avoid guards’ attention. When using your cloak, you have as well a variety of tools at your disposal: Eivor can use civilian workstations to stay undetected when a guard patrol comes nearby, you can trick drunkards to create chaos and lure guards away from their position, and the last tool is a reference to the first Assassin’s Creed; blending into crowds in order to pass gatekeepers unnoticed. Col: How does 'Odin's Sight' differ to traditional eagle vision? Eric: Odin’s Sight represents Eivor’s perception of your surroundings. It is a mix between your intuition and your perception of what is around you. It is like a sixth sense you can trigger at anytime to highlight momentarily the nearby opportunities and dangers. "Going incognito is an efficient way to sneak through an area and not create unwanted noise." (Ubisoft) Col: What abilities / skills are available for Synin (raven companion), and how does the mechanic differ to what we saw in Origins and Odyssey? Eric: Synin is Eivor’s everyday companion. You can teach Synin new tricks through the ability system so that she can help you in fights, distract or lure enemies and even attack them. The player can at any time look at the game from the raven’s perspective: this will highlight the most important activities and rewards in the raven’s vision. The player can also trigger the raven’s stationary flight to use the bird’s eye view and spot even more elements to collect like chests, crafting minerals or animal presence. Col: Can Eivor eat, drink, sleep and bathe? Eric: In fact, Eivor can nearly do all of that. Eating is becoming a very important element, as you’ll need to eat food to regain some health. Collecting berries or hunting animals for food is essential for your survival. You can also eat mushrooms in the wilderness but there could be some risks there… Eivor can also sleep in the settlement to regenerate some health and wake up later in the day. In the settlement and in cities and villages you’ll be able to drink and even participate in some drinking challenges. The only element you cannot do is bathe, but if you feel the need to refresh yourself after a fight you can jump at anytime in water and it will do the job of removing all blood splatters on you. Col: Can the hidden blade be used in combat, as we saw in earlier games like AC3 & AC4? Eric: The hidden blade cannot be used as a single weapon in combat. Our combat system puts the focus on the dual wielding possibilities and allows the player to experiment with a large variety of weapon combinations by deciding which weapon you put on your right or left hand. You can even create some unique fight strategies by playing, for example, with one shield in each hand. Col: When can the feign death ability be used, and how does it work? Eric: The Feign Death ability can be used anytime once you have acquired it. It will make Eivor fall to the ground and fake death. You can use it anywhere: in the middle of the fight, in the street, even alone in the wilderness if you want. Outside of the strategic advantage to escape a fight or to lure an enemy toward you to assassinate them, the fun part of this ability is to play with enemies’ and civilians’ reactions. Be careful though, as you might not be able to fool someone twice. We would like to thank Eric for joining us for this interview, and to Gabe Graziani and the Ubisoft PR department for making it possible. 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)

Quick-Fire Community Questions - Round 4: McHeisenburglar (Irakli) Community Interview Share 30 Sept 2018 Written By: Edited By: Ashlea Blackett Colum Blackett Back To Database Ashlea: Hello Irakli, thank you for taking part in round four of our Quick-Fire Community Questions series! We would love to ask you a few questions about your work as an admin for The Ones Who Came Before and your time as a Star Player at Gamescom. As we already know you are one of the fellow admins here at The Ones Who Came Before, but tell us a little more abut yourself and the role you play in the Assassin's Creed Community. Irakli: My name is Irakli, though I mostly go by McHeisenburglar online, and I’ve been a member of the community for a couple of years now. Most of my work involves graphic design for Assassin’s Creed-related projects, such as the yearly Assassin’s Creed Marathon, the Assassin’s Creed subreddit, and, of course, The Ones Who Came Before. Ashlea: We know that you do a lot of work behind the scenes work within the Community. Please tell us more about this. Irakli: All the projects I am or have been a part of are team-based, so they’re often a cooperative effort with a lot of moving parts. For example, I help organize the Assassin’s Creed Marathon, and while I do take care of the designs you see online, I also help with the schedule of the Marathon, formatting and updating our daily threads, figuring out giveaway details and so on. On the subreddit, I help with updating the CSS, reworking the rules, wikis, FAQs, configuring AutoModerator. Ashlea: So when did you first start playing Assassins Creed, which game was the first you played? What intrigued you about the franchise leading you to start playing? Irakli: The first Assassin’s Creed game I played was AC3, though I had heard about the franchise for years. It was when one of my favorite YouTubers started a walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 that I was intrigued by the idea, the gameplay