The Assassin’s Creed Effect: 3 Templar Games in 2011

The First Templar, The Cursed Crusade, and the next Assassins Creed

by : dkpatriarch

©2011 David Hilton

Look into the legends of the Templars and you find an organization shrouded in tales of secrecy and contradiction.

It started as a small group of military monks emerging from the First Crusade, pledging poverty, chastity, and obedience, created to protect pilgrims making their way to the Holy Land…or to dig for ancient secrets under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

First they had the support of the Pope, then they lost it.

Around 1129 they were given sanction to answer only to the Pope and be granted absolution of their sins for their service against the infidel.  Then after the famous Friday the 13th arrests in France in October 1307, the French-influenced Pope betrayed them.

The Templars had started with vows of poverty and a mission to protect Christians in the Holy Land, but ended up with holdings all over Europe (but no longer in the Holy Land after the Muslims pushed them out), and so much wealth that the King of France, Philip IV, moved against them with accusations of heresy, sodomy, treason, and anything else he could think of to grab what they owned.

But was it only wealth that they guarded…or something more influential like the location of the Holy Grail, or the Ark of the Covenant, or secret knowledge?

In any case, the greedy king never found what he was looking for…apparently 18 Templar ships from the port of La Rochelle escaped with most of their wealth and secrets.

However, the mystery remains:  did the Templars survive, not just merging into the Knights Hospitaller?

Did they become more than a new military group like the Knights of Christ in Portugal, or soldiers fighting with Robert the Bruce in Scotland? Did they instead remain intact as new secret societies like the Freemasons?

In novels by Robyn Young and Jack Whyte there are secret groups within the Templar organization itself, a ‘good’ group in an organization gone rotten. In the film Kingdom of Heaven the Templars are the warmongering symbol of fanaticism.  In the French mini-series The Accursed Kings they are the victims of a grasping King and weak Pope.

And in games like Assassin’s Creed, they are the organization that never died, becoming the Abstergo corporation set on worldwide control searching for secret objects of power.

Nasty Templars.  Persecuted Templars.  Religious zealots.  Military monks. Bankers. Protectors. Heretical control freaks.  Hidden treasure.  Holy Grail.  Ark of the Covenant.

Secrets and contradiction

The Knights Templar provide the perfect protagonists and antagonists for our entertainment, and this year there will be three video games to feature them.

The success of the Assassin’s Creed franchise and the freshness of the original’s historic look and location during the Crusades no doubt has encouraged other developers to provide their own twist on the Templar story.

Assassin’s Creed Next

UPDATE: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations has just been announced for consoles and PC: Read Here.

When Ubisoft revealed that there would be another Assassin’s Creed game released in 2011, many wondered if this would be Assassin’s Creed 3, since Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was largely what they could not fit into the second Assassin’s Creed game.

Though Brotherhood could stand on its own with a full single player story and multiplayer, we all wait to see what new era and character will be next.

You can find my musings on the subject from back in 2009 and enter the poll here and here, though one of the periods I chose is being covered by another of the upcoming Templar games.

Still, some might argue that it is too soon for Assassin’s Creed 3, and the title they are referring to is the 3DS game, Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy, or some other game version of the successful franchise.

In any case, the Templars, or their modern namesake, Abstergo, will be involved in their ongoing quest to find the pieces of Eden.

The First Templar

From South American city sim Tropico 3 to an action adventure in medieval dungeons, sandy deserts, foggy woods, stony abbeys, and majestic castles in The First Templar…well, it certainly is a different title from Haemimont Games.

Announced last year for the 360 and due to be released by publisher Kalypso Media in the next couple months, The First Templar is a 13th century tale involving two French Templars named Roland and Celian. Eventually a noble lady named Marie, who has been branded a heretic, joins them on their quest to figure out the mysteries of the Holy Grail.

Standing in their way are Saracens, King Philip IV’s minions, and the Holy Inquisition.  This is obviously dealing with the period described above where Philip sought to destroy the Templars and take their wealth or, if it is to believed, their mysterious treasure.

It promises 20 historically accurate locations (including the island of Cyprus), drop-in drop-out online and offline co-op, and a captivating conspiracy story.

Though an entirely different game, the influence of Assassin’s Creed can most be reflected in the trailer when the Templar performs a Leap of Faith, though I’m not sure if that is an in-game feature.  Certainly the attention to historic background and characters beyond the usual fantasy medieval setting is something that Assassin’s Creed has shown can work.

• The First Templar Official Teaser

Early reports say The First Templar is action focused, including zeal orbs that allow special attacks, with some RPG elements, including skill advancement.  There are even some areas that require stealth.

While the game is said to be fairly linear, there will be some side-quests as well.  What confuses me is the need for what looks like Lord of the Rings styled troll-bosses in a game that is aiming to look historic.  I guess the mythology of the Templars means some liberties can be taken.

