Relevance

According to the reading "Media and State Control in the Middle East", Assassin's Creed Origins could be seen as part of the global "mediascape" that constructs and disseminates particular representations of Middle Eastern cultures and histories. While the game aims for historical authenticity in meticulously crafting its ancient Egyptian environments, architecture, and cultural details based on research, it still inevitably filters and adapts that representation through a modern Western production lens.

The reading "Virtual Worlds, Digital Dreams" provides a framework for analyzing how Origins exemplifies the overlap of different "imaginary spaces". On one level, it operates as a "space of representation" by recreating ancient Egyptian culture, mythology, and historical events based on scholarly evidence. However, it simultaneously functions as a "space of hybridity" where those cultural representations are interwoven with the fundamental gameplay systems, rules, and conventions derived from Western open-world action-adventure genres.

Moreover, one could view Assassin's Creed Origins as constituting a "space of cultural dialogue" by making ancient Egyptian civilization accessible and introducing many players to lesser-known aspects of its rich culture, mythology, and history. The game's developers collaborated with Egyptologist consultants to ensure authenticity in areas like depicting environments, character designs, storied myths, and hieroglyphic writing systems.

However, the reading cautions that such games originating from the dominant Western video game industry cannot be viewed as purely "authentic" cultural representations. While allowing players to engage with an ancient civilization through a virtual world, at its core, Assassin's Creed Origins' rule systems, objectives, and fundamental gameplay mechanics ultimately reinforce certain cultural values, perspectives and ideologies derived from that production context. This results in a "hybrid" experience that blends elements of ancient Egyptian representation with the universalized assumptions and systems of contemporary Western game design.

While Assassin's Creed Origins serves as an engaging medium for exploring and appreciating ancient Egyptian culture, it also highlights the complexities of cultural representation in modern media. The game's blend of meticulous historical research and contemporary gameplay design underscores the dual nature of digital cultural artifacts: they are both windows into the past and mirrors reflecting present-day values and perspectives. Recognizing this duality is crucial for a nuanced understanding of how media like video games contribute to our perception of history and culture in a globalized world.