Ubisoft’s latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, Origins, takes you on a journey through Lower Egypt (the downloadable content also takes you on a journey through Upper Egypt). The traditional capital, Memphis, can be visited somewhat later in the game, but you’ll discover the Greek one, Alexandria, shortly after leaving the tutorial area. It rises like a marble mirage as you crest the Qattara Depression’s desert dunes.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins provides a poignant reminder that nothing lasts forever
You’d never think it possible given your surroundings, but a lot of Alexandria’s real-world architecture is actually underwater today. The game’s educational mode, known as the Discovery Tour, explains in pretty thorough detail how the shoreline has receded by several thousand feet since antiquity. The waves have apparently stolen away roughly half the city. This attack on civilization isn’t just referenced by the Discovery Tour, though—it’s actively represented in the game world.
Nothing stays the same. Not for an hour, not for a minute, and certainly not for a few thousand years. The Discovery Tour presents time as being ultimately responsible for the destruction of ancient Egyptian cities like Alexandria, but the landscape is presented in the main game as the active agent. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, people don’t impose themselves upon the landscape—the landscape imposes itself upon people.
While cities like Cyrene and Alexandria seemingly dominate their surroundings, the game world contains a few subtle clues which indicate otherwise. The latter for example appears to be firmly planted when seen from the inside out, but the opposite perspective reveals that it’s actually supposed to be sitting on shaky foundations. Take a walk past the Hippodrome towards Kanopos and you’ll pick up on something strange: the water table is remarkably high. This can be seen clearly enough within the settlement itself, but the phenomenon becomes even more obvious a bit further south. Partially submerged ruins dot the countryside. Sitting on tiny islands in the Nile’s marshy delta, most of these are completely isolated from everything else in the game world. They’ve been given only vultures and crocodiles for company. (Sometimes a lonely boatman trundles along). Slowly sliding into the silty river, these abandoned buildings come across like they’ll soon be swallowed by the region’s muck and mud—just like Alexandria. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, nature always takes back its territory.
Nothing stays the same. Not for an hour, not for a minute, and certainly not for a few thousand years
Found at the floodplain’s absolute edge, Letopolis apparently fell prey to the desert’s encroaching dunes long before the game’s primary protagonist, Bayek, is ever supposed to have laid eyes upon it. You’re led to believe that it simply disappeared into the surrounding terrain. Reoccupying the city after centuries of supposed abandonment, hundreds of settlers can be seen carrying out large-scale excavations to free both temple and town. (They look rather motivated, but the task still seems insurmountable). Blown in by the region’s violent storms, the windows and doors apparently do a pretty poor job at keeping out the invasive sand. It’s in all the nooks and crannies. Peek inside the temple and you’ll find it piled right up to the ceiling in almost every corner. The colossal statues to the west are even up to their necks in the stuff. Closing in on the settlement from every direction, the forces of nature seem like they want Letopolis to remain hidden for at least a few more millennia. Trying desperately to stave off Khensu’s sea of sand, the city’s latest inhabitants are clearly supposed to be fighting a losing battle against their adoptive landscape.
The city may not be disappearing under the desert’s dunes, but Egypt’s traditional capital, Memphis, is presented in the game as having an equally pressing problem: water. The settlement is supposed to be rapidly disappearing beneath the waves. While the pace of this impending annihilation seems far from Atlantean, the signs of it should still be obvious to any careful observer. Climb up a tall building and look around. The crooked pillars and leaning pylons all over the city will be a dead giveaway. Winding through Memphis like arteries, the canals were used as another indicator of the city’s future fate. The roads look like they’re in a pretty sorry state, so raft comes off as the primary means of transportation. Wander through the streets for even a few minutes and you’ll soon discover that almost every intersection has a muddy spot in the middle. There’s muck in all the gutters, too. The Discovery Tour notes how devastating the Nile floods could be in a bad year, but these few features of the game world are quite enough to suggest that a high inundation would wipe the settlement off the map.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins puts humanity firmly within nature’s grasp
The traditional capital isn’t the only city in the game world with a water problem. Similar to Memphis, the waters around Krokodilopolis are presented as a major threat to the settlement. Several different things imply a coming crisis. Crisscrossed with canals, the muddy roads are definitely one of them. The crocodile pen outside the Temple of Sobek is another. Set a few feet below ground level, this animal enclosure fully exposes the city’s shaky foundations. The water table is almost at the surface. This crocodile pen fronts a tunnel network, so you can get a good feel for the situation by simply crawling around a bit. Head over towards the nearby pyramid when you’re finished and you’ll see why it’s a bad idea to build on such marshy terrain. Constant flooding has apparently taken a steep toll on its mortuary complex. The northern area looks like it’s in relatively good condition, but the southern section is almost completely submerged in the greenish waters of Lake Moeris. The roof in this part of the building even seems to have collapsed. The walls are presumably sure to follow. They’re at opposite ends of the game world, but Krokodilopolis and Alexandria seem like they’re going to suffer a similar fate.
