'We give access to a lost world': Assassin's Creed's new life as a virtual museum

What happens when you remove the fighting from a video game and turn it into an ancient world to explore? The creators of Assassin's Creed Origins found out

Even if you're not particularly interested in video games, you'll probably have heard of Assassin's Creed. They're a series of historically themed action games that take place in digital recreations of places such as Revolution-era Paris, medieval Jerusalem and 1860s London. Playing Assassin's Creed involves climbing up ancient buildings and mingling with the residents of cities of the past, meeting (and occasionally assassinating) historical figures as a member of an ancient, clandestine brotherhood working against the Templars.

The games have been around since 2007 and have made an awful lot of money for their publisher, Ubisoft. The company employs a team of hundreds of artists, historians, writers, coders, sound designers and more to create these virtual places. An hour in the company of any of these games is enough to discern how much effort goes into their historical settings - though it's hard to appreciate them fully when you're busy fighting, talking or running away from guards.