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With how theAssassin’s Creedseries moved on from a story-focused stealth game into a straight-up open-world RPG, it’s easy to forget itsmain premise. In Assassin’s Creed, you’re not just playing through an ancient historical period without context; you are, in fact, reliving the memories of the main characters' ancestors. In reality, all Assassin’s Creed games take place in the modern world, in which our heroes use a specific device to gain insight into their long-dead forebears' lives.
The device in question is called the Animus. We’re going to briefly explain what exactly the Animus is and how it fits into the Assassin’s Creed lore.
Animus, and the plural Animi, is Latin for mind/soul.
A Brief History
The origins of the Animus are tied to the Nazis, with the initial project being led by an SS General who was also a Templar. In the early 20th Century,Templars, aka the bad guys of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, tried to create a device that would allow them to locate Pieces of Edenthrough the memories of captured Assassins.
All throughout the century, Assassins and Templars have fought against one another concerning the Animus. The Assassins stole blueprints, tried to halt experiments, and raced the Templars to build their own working prototype. Eventually, the Animus got to a stable enough state where the subject could reliably access the memories of their genetic ancestors.
Since then, the Animus has been used for good and evil alike. The Templars have used it to trick subjects into finding out sensitive information on their behalf, whereas the Assassins used it to disrupt the Templar plans. Templars even utilized the device to train Abstergo employees. In 2013, Abstergo turned the Animus into a game console for consumers. Of course, they planned to obtain clandestine information through this, proving once again that big corporations and evil are inseparable.
Animus Features And Uses
Throughout the games, we see our protagonists, beginning with Desmond Miles, use the Animus. Through a process in the device called Synchronization, the characters are put into the shoes of their ancestors, namelyiconic characters such asEzio Auditore, Edward Kenway, and Altair. The Animus both serves as a plot device, and an interface to give the characters information on a lot of things.
The later versions of the Animus are capable of syncing the subject with an ancestor through their DNA, of course, but it also includes a HUD, a feedback system that provides info about the simulation, a mini-map, a virtual training mode, and much more. In the universe, the Animus becomes the perfect device to learn about a specific time in history. In a more meta sense, it’s the perfect way to roll new game mechanics into the narrative.
There are some side effects to long and uninterrupted sessions in the Animus, though. It’s been shown that the device puts some psychological strain on the subjects. For example,the Bleeding effect leads to people’s perceptions of real-time and genetic memories becoming intertwined. While this allows the subject to potentially gain abilities and experiences from their ancestor, it also leads to mental degradation.
