The Assassin’s Creed series is known for meticulously crafted worlds based on interesting eras of history. October 27 will see the release of Assassins’ Creed Origins, based in Ancient Egypt. This week Ubisoft announced a new non-combative exploration mode called Discovery Tour, coming early 2018 as a free update.
Discovery Tour will let players explore the world of Ptolemaic Egypt with audio guided tours, completely free of combat, story, or time restraints.
“From the beginning the Assassin’s Creed franchise has always explored pivotal moments in history, from the Third Crusade to the Italian Renaissance, and this year Ancient Egypt.” said Jean Guesdon, Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed Origins. “It’s a dream come true for us to offer Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed: Ancient Egypt, an educational mode built specifically for people to learn more about the incredible history of Ancient Egypt through the interactive experience made possible via a video game.”
In Discovery Mode players can explore all the locations within the game, including the Nile Delta, Giza plateau, and cities of Alexandria and Memphis. The guided audio tours are curated by professional historians and Egyptologists. Each narration will focus on a different aspect of Ancient Egypt life, such as mummification or the Great Pyramids.
This sounds like an incredibly cool feature to create an interactive learning tool within a AAA game world. Eliminating timing, quests, and combat would allow students and adults to learn about history while enjoying walking around Ancient Egypt. Given Ubisoft’s impressive attention to historical detail in all the Assassin’s Creed games, it’s a shame it took this many games to bring us this feature.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is launching October 27 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It’s been rated M for Mature. The Discovery Tour mode will be added as a free update early 2018.