and even the graphics. A couple of weeks later I got the game, and I played through it right away. While I did enjoy the single player, it was AC3’s multiplayer that really got me hooked and kept me playing for months, and I still consider AC3 to have the best multiplayer in the series. PvP was initially the only reason I purchased AC4 the following year, though it wasn’t long before I played the story of that as well and officially became obsessed with the series. A couple of months later, I bought all of the games I had been missing and played through the series in a little DIY-Marathon. Ashlea: How long have you been a part of the Community? How did you first become involved with The Ones Who Came Before? How long have you been involved with the AC marathons and as a Reddit moderator? What do you enjoy most about each of these roles you have? Irakli: I have been part of the online/Reddit-based Assassin’s Creed community for a little over three years. I visited the subreddit for the first time in June 2015, after watching the E3 gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and wanting to discuss it online. There, I saw an announcement for an ‘Assassin’s Creed Marathon’ and was drawn to it right away, and decided to reach out to the team and offer to help out. That’s really when I first started taking graphic design and project work seriously. A couple of months later, as the 2015 Marathon was already underway, I reached out to The Ones Who Came Before regarding some of their designs. We had been working with TOWCB for Marathon promotion and I’d spoken with Colum personally, and I thought I would give feedback on their graphics and suggest things they could improve for their branding, and within a couple of hours I was offered to join the team as a graphic designer. I spent the next two years working on annual Assassin’s Creed Marathons and making designs for The Ones Who Came Before, and in 2017, in preparation for that year’s Marathon, I talked frequently with Dylan/Turul, one of the subreddit moderators, as the Marathon had always been a cooperation between our team and the subreddit mods, to allow things like custom user flairs and daily stickied posts. There were a lot of things we needed to get done, and some of them would’ve been impossible through Twitter DMs alone, so I was given a temporary moderator role on the subreddit. This was primarily for Marathon purposes, but I was free to help out with other subreddit matters, as a ‘trial’ for being a permanent moderator. Over the following weeks, I helped fix some CSS issues, rework the rules and open up the official r/AssassinsCreed Discord Server, and by the time Origins rolled around, I was announced as an official addition to the team. I like these roles (and other ones I’ve had in the community) for different reasons, I suppose. The Marathon remains the project I’m most passionate and sort of ‘protective’ of, so whenever I’m not that free, I try to use most of my AC free time to help out with that. I really enjoy working on TOWCB because of how much graphic design experience and skill I get out of it. The logo we unveiled in 2017 remains one of my single favorite design projects to date. The subreddit, on the other hand, has taught me what moderating forums is actually like, and what goes into a well-managed and run subreddit/forum. Plus, 90% of the CSS I know is thanks to the AC subreddit. Ashlea: What is your favourite part of being in the community? Irakli: The memes are nice. Ashlea: Your Twitter name is quite unusual, could you tell us where the name McHeisenburglar came from? Irakli: Honestly, I don’t remember exactly how it all happened. A couple of years ago I had to register for some site, and I guess ‘McHeisenburger’ was pretty funny (I was binging Breaking Bad at the time), and I didn’t give it a second thought. Years later I had to register for Reddit, and I saw that ‘mcheisenburger’ was taken, so on a whim I decided to change the ‘burger’ to a ‘burglar’. It sort of stuck once I joined the community. Ashlea: One of your main responsibilities with The Ones Who Came Before is you Graphic Design work how did you get into graphic design? Are you self taught or was it something you learnt at school? Irakli: I initially got into graphic design when I watched some YouTube videos of people making graphics and wallpapers and whatnot, and thinking it was the most incredible thing in the world. I couldn’t fathom someone making their own wallpaper. So then I pirated a bunch of Adobe programs, including Photoshop, and tried it out for myself. I was not good AT ALL, but that didn’t stop me from making dumb crap every once in a while, including YouTube channel artwork and logos for fake companies. It was really the Assassin’s Creed projects that made me take it seriously, and really pushed me to actually be decent at design. The 2015 Marathon was the first project I worked on, and a lot of the tasks I had were things I’d never done before, so I learned it through trial and error, and they turned out good because I worked with a team that didn’t hesitate to criticize. Other projects followed it, including TOWCB, The Bureau Podcast, ‘Assassin’s Creed Legacies’, all of which helped me improve, even if incrementally. Now it’s fun to look back on those old designs and see the progress I’ve made. Ashlea: What it means to you to be selected as a Ubisoft Star Player? Was it something you were expecting