Over the years, Assassin’s Creed has transported players into many of the most important moments in human history. The battle between the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order has been waged from Renaissance Italy to Imperial China all the way across the ocean to Revolution-era America. Through these adventures, players have learned more than a little about the peoples of the past and the stories that made up their culture while embroiled in stealthy heart-pounding adventures and acrobatic escapes. As the series goes further back than ever before to Egypt, even bigger questions are bound to be explored as you journey through ancient structures like cursed crypts and use (maybe not so) archaic means of communication to survive. Questions which we’re examining in the above video.
Ancient Egypt has left us with records carved into stone that give us insight into the ideals and beliefs of its people, but stories of their view of the afterlife found in the pyramids that house their royal dead are bound to resonate more than most.
Egyptians believed the gods play an active role in whether a person is admitted into the hereafter, with Mahat weighing their heart on a scale in front of Osiris’ court and Ammit devouring the souls of those found wanting, leading to a forever death. But while half-animal gods devouring souls may seem too mythical to some, the promise of an afterlife still drives many of the most popular religions all around the world. Our continued quest to answer what lies beyond death and if we can sidestep it into immortality connect the present to the past. And that’s the kind of interesting and non-standard takeaway you get when you explore a game that is as tied to world history as Assassin’s Creed.