Ubisoft has released a creative new video to mark the upcoming release of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Birds, especially eagles, have always been an important symbol in Assassin’s Creed lore, from the bird beaked Assassin’s hoods to the bird themed names of Ezio and Altair. More importantly, Eagle Vision is the Assassin’s signature ability, allowing them to locate enemies, find safe havens to hide in, and and to see details the average person would miss.
Since it’s impossible to replicate actual Eagle Vision, Ubisoft did the next best thing and hired eagle handler Chris O’Donnell and his bald eagle Sidney in hopes of capturing some breathtaking footage of the London skyline. Ubisoft film makers hooked up a 4K video camera to Sidney’s back and let the bird soar around famous buildings like The Heron Tower, Trafalgar Square, City Hall, and The Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
“An Eagle has never been flown to this extent in an urban environment, so this was a very exciting project to be involved in. Sidney is a Bald Eagle who is used to large crowds of people and was highly adaptable to a busy city environment. We developed a bespoke harness and fitting for the camera and spent months testing it for comfort and stability. We had good flying conditions, incredible launch points and the footage we captured was utterly remarkable,” said handler Chris O’Donnell.
Besides the stunning bird’s eye view of London, Ubisoft also released a behind the scenes video that shows the making of the Eagle Vision video.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is the next chapter in long running franchise. The game focuses on London in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, where the world is going through it’s most dramatic change since the birth of humankind. Here in its dirty streets, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing to epic proportions. The Templar order has wrested control from both the Queen of England and her church. Here, twins Jacob and Evie Frye must rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood by taking control of the streets of London.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate launches on October 23, 2015 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and on November 19 for Windows.
