Chapter 869: The Meaning of the Creed
The entire game process was extremely long. Even though Old Song was so engrossed that he played every day like a man possessed, by the time he actually finished it, "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" had already been released.
Looking back at the journey he had experienced in the game, Old Song felt as if an entire lifetime had passed.
In just over ten days, Old Song had lived through the lives of three people, spanning ancient and modern times, and traversing many historically famous cities such as Jerusalem, Damascus, Florence, and Constantinople.
Over the course of dozens of hours of gameplay, "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" crafted the images of three great assassins. For Ezio, it was especially lavish, showing his entire life from birth to old age.
What was even more remarkable was that each of these three protagonists had a different life, different experiences, and different personal charisma.
Altair started out reckless and impulsive, but later grew into a Mentor of the Assassins. His actions changed the Assassins' code of conduct and guided the direction of the Assassin Brotherhood's development. His study of the Apple of Eden led to improvements in the Hidden Blade, sparing future Assassins the pain of losing a finger.
Through Altair's experiences, the players, along with Altair himself, came to understand the true meaning of the Assassin's Creed: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
At first, Altair believed this creed meant that Assassins could act with impunity. But later, he gradually realized that the creed was a form of wisdom. Eventually, Altair shed his arrogance and pride, becoming a calm, focused, humble, and patient wise man, shouldering the responsibility of leading the entire Assassin Brotherhood forward.
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted" is actually a respect for free will. People's will and thoughts should not be bound by rules. It is precisely because of the existence of free will that new ideas constantly emerge, human civilization can continuously develop and progress, and the entire human society and race can remain vibrant.
Like the Templars, the Assassins had the ideal of building a perfect world. But this perfect world was by no means to be achieved through harsh order. The Assassins hoped that one day, human will would be liberated, and people could control their own behavior without the need for laws.
Altair spent his entire life understanding the true meaning of the Assassin's Creed. If not for Altair, the entire Assassin Brotherhood might have been destroyed by his Mentor, Al Mualim, or by Abbas. And Altair's thoughts were passed down through the ages, influencing the thinking of all future Assassins.
As for Ezio Auditore da Firenze, his life was nothing short of magnificent.
In "Assassin's Creed: Revelations," Ezio's story took up three-quarters of the entire game's content, even covering his entire life from birth to old age. This was unprecedented in all the games Chen Mo had made before. In terms of length, it could be called a long heroic epic.
In Ezio's youth, during his quest for revenge, he gradually understood his mission as an Assassin, becoming mature, wise, and decisive, step by step growing into a qualified Master Assassin.
In Ezio's prime, to fight against the Templar's Borgia family, he started from the bottom, recruiting citizens to join the Brotherhood, revitalizing the Assassin organization.
In Ezio's old age, he searched for the keys left by Altair, eventually opened the library, saw Altair's remains, and fulfilled his historical mission.
As for Desmond, his storyline was the shortest. Players often overlooked him at the beginning.
He was unwilling to accept his fate as an Assassin, liked to protect his friends, and longed to live like an ordinary person.
So, he ran away, preferring to work as a bartender.
But fate played a joke on him. He was kidnapped by Abstergo, dragged into the struggle between Assassins and Templars, drifting with the current, unable to control his own destiny.
However, as the story unfolded step by step, everyone saw Desmond's transformation. His body began to radiate the brilliance of freedom and faith, and he unhesitatingly took on the mission of saving the world.
...
This long gaming experience gave Old Song a lot to think about.
Maybe it was the spirit of the protagonists? Or the yearning for free will in the Assassin's Creed?
Maybe it was the game's highly faithful recreation of history and various cities?
Maybe it was the indescribable sense of fate and epicness throughout the entire story?
Before this, Old Song had thought that "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" would be like "Assassin's Creed: Origins," focusing most of its attention on the ancient protagonist's story, showcasing exotic ancient customs, with the storyline of the Precursors being just a small foreshadowing or Easter egg.
But he quickly realized he was wrong. "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" not only featured the Precursors in the ancient storyline but even specially created a modern-day protagonist, perfectly connecting the Precursors, the ancient timeline, and the modern timeline.
In its approach to history, "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" still inherited the characteristics of "Assassin's Creed: Origins" and took them further.
In the game, the story was not limited to history, nor did it stubbornly try to reproduce all historical truths. Instead, it presented history in a way that blended reality and fiction.
For example, characters in the game like the Assassin Mentor Al Mualim, the Borgia family, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were all real historical figures. And the cities the protagonists traveled through, such as Florence and Jerusalem, were recreated in the game as faithfully as possible to their real appearances.
Furthermore, the Assassin Brotherhood had historical prototypes, the weapons used by Assassins, including the Hidden Blade, also had prototypes. Even in the voice acting, foreign voice actors were specifically asked to add other accents to their English to highlight the identity characteristics of these roles.
But, obviously, most of the plot in this story was fictional. It simply made good use of the historical backdrop, connecting historically unresolved mysteries and various clues, unifying them under the story background of "Assassin's Creed," thereby creating a feeling that was both real and illusory, like those ethereal legends, like the lost places in "Uncharted" that no one believed in anymore.
This technique of tightly integrating art and reality made the entire story of "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" both realistic and thrilling. Players truly felt as if they had traveled through the long years back to the past, experiencing those brilliant and extraordinary stories unknown to ordinary people. This feeling was simply unparalleled.
...
Old Song came out of his game pod and couldn't help but exclaim, "Truly awesome! Chen Mo really didn't let me down! 'Assassin's Creed' is truly something special!"
Although Old Song had initially played it at the experience store, he didn't hesitate to buy "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" as soon as it was officially released. Because even after just experiencing Altair's storyline, he was already convinced that the "Assassin's Creed" IP would become another core IP for Chen Mo, and the "Assassin" would become a milestone protagonist image in gaming history!