With its pseudo historical storyline, vicious combat, free world parkour roaming, and just massive cool factor, 2007’s Assassin’s Creed was a massive hit, selling over eight million copies and launching a new entertainment franchise. While the game was very repetitive (how many viewpoints can there be in one city) and ended with a massive cliffhanger, the anticipation for the sequel is massive. To prepare for its November 17th release, publisher Ubisoft has taken a cue from what publishers have done before: prepare some juicy web series content.
Earlier in the summer we wrote about how the feature film Terminator: Salvation used its video game engine to produce a machinima prequel series to the events of the film. Perhaps Ubisoft took notice of February’s Escape from City 17 live action Half Life 2 short, because the opposite has occurred, the web series for the launch of Assassin’s Creed 2 titled Assassin’s Creed: Lineage is all live action. Well, technically it’s 21st century live action, which means, like 300, it’s real life actors in front of a green screen.
Focusing on Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, the father of the sequel’s protagonist Ezio, the episodes are being directed by Yves Simoneau (who’s also directing the first few eps of upcoming V for ABC. Written by William Raymond, with close supervision by game writer Corey May, the series looks to really strengthen not only the background on the game’s ultra-violent hero, but also the seedy culture that surrounds the game’s Florentine Renaissance setting. Based off the trailer (above), viewers can expect plenty of violence, torture, and certainly lots of fly Renaissance costumes.