Slightly reminding me of the two Knights of the Temple games from last generation consoles, I am sincerely hoping that the game provides a fun romp through medieval history.

The Cursed Crusade

One of the most haunting stories about the Templars is that of the death of the last Templar Grandmaster, Jacques De Molay.  As he slowly roasted on a burning pyre for his supposed sins, it is said he cursed King Philip IV and Pope Clement V, calling for them to join him in death within the year to answer for their crimes before God.

The Pope was dead within a month, and the King before the end of the year.

Which, in a convoluted way, leads me to the final Templar game, The Cursed Crusade.

• The Cursed Crusade Teaser

Kylotonn Entertainment’s own co-op action adventure game is actually set well before this ‘Templar curse” is issued, but a ‘Templar curse” does feature very heavily in the game.

Here, though, it is the Templar knights who are cursed for participating in possibly the worst disaster of the Crusades.

The Fourth Crusade provides the perfect backdrop for a game, as it perfectly illustrates the political, economic, religious, and military disunity of the Christian forces.

The Crusaders’ plan to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims by attacking from behind in Egypt soon fell apart as they fell into debt with the Venetians, who were to transport them there. Instead, to pay off their debt, they were diverted by the Venetians to attack their trading rival, the Byzantine Empire, and the rival to the Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church.

They sacked Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in 1204, returning with riches and items that stretched back to the time of the Roman Empire, and the Christian Byzantine Empire was left vulnerable for the Muslims to gradually absorb.

Transformation

If the Fourth Crusade went through a transformation, so did Kylotonn Entertainment’s game about it.

Back in July 2007 they announced a title about the time period called Crusaders: Invasion of Constantinople.  I had been watching that title keenly, but with no news I put it on my Games Gone MIA list in 2009.

Then suddenly The Cursed Crusade was announced, with Atlus as publisher, in November last year for a U.S. summer 2011 release on the PS3, 360, and PC.

The story seems to have changed from an epic adventure where the hero becomes an apprentice and eventually leads a team of four mercenaries in the conquest of Constantinople across 20 historic environments.

Now it is an online or offline co-op adventure game with the more ‘intense’ personal tale of Denz, a Templar Knight, and Esteban, a ‘roguish mercenary’ afflicted by a mysterious curse as they take part in the Fourth Crusade:

A story of salvation and survival, The Cursed Crusade brings to life the mystery and allure of the Middle Ages,” said Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales.

The game’s main characters are not heroes; they’re just men, susceptible to temptation, easily made to feel doubt and despair. The raw, gritty accuracy of many of the game’s historical locations is sharply contrasted by Denz and Esteban’s supernatural struggle to save their souls.

Their affliction, the Templar’s Curse, threatens to accelerate their descent into hell, burning their humanity away as it engulfs the space around them in demonic flame.

This change is demonstrated during the 5 chapters and 40 missions in the way that environments gradually transform into Dante’s Inferno-styled flaming hellish landscapes if you use curse powers in battle.  This curse gives you more strength and a greater ability to see hidden things, so it’s not all bad….except for the small fact that you are losing your humanity.

Certainly the action looks fluid and visceral, but I am concerned the environments will too often turn into a ‘Jericho’ or ‘Dante’s Inferno’-looking game where the focus is too much on hellish gory visions, when places like medieval Constantinople can provide so much rich historic beauty on their own.

Possibly I’m worrying for nothing, as Kylotonn has said they want realistic virtual interpretations of their historic cities and there is also likely to be consequences for using the curse power too much.

According to Australian GameInformer magazine the developer admits they have been influenced by Assassin’s Creed’s excellent work, and interestingly also the buddy game Army of Two, for co-op.

Weapon choice will also play a big role in the game, as there will be over 130 different weapons with different bonuses like extra damage or the ability to break through armour.

I’m excited about this one too.  If they don’t go too supernatural and keep grounded in the rich historic backdrop of the Fourth Crusade and make both the single player and the co-op action enjoyable instead of a chore, this could be a sleeper hit.

What Is The Assassin’s Creed Effect?

Simply put, Assassin’s Creed brought detailed realistic historic settings and conspiracy stories to a gaming environment drowning in fantasy-oriented medieval action or RPG styles.

These upcoming action games all feature historic settings, characters, and environments featuring the Templar Order.  Both the new IPs have paid tribute (one with the Leap of Faith scene in their trailer and the other in an interview with GameInformer) to the more famous Assassin’s Creed franchise, but both have gone their own direction with their games.

• The Crusades Slideshow

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The past before the 20th Century is rich with console gaming possibility, but with the relatively few exceptions of Westerns like Red Dead Redemption or medieval and renaissance games like those of Assassin’s Creed, it has largely been left unexplored in favour of fantasy, modern or futuristic games.

Perhaps that is starting to change.

©2011 David Hilton

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• Gallery of The Crusades

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