Despite Ubisoft’s intermittent fondness for historical accuracy, we’re informed that they’ve occasionally strayed from 1:1 geographical recreation of in-game locations. Port Royal wasn’t a small town opposite Kingston, but the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean sea. Constantinople law in the thirteenth century, it turns out, didn’t require every house to have its own hay bale.
But Assassin’s Creed Unity’s Paris will be closest in scale to its namesake than any other city in the series – bigger than all of Black Flag’s islands combined.
The Notre Dame cathedral in Unity is proportionally exactly the same as its real-world equivalent – and should give new assassin Arno plenty of parkour practice.
A quarter of Paris’ buildings will have interiors the player can enter and exit seamlessly, level designer Bruno Saint Andre told Kotaku – a dramatic shift from previous games, which made only key dwellings accessible via loading screens.
Creative director Alex Amancio has said that Paris’ neighbourhoods will feel more diverse than the cities of previous ACs, too.
It’s worth reminding ourselves that Ubisoft have never taken a single city as the play area of an Assassin’s Creed game before – instead splitting the player’s time between three or more locations. Settling down exclusively in France’s capital has allowed them to vary the aesthetic of each region within it more dramatically.
Unity is out on October 28 – just a couple of weeks before Far Cry 4. Oh god, I’m barely started on Watch Dogs. Are you managing to keep up with all these sprawling open worlds?