Assassin’s Creed II: Exploring the Boundaries of Freedom in Videogames

Via means of Ubisoft’s action-adventure videogame Assassin’s Creed II (2009) this essay aims to determine and explore the extent to which freedom can be experienced in both a philosophical and algorithmic sense. Focusing on three modes—narrative, exploratory, and tactical freedoms—this essay examines how games like Minecraft, Skyrim, and Halo Wars embody these freedoms and compares them with Assassin’s Creed II as the main case study. Through the philosophies of Hegel, Sartre, and Foucault, alongside contemporary computer science theories, the analysis highlights how player agency and game design can shape the experience of freedom or create the illusion of said freedom. The study ultimately demonstrates that while videogames offer varied expressions of freedom, they could also impose inherent constraints through coding and design.