Everything Is Permitted On Assassin’s Creed
Everything Is Permitted On Assassin’s Creed by Cameron Kunzelman, published by University of Minnesota Press on November 11, 2025, offers an in-depth exploration of the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise. This edition spans 248 pages and is presented in English. The book delves into the evolution, gameplay mechanics, and world-building of the series, which has captivated players since its debut in 2007. Kunzelman analyzes the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and Templars, set against meticulously crafted historical backdrops, revealing how these elements contribute to the franchise’s unique appeal.
Readers will find a thorough examination of key themes and concepts that unify the games, alongside a discussion of the broader video game landscape. Kunzelman combines close readings of the games with insights into the real-world histories that inspired their narratives. By addressing ethical dilemmas and the interplay of control and freedom, the book engages with significant questions that resonate beyond the gaming experience. This analytical approach highlights the franchise’s ability to intertwine fantastical storytelling with profound social commentary, making it a notable contribution to the discourse on popular culture and gaming.
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An entertaining deep dive into the world, gameplay, and evolution of the hugely successful Assassin’s Creed video game franchise
A hooded figure stands in a bell tower overlooking medieval Jerusalem, surveying his prey. Parkour-style, he leaps down into the square to kill his target before vanishing into the crowd . . .
Released in fall 2007, Assassin’s Creed transformed video gaming. Across more than a dozen franchise entries, players engage with the eternal conflict between the Order of Assassins and the nefarious Templar Order, carrying out missions in a series of painstakingly rendered historical settings, from the Holy Lands during the Third Crusade to Renaissance Italy, the Age of Piracy, the French Revolution, and Victorian London. Everything is Permitted is an analysis of the development, evolution, gameplay, and world-building of this sprawling and distinctive franchise.
Cameron Kunzelman examines key themes and concepts that connect the games in the series. Combining close readings of the games themselves with discussion of the broader landscape of video game franchises since its initial release, he uncovers what it means for a game to be part of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Kunzelman maps the elements that contribute to the immersiveness and continual playability of the games, showing how historically inflected conspiracies and science fictional premises ground the fantastical stories the games tell on a massive scale.
Diving into the real-world histories and ideas that the game designers used for inspiration, Kunzelman argues that the virtual conflicts between the franchise’s opposing sides offer intriguing insights into actual reality, from ethical dilemmas to the roles of freedom and fate. He demonstrates how, by incorporating themes of means and ends, control and freedom into its gameplay, the franchise engages with profound questions in a sustained, long-form way that is unique among video games. As the Assassins say, “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
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