The technology used in digital games allows us to visit the most disparate locales with a higher and higher degree of fidelity. In most cases scenery and events are fictitious in nature, but there are also many instances of historical reconstructions. A case that stands out is undoubtedly the massively popular Assassin’s Creed series, (Ubisoft, 2007-present) that has made of its historical locations a major characteristic and point of the overarching plot. This article will explore how the city of Florence during
the Renaissance is represented in the game Assassin’s Creed II. (Ubisoft, 2009) Florence, as well as Venice and San Gimignano, two other cities depicted in the game, stand in a particular position as regards their historical representation, for they have been preserved largely intact – albeit with notable, but not too
extensive, changes – since the time of the game’s setting in the 15th century. Moreover, it is this very characteristic of being mostly unchanged – compared, for example, to the New York of Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft, 2012) or the Paris of Assassin’s Creed Unity – (Ubisoft, 2014) that shaped their look in the collective imaginary, not to mention the millions of tourists that visit these cities every year. In order to analyze how the city of Florence has been recreated in Assassin’s Creed II, how it has been adapted to satisfy both the needs of a functional and entertaining game, and what people would expect from the ‘Cradle of the Renaissance’,
we will use the “History-Game Relations Framework” (HGR) during the first phase of the game set in Florence. The HGR Framework is a tool developed by Vincenzo Idone Cassone and Mattia Thibault to “conceptualize the ways in which history is shaped and adapted and to approach how this adaptation influences the representation and perception of history itself” (2016, 167) in digital games.
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