or was it a complete surprise? Irakli: I would be lying if I said that I didn’t expect to be selected this year. I had been active in many parts of the AC community over the years, and had worked on various somewhat-known projects. However, I wouldn’t have been so confident if Sofija hadn’t been picked the year before. That invite made it clear to us that being a Star Player was actually realistic, even if by doing just project work like we were. Ashlea: As a star player you recently attended Gamescom, what were you most looking forward to about the event? Did it live up to your expectations? Irakli: In the weeks leading up to Gamescom, I didn’t know what I was most excited about, though I knew it wasn’t Odyssey. As we got closer to the event, a Twitter group was created of all the Assassin’s Creed people that would be attending Gamescom, which made it clear what Gamescom was going to be about — meeting people. In the end, the best part of the event was really the opportunity to meet so many Assassin’s Creed community members and other Star Players. I had known a lot of these people online, and actually having a face-to-face conversation felt surreal. The event itself was also outstanding, especially with the VIP treatment we got from Ubisoft, getting to play the games early, etc. Overall, the two days were unforgettable. Ashlea: Were you excited to be able to play AC Odyssey early? What were your thoughts about the game? Irakli: I had very, very little hopes going into the Odyssey demo. I was not excited for the game at all, and barely kept up with the news and marketing (definitely a first for me). I played the demo twice at Gamescom, and it was almost exactly what I imagined. It’s a beautiful, well-built game with a lot of stuff to do, but I have a hard time seeing its place in the Assassin’s Creed series. I don’t think it will be a bad game, in fact, I think most people that enjoyed Origins will have a good time with this game as well. Unfortunately, I don’t consider myself to be part of those people. Ashlea: Do you have any hopes for things you would like to see in the game? Do you have any concerns about anything? Irakli: Still have a bit of hope that the marketing isn’t telling the whole story, and there are more ‘Assassin’s Creed’ things in the game that we have yet to see. I’m hoping it enriches the lore and treats it carefully, though I don’t think that is too likely. As is the consensus, I’d love to see a lot of First Civilization exposition and involvement in Odyssey, as there is not much else to do in a time period that predates even Bayek. Ashlea: Now that you have been to Gamescom what do you have planned next within Community? Irakli: Honestly, I am not sure. Right after Gamescom I moved to Germany to start university, and so the last month has been a great change of pace for me. Unfortunately, this also means I don’t have as much time or heart to pour into Assassin’s Creed anymore, but only time will tell. I’ll try to stick around, but with university taking up more and more of my time and interest (and Odyssey… not), it might be time to take a small step back. Ashlea: Thank you so much for taking part in our fourth round of Quick Fire Community Questions. You can find Irakli on Twitter here comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Ashlea is the Editor/ Charity Project Coordinator for The Ones Who Came Before on its wide variety of social media platforms. Her main responsibilities for TOWCB involve creating and editing articles, organisation of events and coordinating our charity fundraising, as well as hosting the Rally The Creed Podcast. Ashlea Blackett

Searching For The Creed - London II Breakdown Share 20 Oct 2025 Written By: Edited By: Gustav Poulsen (Gargudon) Gargudon Back To Database Gustav / Gargudon from our team has called the great English capital a second home last three years’ time now, doing a lot of back and forth between there and native Denmark every now and then. This we saw as an occasion for our very first Searching For The Creed article a while ago, comparing landmarks found throughout the city, to their portrayal in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. That article contained but a fraction of them though, and now with Syndicate’s 10th anniversary right around the corner as well, we shift focus towards some of the rest! Temple Church Kicking off the list, we take a look at Temple Church, which served as the headquarters of the real Knights Templar in England during Medieval times. The main round part of the church is based on The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - the burial site of Jesus Christ - to recreate the sanctity of the Holy Sepulchre and feeling of being there. The round church was used from 1163, the Templars moving there from their original English house located in Holborn, having been used since the 1140s. Not much to say about it other than Ubisoft Quebec did a great job doing so. While the church’s interior is inaccessible in-game and was not recreated, the visible exterior of it more or less looks identical to its real life counterpart. Temple Church is open and can be visited Monday-Friday from 10:00-16:00, with admission ranging from 3-5£, with children being admitted free of charge. Tower Bridge Located on the edge of the borough of Tower Hamlets bordering City Of London, Tower Bridge is undoubtedly one of the great city’s most famous and iconic