Assassin’s Creed: Origins and the suitability of the open world video games for the dissemination of heritage

Abstract

In this paper, the evolution of the image of urban and patrimonial environments recreated as stage in the video game field is analyzed, from the first and limited representations in the early ages of this media, to the emergence of an open concept realistic three-dimensional set design, which starts a new video game genre where the main aspect is the relationship established between the character managed by the player and the virtual world in which it operates freely. Thus, an aptitude of the so-called open world video games is generated when recreating monumental environments of well-known real cities, which is especially interesting for the dissemination of heritage, mainly in the case of the Assassin’s Creed saga, which becomes the realistic recreation of historic cities in its hallmark. That is why, in this research, the trajectory of the series in the context of the dissemination of heritage is made known, the type of historical advice received by the developer teams is inquired, and the paradigmatic example of cultural dissemination that supposes the episode titled Assassin’s Creed: Origins is addressed.