If you’ve been following current events, you’ll know that one of the biggest pieces of news this week is the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, which caused severe damage to the historic 13th-century monument that’ll take years to reverse.
Amongst the tragedy, one good thing (if you can even call it that) to come out of all this is the sheer compassion that has followed — nearly one billion dollars have been donated by ordinary citizens and magnates from all around the world, proving that humanity can in fact unite for a single cause when it wants to.
Countless companies have also offered their support, and the folks at Ubisoft are doing their part too. In addition to donating €500,000 to the reconstruction fund, the French video game publisher has also released Assassin’s Creed Unity on PC completely free of charge.
“We want to give everyone the chance to experience the majesty and beauty of Notre-Dame the best way we know how.” Ubisoft said in a statement on their website. “We hope, with this small gesture, we can provide everyone an opportunity to appreciate our virtual homage to this monumental piece of architecture.”
Assassin’s Creed Unity — which was originally released back in 2014 — is the eighth instalment in the popular Assassin’s Creed franchise. The game takes place in an accurate recreation of 18th-century Paris, and allows players to visit (and scale) iconic landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Apart from this, Ubisoft might play an surprising role in the cathedral’s restoration as well. A recent article by Game Informer suggests that Ubisoft’s highly-detailed 3D models might serve as a blueprint for the reconstruction, and is a great example of how video games can create a tangible impact in the real world.
Assassin’s Creed Unity is available for download here, with the offer ending on April 25th at 3pm. And in case you were wondering, yes – the game will stay in your uPlay game library forever.
You might not be able to visit the Cathedral for the foreseeable future, but at least you can pay homage to it in its virtual form.
Header Image Credit: Ubisoft