landmarks, attracting thousands and thousands of visitors every year. Construction of the bridge began in 1886, and stood finished and opened 8 years later in 1894. The bridge is particularly famous for its two bascules that can be lifted, allowing for smaller ships to pass through. Found during the World War I segment of the game, the recreation of the bridge is more or less spot on, only major difference between then and now, being the construction of the glass floor walkway located at the top of the bridge, that only opened as recently as 2014. The bridge itself is open and free to walk across 24/7, and interior admittance is from 09:30-18:00 every day of the week, with tickets granting access to the engine rooms and glass walkways priced at 6,70£ for children and 13,40£ for adults. Tower of London Also located on the very edge of Tower Hamlets right next to Tower Bridge, is of course the Tower of London, another one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Construction first began in 1066, William The Conqueror erecting the first fortifications. The central “White Tower” was started a few years later around 1078, and fortifications were extended in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Tower has served as everything from Royal palace and residence, a public records office, an arsenal and more, but probably most notably a prison and execution ground, also housing the (in)famous Traitor’s Gate on the river. Also found during select memories and the World War I segment of the game, honestly not much to say, other than Ubisoft Quebec more or less perfectly recreated the iconic landmark, both the fortified exterior, the courtyard, as well as interior with armours, weaponry and more on display. Tower of London is open and can be visited from 9/10:00-16:30 from October to March, and until 17:30 from April to September, every day of the week year round, with the exception of January 1st, 6th and 7th, as well as December 24-26th. Tickets start at 17,90£ for children, and are up to 35,80£ for adults. King’s Cross St. Pancras Located in the southern end of the borough of Camden, King’s Cross St. Pancras is one of London’s biggest and most famous train stations. Originally opened in 1868, it shares a building with the former Midland Grand Hotel, and is considered one of the greatest marvels of Victorian Gothic architecture. Since its opening 157 years ago, it has been expanded more than once, and from 2007 and onwards, the station has been widely known for its Eurostar services to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and more of mainland Europe. There are a few notable differences between the real station and its in-game portrayal, parts of the facade looking slightly different in-game, as well as the lack of the building’s main tall tower, but ultimately the game’s portrayal still captures the look, colours and essence of it. Charing Cross Located right besides the iconic Trafalgar Square in the very heart of Central London, Charing Cross is another one of the great city’s biggest and busiest train stations. The station originally opened in 1864, South Eastern Railway looking to expand their line across The Thames from London Bridge into the West End and other parts of Central, given growing demand from commuters. Not much to say about it other than Ubisoft Quebec did a great job recreating the station building’s iconic facade, a few minor changes naturally having come with the years. The station’s interior has also changed, today having a sleeker, more modern look instead of classic Victorian architecture. Even today the station remains widely used for its South Eastern Railway services to a number of destinations across Kent and East Sussex in Southeast England, as well as its Underground services, with an approximate 37 million passengers passing through the station every year. Victoria Station Located in the heart of the borough of Westminster, Victoria Station is one of the city’s most popular and largest train stations. Competing for services going to the West End, two railway companies - London Brighton & South Coast and London Chatham & Dover - started building each their side of the station, with the former’s side opening in 1860, and the latter’s two years later in 1862. There are a few notable differences, but also similarities between the game’s portrayal and the real building. The station’s iconic facade has more or less always looked the same, but the interior is significantly smaller in-game and looks quite different. This ultimately makes sense, with how the station underwent big rebuilding, re-opening in 1909. Overall though, Ubisoft Quebec did a great job recreating the landmark, from the the iconic facade to the general feel of the station. The station has only evolved further with the years, seeing the removal of old walls dividing the two railway companies’ sides of it, and in the 1980’s, Victoria Plaza came to be, housing offices, as well as a minor shopping complex. Today the station is widely known for its services to a number of destinations in South England - from Brighton, Southampton, Portsmouth and more - and is also widely used for its fast and cheap services to London Gatwick Airport by thousands of visitors every year. Monument Located at the beginning of the City Of London to the East, The Monument to the Great Fire Of London stands tall just off of Fish St Hill and Monument St. Designed by