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00:03Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're looking at the creed that started it all unless you count
00:08Prince of Persia. These are 20 things you didn't know about Assassin's Creed 1. Let's go.
00:13Before we continue, we publish content all week long so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:18the bell to get notified of our latest videos. Animus Glitch.
00:28One of the smarter things Ubisoft did with the original Assassin's Creed was turn technical
00:32limitations into part of the game's actual identity. Kind of how I turned my exerciseless
00:37sore knees into an excuse not to exercise. The Animus visual style with its glitch effects,
00:41white loading spaces, screen distortions and memory corruption aesthetics perfectly matched
00:46the sci-fi story while also hiding hardware restrictions behind the scenes. Instead of
00:51awkward loading screens interrupting gameplay, the game framed everything as unstable genetic
00:56memories being reconstructed by the Animus. It was a genuinely brilliant workaround because
01:01players accepted these transitions as part of the lore rather than technical issues. Turn technical
01:05issues into lore. Be fine. Bastards. Now now. I just saved your life. Saved my life? The noise changes. Follow
01:15me and do so without hesitation.
01:19Show this fool knight what it is to have no fear. One of the coolest hidden audio details in the
01:24original Assassin's Creed involves the iconic leap of faith. The eagle scream that plays during jumps was
01:30not just thrown in randomly for dramatic effect. Ubisoft intentionally tied the sound to themes of
01:36synchronization, freedom and symbolism of the Assassins themselves. In the first game especially,
01:41the audio cue can subtly change depending on factors like camera angle and jump height,
01:45making the dives feel more cinematic and dynamic than any of us probably realized. I always just assumed it
01:51the same eagle scream. Real NPCs A lot of players remember the beggars and unstable NPCs in the
02:08original game as little more than walking pains in their ass, designed to ruin stealth missions by
02:13shoving Altair directly into armed guards at the worst possible moments. Underneath the frustration,
02:18Ubisoft actually hid some surprisingly grounded historical detail in their dialogue. Many of
02:23these characters quietly reference fears that were common during the Crusades, including poverty,
02:28religious paranoia, disease and social instability across cities torn apart by conflict. Their strange
02:33behavior was meant to reflect a society under enormous stress rather than simply populate the
02:38streets with random obstacles.
02:46Altair I trust your mission was a success. He's the master in his tower.
02:52He is a very sick hidden detail in the original Assassin's Creed involving Altair's name itself.
02:58Altair comes from an Arabic term associated with the Flying Eagle, which perfectly matches the
03:03franchise's obsession with, well, Flying Eagles. Ubisoft layered eagle imagery all throughout the game,
03:09from the high synchronization viewpoints to the famous Leap of Faith dives and the previously
03:13mentioned Eagle Scream. I know it's not a scream, but the term Eagle Scream keeps making me smile.
03:18Even Altair's robes were deliberately designed to resemble wings when viewed from above,
03:22reinforcing the imagery during rooftop traversal and aerial assassinations.
03:32FUTURE PREDICTIONS
03:34What was that?
03:37Well, we've got the map.
03:39How many?
03:40At least half a dozen.
03:42One of the creepiest moments in the original Assassin's Creed happens right after the ending,
03:46when Desmond finally gains access to eagle vision inside Abstergo. Suddenly, glowing symbols, cryptic
03:52messages, religious imagery, maps, and apocalyptic warnings become visible all over the walls and
03:56floors, all left behind by the mysterious Subject 16. At the time, most players had absolutely no
04:02idea what they were looking at. The entire room felt like a conspiracy theorist had been trapped
04:06alone with unlimited markers and an arvo to kill. What made it even stranger was that many of the
04:10symbols ended up foreshadowing future games years before they released, including major storylines
04:15involving the pieces of Eden, world-ending disasters, and the larger first civilization mythology that would
04:20later dominate the franchise.
04:23It looks like... Is that blood? The hell were they keeping here before me? And what happened to them?
04:31Can't always blend.
04:33The numbers change nothing. Your name failed to fill the order, which means I failed my client.
04:41We need more time!
04:42A surprisingly advanced detail in the original game is that guards can slowly become suspicious
04:46if Altair behaves unnaturally while blending with scholars for too long.
04:50Even if players are technically hidden correctly, standing completely still or acting oddly in public
04:54can eventually draw attention. Most people never noticed this because they spent the entire game
04:58sprinting across rooftops and diving into haystacks like a medieval Batman. Ubisoft quietly designed
05:03NPCs to react not just to visibility, but also to whether Altair seemed believable within the
05:08environment around him. It was an early attempt at social stealth years before later entries
05:12expanded the mechanic into something more complex. Honestly, the guards slowly realizing
05:17that monk has not moved in several minutes is weirdly realistic for a game released in 2007.
05:23The warriors of war consume the land, and thousands of lives are lost in its defense.
05:29...was supposed to fail.
05:31Then be out with it.
05:34Jerusalem's Regent Mejduddin is holding a public execution not far from here.
