So, yeah, that hooded parkour man from this year's Olympics opening ceremony was indeed supposed to be a reference to Assassin's Creed Unity.
The Olympics 2024 Games' opening ceremony gave us a protracted rundown of everything there is to know about French culture: a beheaded, maybe-Marie Antoinette lady trapped in a heavy metal performance, Celine Dion singing atop the Eiffel Tower, and a mysterious flag-bearer that ran and jumped across Paris' rooftops in a familiar white hood.
I initially thought it was just a cute coincidence since the clip below doesn't quite have the same iconic hood design from Assassin's Creed, but nope, it seems like the Olympics actually went full-on with the video game reference.
I wasn’t certain how I was feeling about not having the Olympics Opening ceremony in a stadium for spectacle reasons but then we got Stomp and an Assassin’s Creed parkour bit and I’m all in. pic.twitter.com/S702MZNVUlJuly 26, 2024
As spotted by Eurogamer, publisher Ubisoft tweeted that we should "Keep an eye on Paris' rooftops - Arno might just be watching from above," in reference to the main character from Assassin's Creed Unity.
Keep an eye on Paris' rooftops—Arno might just be watching from above. 👀🦅 pic.twitter.com/opqDU04XgoJuly 26, 2024
You might remember Assassin's Creed Unity, which is somehow almost ten years old, as the gorgeous Paris-based entry in the stealthy stabathon series that launched with some major bugs and a subsequently dampened reception. But the years have been kind to Unity's jaw-dropping city since post-launch updates have more or less cleaned up most people's complaints.
Unity's rendition of Paris was actually so realistic, in-game data of the Notre Dam was used to restore its real life counterpart after a disastrous fire. That makes the above Olympics nod all the more a fitting celebration of the French publisher's storied series.
