The National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC has made gameplay from Assassin’s Creed: Origins part of an exhibit about ancient Egypt.
Many people praised Assassin’s Creed: Origins for its realistic depictions of ancient Egypt. The huge map included a lot of real-life locations and historical context about the era. Assassin’s Creed games have a history of historical accuracy, but the recent titles have gone above and beyond to create meticulous recreations of ancient civilizations.
It seems that attention to detail has paid off for the team in the form of validation from The National Geographic Museum. According to a redditor, the exhibit features a large screen which uses gameplay from Origins to exemplify day-to-day life during the period. The exhibit looks to be part of The National Geographic’s current “Queens of Egypt” exhibition.
The exhibit features real artifacts that remain from some of the ancient queens of the time, including Nefertari, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra. It also incorporates virtual reality technology to place visitors inside a simulation of Nefertari’s tomb. It covers seven different queens of the era, some of which also had a presence in Origins.
The team behind Origins spent a lot of time on the historical accuracy of the game world. Ubisoft had research staff on hand during the project to make sure they rendered ancient Egypt as true-to-life as possible. The team even consulted with historians in order to include real-life Egyptian tombs inside of the game world.
In fact, shortly after the game came out, Ubisoft updated it to include a combat-free roaming mode. The mode featured a guided educational virtual tour of the game’s recreation of ancient Egypt. The team consulted historians for this as well.
Now, the team has the validation of National Geographic themselves. The developers get to see their version of Egypt shown alongside actual artifacts from the time. This integration of Assassin’s Creed into an actual historical exhibit marks new territory for games as educational tools. The exhibit is running now and will continue to run through September 15th, 2019.
Assassin's Creed Origins is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Sources: National Geographic History Museum