architects Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, construction of the spire began in 1671, and stood finished 6 years later in 1677, commemorating the great fire in September of 1666, destroying over 13.000 houses, 87 churches and many more buildings. The Monument also stands close to Pudding Lane where the fire started, in a small bakery owned by Thomas Farriner. There are a few notable differences between the game’s portrayal and its real life counterpart. The spire itself looks pretty accurate and spot on - although we are unaware of any secret ancient civilisation technology hidden inside it - and its more the surrounding area that has changed drastically, then being in a much wider and more open space, today being closely surrounded by modern buildings. The Monument is open and can be visited - walking to the top of it offering stunning views of Central London - from 9:30-18:00 every day of the week, closed for lunch from 13:00-14:00, and with the exception of 24th-26th December. Tickets are 3£ for 5+ children (under go free) and 6£ for adults, with special reduced prices for students and disabled. London Bridge And concluding this list is one of the city’s most legendary bridges, simply named after the city, as well as most iconic and enduring landmarks. Located on the River Thames between Southwark and the City Of London, it is one to have undergone the most changes since its inception almost 1000 years ago. Construction originally began in 1176 under Peter of Colechurch, replacing a timber bridge built in late Roman and early Medieval times. He passed away in 1205, but his vision was completed by fellow citizens 4 years later in 1209. The original Medieval London Bridge, remains one of the greatest marvels of Medieval architecture, housing numerous stores by the waysides, houses built above them, with up to 138 premises recorded by 1358. The bridge fascinatingly also remained the only connection point between the North and South side of The Thames, until the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750. After years of frequent repairs, a major renovation project came underway, all houses were removed by 1762, and the ultimately simpler bridge, only housing walkways and traffic lanes as we know it today was slowly born. Honestly not much to say about the bridge, other than Quebec did a great job recreating it, and it more or less looked the same mid-19th century as it does today. The vicinity around has certainly changed and evolved though, today famously housing everything from Borough Market famous for its restaurants and street food, the iconic The Shard, and of course London Bridge station, widely used for its Underground, as well as services to South- & Southeast England, including Brighton, Gatwick Airport, a number of destinations across Kent & East Sussex and more. And that concludes this second list of landmarks found throughout London, compared to their portrayal in AC Syndicate, and now we have just about taken a look at every major noteworthy landmark in the city. Make sure to stay tuned for more Searching For The Creed articles in the future, as we shift focus towards other locations from throughout the games. Be sure to also check out our other existing comparison articles, taking a look at other places in London, Florence and Rome. comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. About the Author Gustav / Gargudon is an active community member, who started out in podcast hosting in 2016, but today mostly specialises in video creation, interviews & composing. By joining The Ones Who Came Before in 2019, originally reviving 'The Memory Corridor' podcast, which had been offline for nearly a year, he has had the opportunity to expand his audience and further develop his skills. 

His unique skill set made him the perfect candidate for our team. Among other things, he is known in the community for the Sounds Of History project - an original Assassin’s Creed inspired instrumental music project, featuring five tracks inspired by as many different games - other original fan themes plus covers of iconic AC tracks, as well as video interviews with a number of high profile names in the world of AC, from Roger Craig Smith, Jesper Kyd and more. Fun fact, among his growing colourful tattoo collection, Gustav is the only member of our team to have the TOWCB logo inked. Gustav Poulsen (Gargudon)

The Maverick is an Assassin's Creed TikTok star based in USA who is known for his comedy sketches and parkour ability. He is also a Modern Day follower of the Creed who strives to make a difference in real life, through actions such as litter picking and fundraising to help the less fortunate. Previous Next The Maverick Video Content Previous Partner The Maverick is an Assassin's Creed TikTok star based in USA who is known for his comedy sketches and parkour ability. He is also a Modern Day follower of the Creed who strives to make a difference in real life, through actions such as litter picking and fundraising to help the less fortunate. Instagram | Twitter | TikTok Work

