10 Video Games You Didn't Know Were Based On Books
8. Assassin’s Creed
Based on: Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
While Assassin’s Creed is ostensibly based on prominent eras in world history, despite using real world figures, it is clearly a work of fiction. It’s not just some random nonsense thrown together though; the initial idea came from Bartol’s Alamut.
The novel coined the phrase ‘Nothing is an absolute reality, everything is permitted’, which was shortened to ‘Nothing is true, everything is permitted’ for the game. It deals with an 11th century man discovering the ‘truth’ behind religious powers.
The first game, revolving around the life of Altair most closely resembles Alamut, though the spirit of it can be found throughout the series. Though some of the more recent instalments have flown in the face of the games’ initial more gritty, down to earth historical setting, it was always a little off-kilter in any case.
Yes, they did alter the crossbow to better reflect historical accuracy for the period, but also had a magical Pope fighting you beneath the Vatican before a goddess communicates with you.
Alamut is quite clearly not the only inspiration at play though; the game is quite clearly a riff on Prince Of Persia, though it went on to become even more successful.