Ubisoft launches AlUla Discovery Tour app
Ubisoft has launched the free Discovery Tour App: AlUla, allowing users around the world to explore the history and heritage of Saudi Arabia’s AlUla through the world recreated for Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory.
The publisher announced the app on September 16, with the experience available for free on iOS and Android as well as directly through a web browser without requiring a download.
The app supports seven languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Simplified Chinese. It combines interactive gameplay with educational material covering AlUla’s history, architecture, natural landmarks and daily life.
It uses the recreation of AlUla developed for Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory, taking the historical research and environment behind the game and turning them into a standalone educational experience.
The app is divided into three main sections.
Its Explore AlUla mode offers a gamified, mission-based journey lasting around 90 minutes. Users explore historical locations and learn about AlUla, with the knowledge they gather subsequently used to complete missions and eventually decipher an ancient inscription.
The Access Codex section contains encyclopaedic entries covering AlUla’s history and heritage that were created with historians and experts. Entries are accompanied by images of real-world artefacts from partner institutions, with some objects available to examine in 3D using augmented reality.
A third section, Enter Chronology, provides a timeline covering the historical periods that have shaped AlUla from prehistoric times through to the present day.
Discovery Tour App: AlUla was developed by UK immersive technology company Sugar Creative.
Ubisoft said the experience was designed as an accessible educational tool for a range of users, including history enthusiasts, educators and museums.
The project expands Ubisoft’s use of its Assassin’s Creed worlds for educational experiences outside the main games.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory introduced AlUla as an explorable setting, with the Discovery Tour app now allowing users to experience the location independently of the main game.
Ubisoft said the Assassin’s Creed franchise has sold more than 230 million games worldwide since its debut in 2007.
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