We know that Alexandria mostly sunk into the sea, but what actually happened to Cyrene, Kanopos, Letopolis, Memphis, and Krokodilopolis? The fact is that our knowledge about them is pretty poor. We’ve thoroughly investigated the scanty remains of Cyrene, but the others have never even been excavated. We know about Letopolis almost exclusively through text. Kanopos, Memphis, and Krokodilopolis are currently sitting beneath modern settlements.
We have no idea what happened to most of the cities in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, but that’s really beside the point. Ubisoft’s aim was to convey a message—not offer a history lesson. While most video games portray people dominating the landscape, Assassin’s Creed: Origins puts humanity firmly within nature’s grasp. Civilization is shown to be almost completely helpless in the face of its nearly unstoppable power. Covering over the vestiges of our passing, the landscape is presented as an agent of highly destructive change. We like to believe that buildings will carry our memory into the future, but Assassin’s Creed: Origins provides a poignant reminder that nothing lasts forever. Civilizations may rise to prominence, but the landscape will eventually swallow them whole.
The Heterotopias Summer Sale is now on, offering all four issues bundled together for 30% off and 15% off on individual issues. Get over 400 pages of photo essays, criticism and mappings of game spaces and architecture here.
Thank you for your support!
Ubisoft’s latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, Origins, takes you on a journey through Lower Egypt (the downloadable content also takes you on a journey through Upper Egypt). The traditional capital, Memphis, can be visited somewhat later in the game, but you’ll discover the Greek one, Alexandria, shortly after leaving the tutorial area. It rises like a marble mirage as you crest the Qattara Depression’s desert dunes.
You’d never think it possible given your surroundings, but a lot of Alexandria’s real-world architecture is actually underwater today. The game’s educational mode, known as the Discovery Tour, explains in pretty thorough detail how the shoreline has receded by several thousand feet since antiquity. The waves have apparently stolen away roughly half the city. This attack on civilization isn’t just referenced by the Discovery Tour, though—it’s actively represented in the game world.
Nothing stays the same. Not for an hour, not for a minute, and certainly not for a few thousand years. The Discovery Tour presents time as being ultimately responsible for the destruction of ancient Egyptian cities like Alexandria, but the landscape is presented in the main game as the active agent. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, people don’t impose themselves upon the landscape—the landscape imposes itself upon people.
While cities like Cyrene and Alexandria seemingly dominate their surroundings, the game world contains a few subtle clues which indicate otherwise. The latter for example appears to be firmly planted when seen from the inside out, but the opposite perspective reveals that it’s actually supposed to be sitting on shaky foundations. Take a walk past the Hippodrome towards Kanopos and you’ll pick up on something strange: the water table is remarkably high. This can be seen clearly enough within the settlement itself, but the phenomenon becomes even more obvious a bit further south. Partially submerged ruins dot the countryside. Sitting on tiny islands in the Nile’s marshy delta, most of these are completely isolated from everything else in the game world. They’ve been given only vultures and crocodiles for company. (Sometimes a lonely boatman trundles along). Slowly sliding into the silty river, these abandoned buildings come across like they’ll soon be swallowed by the region’s muck and mud—just like Alexandria. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, nature always takes back its territory.
