The World of Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Assassin’s Creed Revelations is less than a week away. Soon gamers across the globe will be able to experience Ezio’s final adventure and relive Altair’s eventful life. We’ve already touched upon ideas like combat, multiplayer and even bomb-making, but the one aspect of Revelations we haven’t focused on is the world of the game itself.

Ezio’s journey takes him from Masyaf to Constantinople and beyond, and we wanted to give you a little behind-the-scenes information on that journey. We’ve gathered the developers’ thoughts on how they designed the various regions of the city, and even included a trailer and a broad overview clip that will fly you through the different districts.

IGN’s ACR review hits on November 14 at 9am PST. Stay tuned for more. Be sure to check out our image gallery if you like the concept art on the next two pages. There’s plenty more where that came from.


As part of the setting for the first Assassin’s Creed, Masyaf is an iconic backdrop for Revelations’ earliest scenes. The city serves as the headquarters for Altair’s assassin order, and so Ezio journeys there to discover more about the past of his brotherhood. This is also the setting for the Altair segments of the game.

Constantinople was known as the “crossroads of the world” because it was the center of the spice trade and a major port city. Ubisoft’s Montreal team worked to create a diversified setting that reflected its inhabitants cultures.

The team not only did historical and on-location research, but pulled iconic constructs from throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman empires to make sure each district had a unique feel and design. Concept art was drafted to make sure each region would have its own style, which was then the basis for actual computer-based modeling.

The decision to create four separate districts rose from the team’s desire to make sure the city didn’t have a uniform feel. The actual topography of Istanbul was used as a model for the city, which was then populated with building designs based on historical reference material.
Months of work went into balancing the city between its artistic vision and the reality of gameplay. The team also wanted to make sure the location was memorable since it would be where gamers would spend the vast majority of their time.