Despite being one of the most popular franchises in the history of video gaming, Assassin’s Creed [AC] builds on something increasingly unpopular: religion. This chapter aims to show that AC nonetheless uses religion, and then aestheticizes it in two ways – (1) perennially and (2) esoterically, – serving to attract the largest possible audience; an audience that is nonetheless demographically predominantly secular. Based on a content analysis of the franchise itself – additionally informed by player interviews (de Wildt/Aupers 2019), online discussions (de Wildt/Aupers 2020), developer interviews (de Wildt/Aupers 2021), and analyses done elsewhere (cf. de Wildt, 2020) – I ask:1. Who plays Assassin’s Creed, and what is likely to be their religious position? (The answer to which is ‘the exact demographic at the forefront of secularisation – Western, male, young, and educated.) 2. How does AC represent religion for this largely secular audience? (As perennial – i.e., that there is one underlying truth common to all religious and philosophical traditions – and esoteric – i.e., that religion can be made understandable through the combined, rare knowledge that only a select few have access to)I conclude that while AC’s audience is at the forefront of secularisation, the AC franchise presents this audience with a perennial, esoteric representation of religion, and does so in a commodified way, using the logic of esotericism to sell its ‘marketable’ religion across various transmedial media objects. What is the consequence of this? AC’s representation of religion follows the same market logic that spirituality and New Age religion have taken outside of the church, particularly since the 1960s: a picking and mixing of religious elements from any tradition at hand. Moreover, this handpicked assemblage presents a “marketable” religion that will offend nobody and that anyone can identify with (de Wildt/Aupers 2021). Rather than perform individual bricolage, however, consumers of AC are invited to reconstruct meanings that have already been laid out by the franchise: a commodified, enjoyable puzzle that promises the answer to understanding all of history’s mysteries. This logic of esotericism – of piecing together scientific, historical, mysterious and religious knowledge – is at the centre of AC as a franchise. Every media object – AC’s many games, books, and other transmedia products – offers a piece of this puzzle that only the ‘true’ fan has access to. It offers all the joy of understanding the ‘real’ truth behind everything, without having to believe in anything at all
