Assassin's Creed Could Save Notre-Dame

It’s not often that video game news intersects with real-world, important news, but this is one of those rare cases where it not only happens, but it’s also unambiguously good.

You’ve no doubt heard already about the heartbreaking fire that destroyed the roof and one of the spires of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which thankfully had no deaths (and spared the famous Rose Window). The fire is now extinguished and people from all over the world are chipping in to try to finance the inevitable repairs, which are estimated to cost around 1 billion euros. But all the money in the world won’t help with the fact that architects and workmen are going to need a blueprint to faithfully re-creating the famous cathedral, and sadly, one doesn’t really exist.

…Except…

It’s been suggested that Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed could actually come to the rescue. You see, Ubisoft makes a point of being as authentic (to a point) as it can when re-creating ancient cities and landmarks, and in Assassin’s Creed Unity, Notre-Dame was no exception. Ubisoft artist Caroline Miousse told the Verge that she spent an enormous amount of time – two full years -- mapping out the inside of the cathedral, which means it could serve as a sort of guide for people to rebuild the cathedral as authentically as possible.

That, combined with another art historian, Andrew Tallon, who mapped out the insides of the cathedral with laser scanners, gives people a pretty good starting point to rebuilding this monument admired around the world.

Now, there’s been no confirmation by the French government that Assassin’s Creed Unity will be used in such a way. But in my mind, that doesn’t really matter, as the fact that it could be helpful is good enough news to me, and frankly, we need more of that just about everywhere in the world right now.

So hats off to you, Ubisoft. Historical accuracy saves the day again.