Assassin’s Creed Unity Bends History As Ubisoft Celebrates Notre Dame’s Reopening

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Assassin’s Creed Unity, the eighth game in Ubisoft’s long-running franchise. The game was set in Paris during the French Revolution in the late 18th century, and it included a meticulous recreation of the city, including the famous Notre Dame cathedral. However, Ubisoft admitted to taking some liberties with Notre Dame’s appearance in a recent video timed to coincide with the reopening of the cathedral five years after it was devastated by a fire.

As related in the video above, the decision was made to include Notre Dame’s iconic spire even though it wasn’t added to the cathedral until 1859, roughly seven decades after the events of Assassin’s Creed Unity. Ubisoft kept the spire in the game because it’s so ingrained with the image of Notre Dame for modern viewers. The cathedral itself dates back to the 12th century, and it took 182 years to complete construction.

After the 2019 fire damaged large sections of Notre Dame, it took the better part of half a decade to restore it. However, some of Notre Dame’s repairs are still ongoing regardless of the reopening.

Ubisoft’s video was accompanied by the announcement that the video game publisher has teamed up with the Notre Dame visitors app. It will use assets from Assassin’s Creed Unity to display images from areas of the cathedral that are inaccessible to the public. Ubisoft has also released Notre-Dame de Paris: Journey Back in Time VR experience for free on the Meta store. That includes a virtual walkthrough of the cathedral, as well as a hot-air-balloon tour of 18th-century Paris at the conclusion.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate–the immediate follow-up to Unity–recently received a 60fps upgrade on the current-generation consoles. The next game in the series, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, was delayed to February 14, 2025 earlier this fall. That title will introduce a new direction for the modern storyline.