AC Community Questions: ActualSpider-Man // IMHOZen1 (Writer for TOWCB) Community Interviews Share 23 Mar 2023 Written By: Edited By: Colum Blackett (Col_96) Ashlea Blackett Back To Database For this round of Assassin's Creed Community Questions, we invited ActualSpider-Man from TOWCB Writing Team. Col: Thanks for joining us today! Please could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role within the Assassin's Creed Community. ActualSpider-Man: It’s an honor, thank you so much for having me! I go by a few anonymous names online: Some know me as IMHOZen1 (“I am a chosen one”), a few have heard the name “Peter Parkour”, but most know me as Your Friendly Neighborhood Mentor, ActualSpider-Man. For the better part of 5 years now, I’ve been attempting to untangle the entire twisted, time-hopping web of secrets and history scattered across Assassin’s Creed into a single thread of a chronological, what I like to call “Temporized” timeline. To make a long story short, I try to make Assassin’s Creed make sense in a linear fashion. Now I get to flex those same muscles, writing for TOWCB! Col: When did you first get involved within the AC Community, and how did it all start? ActualSpider-Man: Well, to answer that requires a bit of history: The AC obsession originally bit me when getting the first game on PS3 in 2007, and it’s been my favorite franchise to collect ever since. I’ve always loved the incredible depths each entry went to allow us to experience historical events we’ve all heard about, but my self-imposed “responsibility” of unraveling it all was an idea spurred on by the artist of my AC tribute tattoo, who wanted to hear anecdotes while he inked me, and made me realize I had waaay too much “useless” knowledge about this series to not do something with it. However, what truly kicked off my desire to Temporize everything came from seeing many similar questions and confusions from fans on r/AssassinsCreed where I had been a silent lurker for years - specifically about when certain games or media would fit in the timeline. So I took it upon myself to try and answer any and all chronological questions of “who did what when, with which Piece of Eden, for whose cause?” by creating my first Codex Temporis, Latin for “Book of Time,” in 2018, and people seemed to really enjoy it, along with those that knew more cluing me in on plenty I had missed in that first draft. Non-stop since then, I’ve been expanding and correcting those findings to encompass as much fictional and real-world history as I can, working with other super-sleuths under the mantra, “With great Assassin knowledge comes great responsibility to the Creed!”® Col: What do you consider to be your top Assassin's Creed Community moment? ActualSpider-Man: Oh, man! You mean apart from scoring the chance to join TOWCB? I’ve had a few very lucky happenstances, but by far the most jaw-dropping Community-fueled moment to happen to me has to be teaming up with a couple other Isu language aficionados (shoutouts to u/bool0011 and u/bpotatoes for their invaluable insights!), who helped me build my Isu-to-English dictionary Codex Transferendum, Latin for “Book of Translation,” which we then utilized the words and rules discovered to attempt to say the Assassin motto, “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” in Isu! Our powers combined were shared to Twitter and Reddit, where the developer that built the Isu language for Valhalla, Antoine Henry, not only came to our aid on both platforms with the correct way to phrase it, but even gave us an exclusive word for “permit” (‘zàrh’) that isn’t seen anywhere else in Assassin’s Creed!!! The implications of the Assassin motto being spoken in Isu are worthy of spinning theories all their own, but for those that may not even know it exists, the full Isu phrase looks, sounds and gets broken down like this: Col: Have you always enjoyed writing, and how much research goes into one of your Codex projects? ActualSpider-Man: I’ve whiled away countless hours as an avid artist and word smith since childhood, be it drawings, stories, essays, poetry, music; no matter the form, I’ve found creative endeavors to be the most cathartic ways to express myself - if my rambling doesn’t get in the way, that is. What’s funnier is I used to dread history classes in school, and only through researching the franchise did I learn to love learning about it! If more world history and social studies teachers were as engaging as AC, I think more people would stay awake during lessons! As for time spent on my projects, it might be easier to express in months or years, as daunting as it sounds… Codex Temporis 1.0 was released in 2018 after about 5 straight months of hardcore research, while Codex Temporis 2.0 took another 2 years of compiling to come out in 2020. My Codex Transferendum was built through 6 months of Isu language practice, and now Codex Temporis 2.01 is about ready to release with another 3 years worth of findings including all that added in. But this series is like a near-infinite jigsaw puzzle: There’s ALWAYS more tidbits to piece together and put in place, to the extent that I can see myself unwinding the tapestry for as long as Ubisoft keeps the franchise going, and probably even then some! If you’re wondering just how much of my week is spent researching & writing though, I’d say for the last 5 years it’s been at least 10hrs/week if not more when something’s really caught my attention! In my defense, I justify spending all that time so other fans won’t have to - and so I won’t need to do it again - so it’s all worthwhile to me! Col: Do you have any project plans for 2023? ActualSpider-Man: Even if you’ve only heard of me up to here, you might guess by now I’m always spinning several plates, trying to balance my many avenues of relaying AC