Gaming has become a medium where art, storytelling, and technology unite, immersing players in carefully crafted worlds where architecture is not just a backdrop but a tool. In these digital spaces, architecture transcends its traditional role and becomes a strategic element that players must interact with to achieve their objectives. By navigating and leveraging spatial layouts, whether scaling vertical structures for vantage points or using walls and corridors for cover, players develop a deeper connection to the built environment.
Through environments inspired by the past, present, and future, gaming introduces players to architectural typologies and concepts they might never encounter in reality. Video games transform architecture into dynamic, interactive tools that shape gameplay, tell stories, and guide players. This strategic use of architecture not only enhances the gaming experience but also highlights its significance and memorability.
Assassin’s Creed and Historical Architecture
Luke Pearson and Sandra Youkhana, co-founders of the architectural firm “You+Pea”, contributed to Assassin’s Creed Unity, ensuring that its depiction of Paris’s iconic landmarks was both authentic and atmospheric. Their expertise added a layer of realism to the game, helping players experience the city as it might have been during the French Revolution. As a result of this, the game excels at recreating historical towns, making them stand out visually whilst also being integral to gameplay. From Renaissance Florence to Ptolemaic Alexandria, the series transforms architectural landmarks into playable experiences, allowing players to scale the Duomo or navigate the busy streets of ancient Rome. By including notable structures like the Notre Dame Cathedral or the Hagia Sophia, Assassin’s Creed transforms these buildings from far-away tourist attractions to interactive experiences, allowing players to gain an intimate understanding of how these spaces functioned, and allowing a newfound appreciation for historical architecture.
Through its “Discovery Tour” mode, Assassin’s Creed strips away combat, allowing players to truly experience its architectural recreations through a version of the game that focuses on education. By walking through virtual mimics of past cities, players are able to connect with history in a way textbooks are not able to replicate, making architectural wonders accessible and reshaping how we perceive these monumental spaces and embedding the uniqueness of these sites in players’ minds.
Dark Souls and the Art of Atmosphere
While Assassin’s Creed focuses on historical accuracy, Dark Souls takes a different route in creating fictional worlds, one that feels more rooted in architectural authenticity and the translation of notable architectural styles throughout time. Its places of interest, such as ‘Anor Londo’ and ‘Firelink Shrine’, carry a sense of timelessness through the blending of Gothic, Romanesque, and medieval influences together. The architecture in Dark Souls serves as a story-telling aspect, showing the decay and grandeur of a world that is on the brink of collapse. Players’ journeys through these spaces are guided by careful design, with towering spires, spiral staircases, and fortresses that create an almost overwhelming atmosphere that could only be achieved through architectural elements. Every ruin found within the environment tells a story, immersing players in a world where architecture embodies beauty and despair.
The game’s ability to make fictional spaces feel memorable lies in the way that it is intricately designed. The architectural elements of Dark Souls elevate its storytelling through the use of real-world architectural styles, including features such as courtyards and vaulted ceilings. The game connects players with historical design principles while introducing them to the power of narration through spatial experiences.
Tactical Terrain: Architecture as a Strategy
First-person shooter (FPS) games push the role of architecture even further, turning it into a strategic tool for players. The architecture in these games is not merely a backdrop but a dynamic element that players must engage with to succeed, often making it more memorable.
Ready or Not is a tactical shooting game in which analysing architecture and the spatial organisation of buildings is crucial for your strategy, and is a prime example of using architectural technicalities tactically in a way that is memorable and educational. Provided with floor plans in your briefing at the beginning of the game, your approach to success relies on your manoeuvrability around the buildings’ intricacies through understanding their layout and architectural properties. The hyper-realistic environments and situations emphasize the importance of spatial awareness, compelling players to use architecture as a shield, a vantage point, or a pathway to outmanoeuvre adversaries and truly understand the scenario at hand.
Ready or Not, like Call of Duty and Helldivers 2 which have their own urban warfare narratives, show architecture as both a friend and foe, where every staircase, doorway, or rooftop found during your gameplay becomes a potential game-changer, and your outcome comes down to how well you utilise the spaces around you. First-person shooter games – amongst other genres – offer architects, designers, and other related creatives a more unusual lens that would allow them to explore scale, materiality, and flow in virtual environments. They highlight how thoughtful spatial arrangement can influence human behaviour, whilst reinforcing the importance of spaces that are not only visually appealing but functionally important. Through gaming, players unconsciously engage with architectural theory, making architecture an accessible and impactful part of their experience.
A Medium for Appreciating Architecture
Architecture in gaming is far more than just visual appeal, it’s a dynamic tool that shapes strategy, tells stories, and creates unforgettable experiences. Whether navigating the intricate spaces of Ready or Not for tactical advantage, engaging with the hyper-realistic environments of Dark Souls, or exploring historical landmarks in Assassin’s Creed Unity, players are able to immerse themselves in worlds where architecture becomes both a challenge and an ally.
By transforming structures into interactive and strategic elements, video games are able to create a deeper appreciation for design, history, and spatial awareness, even among those with no background in architecture. As gaming continues to evolve, it bridges imagination and reality, offering new ways to experience, understand, and reimagine the built environment.
Reference List:
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Siegle, M. (2022) Dark souls: The lore behind Anor Londo explained, Game Rant. Available at: https://gamerant.com/dark-souls-anor-londo-sunlight-gwyn-gods-lore-secrets-explained/ (Accessed: 29 December 2024).
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