The whole story of the game bends historical fact, so it is inevitable that its some of the built environment would not be entirely accurate. The game is not aiming to offer “the truth”, so picking holes in its deviations from that is irrelevant. The more important consideration is that perhaps without the narrative element, the technology which Assassin’s Creed II uses and its reconstruction of certain Renaissance cities can be a useful tool for the historian, giving a more complete visual understanding of a past world than can perhaps be gained from written sources, indicating what the city would most likely have looked like, how all its buildings compared to one another, and how it slotted in to the surrounding countryside. But it is not just an aesthetic appreciation of the city which is gained in Assassin’s Creed II, but also a three-dimensional living one, as spaces and places no longer extant suddenly become navigable, explorable and interactable. The next article in this column therefore, posted on the 28th January 2013, will discuss the role of the crowds and sensory experience in Assassin’s Creed II. (via Unmaking Things 2012-13 » ‘ASSASSIN’S CREED II’ AND THE VIRTUAL RENAISSANCE. PART I)