Ubisoft Celebrates Notre Dame Reopening With Assassin's Creed Unity Ad

Ubisoft has celebrated the reopening of Paris cathedral Notre Dame with an advertisement for Assassin's Creed Unity, the Paris-set entry in its long-running stealth action game series.

As reported by PC Gamer, Ubisoft shared the Assassin's Creed Unity Tribute: Explore Notre Dame with Arno video on YouTube as a celebration of the "historic reopening." The 12th century Notre Dame was devastated by a fire on April 15, 2019 and remained closed until December 7, 2024.

"To celebrate this historic reopening, join Arno, our legendary Assassin, as we revisit our meticulously recreated Paris during the French Revolution," Ubisoft said in the video description. "From the busy streets to the soaring heights of the cathedral spire, enjoy an exclusive tour through the world of Assassin’s Creed Unity."

The video cuts through scenes of the real-world Notre Dame before sharing the premise of Assassin's Creed: allowing "players to travel through time and live fictional adventures set among historical landmarks and breathtaking locations."

It then shows off some of 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity before focusing specifically on Notre Dame with side-by-side gameplay captures and video clips from the real thing. Protagonist Arno, of course, climbs to the very top for an expansive view of Paris.

Once an annualized franchise, Assassin's Creed has been quieter recently as only the smaller Assassin's Creed Mirage has been released since full entry Valhalla arrived in 2020. Ubisoft was due to release the Feudal Japan-set Assassin's Creed Shadows in November but delayed it to 2025 amid larger issues at the company.

Ubisoft is also ditching its paid content model of releasing a Season Pass with two expansion drops in the year after launch. The faux "early access" period that sees publishers charge players more to play on the actual release date instead of three days later has also been scrapped.

This decision came after fellow Ubisoft title Star Wars Outlaws underperformed, though Assassin's Creed Shadows has endured a stream of other controversies.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.