Among the most tumultuous eras of History, the Victorian era spanned across the 19th century and saw Great Britain expand its empire at an alarming rate, facilitating conflict on a mass scale and in turn defining the country for decades to come. The 'Scramble for Africa' saw the British Empire enter direct competition with other European states such as the Netherlands, France and Belgium, vying for control of Africa's vast mineral resources, whilst the nation was also expanding in the middle east and Asia, seeking to colonise past India and present day Pakistan. Though Britain in this era is much remembered for its foreign excursions, the Victorian period itself facilitated a great many changes in the (then) world's largest power, both political and social. The working classes experienced something akin to a social awakening and electoral reform was ushered through to extend the franchise to many men, irrespective of their property rights. With the rapidly advancing pace of the British Industrial Revolution came a stronger working class, suppressed by the upper echelons of society and situated in terrible working and living conditions. Whilst this may sound like an allegory for the current state of Britain's domestic affairs, the time period in which this takes place in is far from the present. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate's storyline will no doubt intersect with many of the historical events of the era, as is the usual AC style. Victorian Britain has an abundance of events to manipulate, and Ubisoft would be mad to neglect them.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