fun-facts and such, though “Parkour luck” often skews to my best laid plans’ detriment… So without dedicating any hard dates to anything just yet to avoid Murphy’s Law, I do have enormous updates to both Codex Temporis (2.01) and Codex Transferendum (2.0.2) in the works, alongside more focused articles for TOWCB, as well as those findings turned into scripts to revamp visually for my YouTube channel, so stay tuned for more on all that! Col: Do you have any personal AC goals you would like to achieve? ActualSpider-Man: I’ve always wanted to have my PSN profile show platinum for every AC that has trophy support on PlayStation. I have a 100% sync save for AC1 before trophies were implemented - I never owned it for Xbox 360 for the achievements - and my first ever platinum trophy was for AC II back on PS3, having since gotten the platinum again for AC II and Brotherhood in the Ezio Collection and Origins & Odyssey’s platinums on PS4. While I’ve spent dozens if not hundreds of hours beating all the rest, I’ve still got a long way to go to re-complete and earn every trophy out there, with some of my saves in the past going to other friends’ or console’s profiles, so that’s something I’ll have to one day grind back out to get full synchronization! Col: Which game would you consider to be your favourite? ActualSpider-Man: While I’ve grown to adore every entry for differing reasons, from AC1’s foundations, II’s literal birth of an icon that punches the Pope, Revelations’ seamless blend of stories across centuries, III’s history hitting close to home, Black Flag’s blue-watered beauty, Rogue’s enigmatic secrets, Unity’s parkour, Syndicate’s campiness, Origins’ emotional moments, Odyssey’s meme-able moments, through to Valhalla’s Isu Era history and language, I always circle back to how - in my humble opinion - even compared to games today, Brotherhood is a master class in quest design. The scope of the locale was big, and goes beyond Rome’s borders, but wasn’t as gigantic or filled with fluff as the newer titles. Every memory, whether main story or a contract or side content, even the ones set before the main events like the Cristina memories, all have direct impact on the narrative whole, and fill in holes and questions left by AC II in a way that isn’t just “filler” or “more AC II”, but a BETTER AC II. One where Ezio’s at the top of his game as an unstoppable killing machine, who’s also a less brash and bold, more level-headed, philosophical, pensive and wisened Mentor of the Brotherhood. We got to see Ezio grow to surpass his father’s greatness before him, and got to feel like WE built and trained the Assassin recruits to be as deadly as him, culminating in some of the most important beats in the Modern Day storyline like witnessing the last time we’d hear Kristen Bell voice Lucy Stillman - and that’s without mentioning the best multiplayer in the series - certainly cements Brotherhood as my #1 favorite of the franchise. So much so that I have 3 different PS3 variants (a regular cased copy, a sealed Dr. Malfatto Jack-in-the-Box edition, and the Codex Edition), and didn’t mind buying it a 4th time for the PS4’s Ezio Collection! Col: Do you have a favourite piece of Assassin's Creed merchandise? ActualSpider-Man: Actually, I have “2” - or “21” if you wanna get technical - that are too special to me to split up here: I made a friend across the pond in the UK through my research that was kind enough to buy 16 of the Official Collection figurines and ‘zines and send them to me in the States. I then of course immediately paid them back in full, but this was the only way I could get some of those elusive reads and hand-painted figures in my own collection, having only been released in that side of the world. The other are the 5 Brotherhood of Venice figures another good friendo I know state-side painted for me, the posse of Ezio in Altaïr’s Armor and the core Venetian crew of Alessandra, Benedicto, Claudio, and Dariâ done up to look game-accurate in their black robes, and I’m utterly amazed by the details on my painted mini Assassins Brotherhood! Col: Have you visited any of the locations from the games? ActualSpider-Man: I have been to a handful of spots in my home country! I’ve passed through Louisiana on a family trip as a kid, had a layover in Denver International Airport and walked some of the Revolutionary War battlefields in a couple of our 13 colonies on the eastern seaboard. But sadly I did not find the Fountain of Youth when I went down to Florida, nor have I had the chance to visit the Grand Temple in Turin, and haven’t travelled across the Atlantic to any AC locales below or further to the east… yet, fingers crossed! I would absolutely leap at the chance to sight-see Egypt’s many wonders, or backpack across Italy, especially to visit Monteriggioni, Il Colosseo and Il Vaticano! Col: Which Assassin's Creed character would you say you have the most in common with? ActualSpider-Man: I’d like to think Desmond and I are somewhat kindred spirits, having a take on his tattoo on my own skin; we both were so naive to all the history until it was flooded into our brains so quickly that there was no way not to come out on the other side a lot more analytical and understanding. And if you know about the aftermath of his fate, I kinda feel like The Reader too, now being able to use all my findings to pluck at the branches of the Calculator of Futures and peer into time whenever