Ubisoft Creates Virtual Tour of Notre-Dame Cathedral

Ubisoft crafted a virtual reality tour of the Notre-Dame Cathedral and showed it off to the public for the first time recently to give people a peek inside the impressive monument's various parts. The tour was presented to the public at the UNESCO headquarter in Paris on September 21st and 22nd during a European Heritage Days event with 10 different scenes included in the tour. Following this first reveal, Ubisoft said it's planning on providing experiences such as this one to more people in the future.

News of the virtual reality tour was shared in a press release on Tuesday following the tour that took place over the weekend. Scenes inside and around the monument such as the choir within the interior of the cathedral and an outside look at it from a hot air balloon floating above were seen in the VR tour. The whole experience was based on the recreation of Notre-Dame found in Assassin's Creed Unity.

"For the last 30 years, Ubisoft has been creating immersive worlds in which it is possible for players to entertain themselves or— in the case of the Assassin's Creed series — to discover and appreciate a part of world heritage," said Deborah Papiernik, Ubisoft's senior vice president of new business. "We are proud to show the excellent work our teams have carried out in the creation of Assassin's Creed Unity, and to allow the public to visit the cathedral thanks to this virtual reality experience."

While details on the plans for the future weren't provided in the same announcement, Ubisoft did say that this presentation was "only the beginning" and that the goal is to make the experiences more accessible to others.

Ubisoft notably donated a sum of money to a fund dedicated to the rebuilding of Notre-Dame after a fire caused severe damage within the historic landmark. A total of €500,000 was provided to the restoration and reconstruction efforts, and Ubisoft also gave away the PC version of its Assassin's Creed Unity game which features the cathedral prominently.

This also isn't the first time that Ubisoft has given its fans experiences outside of the normal Assassin's Creed style through virtual tours. While not playable in virtual reality, the Discovery Tour feature for Assassin's Creed Odyssey gave players a detailed, educational look at the world of Classical Greece. You can see that tour experience in action within the video at the top.