05:38It's sure to be well guarded, but it's nothing I can't handle.
05:40Before the original Assassin's Creed was released, a lot of people genuinely thought
05:44the game was going to fail because the core concept sounds far too repetitive. Early previews
05:50heavily focused on the loop of gathering information, tracking targets, assassinating them,
05:55and escaping guards, which led critics to worry the entire experience would become monotonous after
05:59a few hours. Ironically, the franchise would later become one of Ubisoft's biggest successes ever.
06:05Even with its rough edges, the first game introduced mechanics and designs that heavily influenced the
06:09future of open-world gaming, especially parkour traversal, historical tourism, and cinematic
06:14sandbox storytelling. After 10 minutes of playing it, I thought this is literally a game-changer.
06:27Annoyance was intentional.
06:33Those infamous beggars and unstable NPCs were actually designed to frustrate players on purpose.
06:39Ubisoft wanted the cities to feel crowded, chaotic, and unpredictable, meaning civilians were not
06:45always meant to conveniently stay out of Altair's way like polite video game extras. That's why random
06:50people constantly shove him, scream nearby, or accidentally ruin stealth sections at the worst
06:54possible times. The beggars became especially hated because they repeatedly interrupted tense moments
06:59by aggressively demanding money every few seconds while players desperately tried to stay hidden.
07:04Give me five bucks, shut the f**k up.
07:09Oh god, don't kill me! Oh, it's you, Altair.
07:12Why is there no HUD?
07:17One of the most innovative things about the original game was how Ubisoft handled its interface and HUD
07:23designs. Instead of covering the screen with giant health bars, mini-maps, and floating menus like many
07:28games in 2007, Ubisoft gave players the option to integrate almost everything directly into the
07:34Animus concept. Health was represented through synchronization, many players were not technically
07:39taking damage, but instead losing accuracy while reliving Altair's memories. Even menus and interface
07:45elements were framed as systems within the simulation rather than the traditional game UI. It was a
07:50surprisingly immersive approach at the time and helped the world feel more believable.
07:55I found him! He's here! Give up! You go and trust! I will find him! I need him! He's over
08:03there!
08:04City designs
08:18It's really impressive how much historical research Ubisoft poured into recreating cities
08:23like Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. The developers studied real architecture, historical maps,
08:29population density, and written accounts from the Crusades to make the locations feel grounded
08:34instead of like generic fantasy cities. And as I've already touched on, they even designed NPC
08:39crowd behavior around how medieval marketplaces, religious districts, and busy streets would
08:43realistically function during the period. The goal was to create cities that felt alive and accurate.
08:55Accents
09:01Altair was originally planned to have a much stronger regional accent during development of the first
09:06Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft initially wanted the character's voice to better reflect the game's
09:10Middle Eastern setting during the Third Crusade, helping him sound more culturally grounded alongside
09:14the world around him. Eventually though, the developers worried Western audiences might struggle
09:19to clearly understand the dialogue, so Altair ended up speaking with a noticeably American accent
09:24instead. The result accidentally became one of the funniest quirks in the entire franchise.
09:29While many surrounding characters sound historically believable, Altair sounds like a guy who wandered out
09:34a modern-day coffee shop and immediately started talking about blades and honor.
09:49Leap of Faith
09:58The leap of faith became so iconic in the original game that Ubisoft eventually started referencing it
10:04across completely different franchises. One of the funniest examples appears in Far Cry Primal
10:09through an achievement called Kanda of Faith, where players recreate the classic assassin dive by jumping
10:14off a cliff into a well. The similarity is definitely intentional, especially since Ubisoft also sneaks
10:19in the famous eagle scream associated with leap of faith moments. During one scene involving homemade
10:24wings and attempted flying, long-time Assassin's Creed fans can immediately recognize the sound effect.
10:29It's a cool little nod showing how recognizable the mechanic has become across Ubisoft games,
10:33and I guess games in general.
10:46Trying other games
10:54Thanks to how massively popular Assassin's Creed has become, characters like Altair and Ezio started
11:00appearing in completely unrelated games as crossover cameos. One of the strangest
11:04examples is Altair showing up as a playable character in the Wii Sports game Academy of
11:09Champions Soccer, which is honestly hilarious when you remember this is supposed to be a
11:13stealthy medieval assassin suddenly playing competitive football. Ubisoft clearly realized
11:17the hood alone was enough for people to recognize him instantly. Altair's outfit also appeared in
11:22Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots as an unlockable costume for Snake, letting players run
11:27around blending two legendary stealth franchises together. It's odd, but it's also very Kojima,
11:32so us MGS fans didn't even blink.
11:39Desmond is a French model.
11:40I told you, I'm not an assassin.
11:43Right, right. I still don't see where I fit into things.
11:47Much like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, the face behind Assassin's Creed's protagonist Desmond Miles
11:51was based on a real-life model rather than an in-house design. Ubisoft used French-Canadian model
11:57Francisco Randez as the physical template for Desmond. And despite the character's changing
12:02appearance throughout the series, Randez remained the core inspiration behind him for years. What
12:07makes this especially funny is how little attention he received compared to the franchise itself.
