Why I love Assassin's Creed - and My Favourite Historical Settings
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| Image by Ubisoft |
[7 min read]
One of the things I love about tabletop games, video games and fantasy is the feeling of being somewhere else.
Sometimes that means another world entirely. Sometimes it means Middle-earth, Arrakis or the Forgotten Realms.
But there is something particularly satisfying about stepping into a world that actually existed.
Ancient Rome. Viking England. Medieval Europe. Feudal Japan.
These weren't invented by a game designer. People actually lived there, fought there, travelled there and built things that we can still walk around today.
And games give us a rather more interesting way of exploring that history than memorising dates at school.
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is a historical action-adventure video game series built around a fictional struggle between the Assassins and the Templars.
I love ancient history, and Assassin's Creed does an amazing job of making historical places feel tangible.
Imagine running and climbing your way around ancient Egypt, exploring Dark Ages England, wandering medieval Paris and Renaissance Rome, or sailing around the Caribbean as a pirate.
The games can get very long, but I love the freedom to simply wander around a historical city and discover what is there.
Being able to climb monuments that still exist today is a pretty wonderful combination of history and video games. And the main line series covers all my favourite settings below!
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| Image by Ubisoft |
Greco-Roman
The Greco-Roman world — or classical antiquity — covers the civilisations of ancient Greece and Rome and the enormous influence they had across the Mediterranean and beyond.
The Greeks and Romans were so advanced for their time, and I find it fascinating that their influence is still visible in our culture, philosophy, language, government and architecture thousands of years later.
And then there are the places themselves - Athens and Rome are full of monuments from antiquity that are still standing.
How to experience it
Norse & Vikings
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Europe entered a period that we often associate with the Dark Ages.
My mental picture is probably more romanticised than historical: fierce warriors braving cold seas in longships, raiding fragmented kingdoms and carving out new territories.
It is an evocative backdrop for stories, and there are some fantastic games built around it.
How to jump in
Medieval Europe
In European history, the Middle Ages lasted roughly from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, beginning after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and eventually giving way to the Renaissance.
For me, this is the classic historical setting: knights and kings, castles and crusades, swords and bows.
It was heavily covered when I went to high school, but more importantly, it is the foundation for so many of the things I love: The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, Dark Souls, Game of Thrones and countless other games and stories.
There is also something wonderfully simple about the knight archetype.
If a game gives me the choice of character, there is a very good chance I'll be the bloke in armour carrying a shield and a ridiculously long sword.
How to experience it
Feudal Japan
Japan has a long and fascinating history, but the period that interests me most is the era when imperial Japan became dominated by feudal states and shogunates.
From roughly the late 12th century onwards, the samurai became the dominant military and political class. Powerful daimyo fought for territory and influence while shoguns and their governments struggled to control a country divided by civil war.
It is the Japan of samurai, castles, warlords and competing clans.
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| Image by Sucker Punch Productions |
How to jump in
Final Thoughts
One of the reasons I love historical settings is that they sit somewhere between reality and fantasy.
You can play a game, read a novel or watch a film and enjoy the story on its own terms. But then you can look up the real place, person or event that inspired it — and suddenly the fictional world has a connection to something that actually happened. Even better if you get to visit in person.
That is probably why I keep coming back to these settings.
I don't necessarily want to learn every date, battle and political alliance. Sometimes I just want to climb around an old castle, sail a Viking longship, walk through ancient Rome or pick up a sword and pretend I'm a knight.
And if that makes me curious enough to learn a little more about the people who actually lived there, even better.
History doesn't have to stay in a textbook.
Sometimes the easiest way into it is to play.
Dashmeister
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| Image by Ubisoft |
This blog is written by me, with a little help from AI editing for clarity and tone. All ideas, feelings, and memories are mine.