and wherever I please, thwipping through my Codex projects. Col: If you could retcon / change a piece of Assassin's Creed lore, what would it be and why? ActualSpider-Man: I could go the extra-cheesy route and say that Ubisoft should’ve let us defeat Juno in-game in the Modern Day rather than reading about it in Uprising - though if my handle isn’t enough giveaway, I’m a huge comic nerd too, so I really didn’t mind that all too much, having been in the major minority of those who followed the comics during releases. Or that there’s a handful of things I consider “wrong” written on the fandom wiki. But there is a small, offhanded bit of lore from the words of narrative director Darby McDevitt himself that I wholeheartedly disagree with, and refuse to acknowledge in my headcanon of Isu geography: Darby once said, “Jotunheim is not in North America.” I disagree. There are simply far, far, FAR too many numerous allusions and outright canon connections to the Grand Temple being referenced and visited in Jotunheim’s citadel of Utgard, along with landmarks that line up when overlayed with Vinland, that I can never concede to his “opinion” on that front. In my Codex, Jotunheim, Vinland, and Turin, NY are all the same place, and I go into more depth on that “debate” as well. Col: Are you excited for the launch of Assassin's Creed Mirage? ActualSpider-Man: I am very excited for what they say will be a return to form with a more focused narrative on a reasonably sized map, and of course I’m intrigued to see where they go with the Modern Day and Isu plot lines with so much cliff hanging off Valhalla’s endings, but I am still trying to keep my excitement tempered with all the too-good-to-be-true news floating around this early in development without gameplay to go on. Though I can’t deny, an Aladdin-style AC revolving around a young street-urchin Basim sounds like more fun than 40 thieves! Col: What would be your dream setting for the upcoming AC Netflix TV series? ActualSpider-Man: This is tough… There’s so many good choices they have yet to cover! My overly-analytical self wants to factor in that Michael Fassbender has been claimed to be on the live action Netflix project, but there was also tellings that he wasn’t going to reprise his role as Callum Lynch in this series, which makes me kinda wanna see him try the Spaniard accent some more for something fresh. Like maybe instead of Aguilar, we could see a different descendant between Aguilar and Cal? Maybe a Spaniard Assassin that gets mixed up in the conquests of Aztec/Incan/ Mayan areas in 16th century Mesoamerica? Or in a perfect world, he’d use his natural Irish accent to fill the open shoes of the 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence Assassin that headlines the once-mentioned Helix project, ‘Hell in Hibernia’! If either of these grain of salt context clues line up in the finished product, I’ll eat my mask, but I’d enjoy each bite! Col: Where can our community members find you online? ActualSpider-Man: You can thwip on over to my Twitter @ Spider_Mentor , wall crawl into the shadows of my subreddit at r/CodexTemporis for more frequent updates on all my projects or to posit your own queries and theories, tune in to a few early lessons and listen to a few Ezio’s Family mashups on my YouTube channel @ actualspider-man9004 , or subscribe and all that jazz for much more to come on Isu Geography and Language 101, as well as deep lore dives there in the near future - I swear, they’re coming! I might randomly swing in to stream on Twitch @ ActualSpider_Man , or if you ever wanna play a friendly round of Rocket League, my PSN handle is ActualSpider-Man , ditch the space, respect the hyphen! Thanks again, Col and TOWCB for the opportunity to share my insanity with you all, and always remember: ṇoænos wahæáid oænosr zàrhṇdichṛ • Your Friendly Neighborhood Mentor ;) We would like to say a huge thank to ActualSpider-Man for joining us for this interview! 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)

Eden is a codebreaker who joined The Ones Who Came Before during the Assassin's Creed Shadows promotional campaign, helping the team to decipher numerous codes and puzzles used for marketing. She is also a high school Maths tutor, and has previously published a few short TTRPG's with more projects in the works. She first started playing Assassin's Creed in 2010, and is especially interested in the glyphs and puzzles, and platforms such as Assassin's Creed Initiates that expand the lore in creative ways. Previous Next Edenoi Writing Team Previous Partner Eden is a codebreaker who joined The Ones Who Came Before during the Assassin's Creed Shadows promotional campaign, helping the team to decipher numerous codes and puzzles used for marketing. She is also a high school Maths tutor, and has previously published a few short TTRPG's with more projects in the works. She first started playing Assassin's Creed in 2010, and is especially interested in the glyphs and puzzles, and platforms such as Assassin's Creed Initiates that expand the lore in creative ways. Twitter Work Understanding the Isu Language: The Basics Analysis Understanding the Isu Language: Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives Analysis Understanding the Isu Language: Particles and Affixes Analysis Understanding the Isu Language: Grammatical Cases and Pronouns Analysis Where to Start With the Assassin’s Creed Series Guide Load More