I got an early Christmas present yesterday when a copy of Assassin’s Creed: The Complete Visual History arrived at my doorstep. It’s a shame I’d already written my gift guide for art books, because this would have jumped straight on it.
While Ubisoft is generally pretty good with its Assassin’s Creed art books, releasing one to accompany every major release, The Complete Visual History isn’t like other books from the series. Instead of focusing on one game, it features art from all of them. Think of it as a “greatest hits” of Assassin’s Creed concept art, one that leans more heavily on the bigger, more recent games than those earlier in the series.
What I like best about it, though, is that the art takes centre stage. Ubisoft tried something kinda like this a few years back with the Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia, but its usefulness as an art book was bogged down by an attempt to also make the book a fictional text. The Complete Visual History lets the art be the star, with plenty of big full-page (and even two-page) spreads, and the only bits of text you do find are really interesting interviews with the art teams explaining their processes and ideas.
Below you’ll find some pages from the book. Below that, though, are some links to big Assassin’s Creed galleries I’ve run previously on Fine Art, because they’ll give you an idea of what the rest of the book (which you can get here) looks like.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you’re in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you’d like to share, drop us a line!