Found at the floodplain’s absolute edge, Letopolis apparently fell prey to the desert’s encroaching dunes long before the game’s primary protagonist, Bayek, is ever supposed to have laid eyes upon it. You’re led to believe that it simply disappeared into the surrounding terrain. Reoccupying the city after centuries of supposed abandonment, hundreds of settlers can be seen carrying out large-scale excavations to free both temple and town. (They look rather motivated, but the task still seems insurmountable). Blown in by the region’s violent storms, the windows and doors apparently do a pretty poor job at keeping out the invasive sand. It’s in all the nooks and crannies. Peek inside the temple and you’ll find it piled right up to the ceiling in almost every corner. The colossal statues to the west are even up to their necks in the stuff. Closing in on the settlement from every direction, the forces of nature seem like they want Letopolis to remain hidden for at least a few more millennia. Trying desperately to stave off Khensu’s sea of sand, the city’s latest inhabitants are clearly supposed to be fighting a losing battle against their adoptive landscape.
The city may not be disappearing under the desert’s dunes, but Egypt’s traditional capital, Memphis, is presented in the game as having an equally pressing problem: water. The settlement is supposed to be rapidly disappearing beneath the waves. While the pace of this impending annihilation seems far from Atlantean, the signs of it should still be obvious to any careful observer. Climb up a tall building and look around. The crooked pillars and leaning pylons all over the city will be a dead giveaway. Winding through Memphis like arteries, the canals were used as another indicator of the city’s future fate. The roads look like they’re in a pretty sorry state, so raft comes off as the primary means of transportation. Wander through the streets for even a few minutes and you’ll soon discover that almost every intersection has a muddy spot in the middle. There’s muck in all the gutters, too. The Discovery Tour notes how devastating the Nile floods could be in a bad year, but these few features of the game world are quite enough to suggest that a high inundation would wipe the settlement off the map.
The traditional capital isn’t the only city in the game world with a water problem. Similar to Memphis, the waters around Krokodilopolis are presented as a major threat to the settlement. Several different things imply a coming crisis. Crisscrossed with canals, the muddy roads are definitely one of them. The crocodile pen outside the Temple of Sobek is another. Set a few feet below ground level, this animal enclosure fully exposes the city’s shaky foundations. The water table is almost at the surface. This crocodile pen fronts a tunnel network, so you can get a good feel for the situation by simply crawling around a bit. Head over towards the nearby pyramid when you’re finished and you’ll see why it’s a bad idea to build on such marshy terrain. Constant flooding has apparently taken a steep toll on its mortuary complex. The northern area looks like it’s in relatively good condition, but the southern section is almost completely submerged in the greenish waters of Lake Moeris. The roof in this part of the building even seems to have collapsed. The walls are presumably sure to follow. They’re at opposite ends of the game world, but Krokodilopolis and Alexandria seem like they’re going to suffer a similar fate.
We know that Alexandria mostly sunk into the sea, but what actually happened to Cyrene, Kanopos, Letopolis, Memphis, and Krokodilopolis? The fact is that our knowledge about them is pretty poor. We’ve thoroughly investigated the scanty remains of Cyrene, but the others have never even been excavated. We know about Letopolis almost exclusively through text. Kanopos, Memphis, and Krokodilopolis are currently sitting beneath modern settlements.
We have no idea what happened to most of the cities in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, but that’s really beside the point. Ubisoft’s aim was to convey a message—not offer a history lesson. While most video games portray people dominating the landscape, Assassin’s Creed: Origins puts humanity firmly within nature’s grasp. Civilization is shown to be almost completely helpless in the face of its nearly unstoppable power. Covering over the vestiges of our passing, the landscape is presented as an agent of highly destructive change. We like to believe that buildings will carry our memory into the future, but Assassin’s Creed: Origins provides a poignant reminder that nothing lasts forever. Civilizations may rise to prominence, but the landscape will eventually swallow them whole.
The Heterotopias Summer Sale is now on, offering all four issues bundled together for 30% off and 15% off on individual issues. Get over 400 pages of photo essays, criticism and mappings of game spaces and architecture here.
Thank you for your support!
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