12:12While Desmond became one of gaming's most recognizable faces during the late 2000s,
12:16the actual model behind him stayed mostly absent from the series' major marketing and PR.
12:21Poor guy. Poor hot French guy.
12:27Real people.
12:32Did you? Who unbarred the door? Cleared the path?
12:36Did you once raise your blade against a single man of mine, huh?
12:40One of the coolest things about the original Assassin's Creed is that many of the major
12:43assassination targets were based on real historical figures who actually existed during the Third
12:48Crusade. Ubisoft blended real history with fictional conspiracy storytelling, allowing players to interact
12:54with genuine political and religious figures while still keeping the secret Assassin's vs Templar
12:59conflict at the center of the narrative. Characters connected to cities like Jerusalem,
13:03Maker and Damascus were often inspired by historical records, even if the exact circumstances
13:08surrounding their deaths were heavily fictionalized for the game. So while history probably does not
13:13mention hooded assassins dramatically leaping off rooftops with hidden blades and suspiciously missing
13:18fingers, the people themselves often were real, and their times of death also often real.
13:25You've nowhere to run now. Share your secrets with me.
13:28My part is plain. The brotherhood is not so weak that my death will stop its work.
13:36The original concepts.
13:43A surprisingly deep influence on the early Assassin's Creed games came from psychologist Carl Young and
13:49his theories surrounding the collective unconscious. During development, creators explored Young's ideas
13:54about inherited memories, archetypes and shared human experiences passed down through generations.
13:59That concept became a major foundation for the Animus itself, which allows characters to relive
14:05ancestral memories through genetic memory. Even the name Animus directly references Young's concepts of the
14:11Anima and Animus, representing different unconscious aspects of the psyche.
14:15I'll cut you down!
14:22Kristen Bell's thirst.
14:24Unfortunately, when we try and open the memory, your mind withdraws. You lack the confidence to step
14:29into your ancestor's body. That's what happened earlier.
14:32Before becoming widely known for roles like Anna in Frozen, Kristen Bell actually had one of her first
14:37major voice acting roles in the original Assassin's Creed game. She voiced Lucy Stillman, the Abstergo
14:42researcher who appears throughout the early Desmond storyline and quickly became one of the
14:47franchise's most important modern day characters. Bell has openly talked about being a big gaming fan
14:52herself, which probably made landing a role in such a massive series of war even cooler. What many
14:57players don't realise is, though it wasn't her first voice acting gig, it was her first video game.
15:02And that's a pretty solid way to start.
15:08Prince of Persia.
15:09He implied my work had a larger meaning. Significance comes not from a single act,
15:14but the context within which it is performed.
15:17Before Assassin's Creed became Ubisoft's biggest franchise, the project actually began life
15:22as a spin-off connected to Prince of Persia. Early development concepts reportedly explored the
15:26idea of a cooperative Prince of Persia experience, with many of the parkour mechanics and medieval settings
15:32eventually evolving into what became Altair's adventure instead. For a while, Ubisoft still viewed the
15:37two franchises as closely linked, and there was even speculation that the Prince and Altair could
15:42eventually cross over in some form. Things changed after Ubisoft attempted to reboot Prince of Persia
15:47in 2008, and the series failed to explode commercially the way Assassin's Creed did. From that point
15:53onward, Ubisoft heavily focused on AC and left P.O.P. to R.I.P.
16:03Long Range Crossbow
16:12One of the most interesting cut features from the original Assassin's Creed was Altair's Crossbow. Early
16:17trailers and promotional footage clearly showed him carrying one on his back, leading many players to
16:22assume it would be a major weapon in the final game. Ubisoft eventually removed it for two main
16:27reasons. First, the developers felt the weapon was not historically appropriate for the type of
16:32assassin fantasy they wanted to create. More importantly, playtesters kept using the crossbow
16:36to eliminate targets from a distance, which completely undermined the close-range stealth
16:40and social infiltration gameplay Ubisoft was trying to encourage. The team wanted assassinations to feel
16:46personal and risky rather than like medieval sniping missions.
17:02One of the coolest historical inspirations behind Assassin's Creed comes from the real-life Nazari
17:09Ismailis, a secretive group active in the Middle East during the 11th century under the leadership of
17:14Hassan Isaba. Ubisoft loosely based the assassins on this organization, especially their reputation for
17:20political killings, secrecy and operating from heavily fortified strongholds. The word assassin
17:25itself is often linked to the term Hashashin, but not for the way many people think. People thinking that
17:30Hashashin, Hashashin, Assassin, incorrect. It was actually supposedly used as a derogatory label implying they used
17:38hashish, though historians still debate how accurate that claim is. Many believe rival groups spread the nickname more
17:44as propaganda than fact during political conflicts surrounding the Fatimid dynasty. In other words,
17:49the dramatic drugged-up killer's reputation may have basically been medieval slander.
17:57Altair, you've returned!
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