Pictures say a thousand words. Videos say a hundred thousand words. And a particular video game just might reveal the exact right amount of detail that could render someone speechless.

The fire in Notre Dame Cathedral has brought us together, evidenced by the staggering $1 billion that’s been raised this week for rebuilding the famed Parisian church. The world was watching this past Monday in horror as an inferno engulfed Notre Dame — which was particularly devastating for those witnessing the fire in person — and in addition to saving priceless works of religious art and relics, the architectural struggle begins to restore the church. Surely there are several traditional reference points to assist in this incredible task.

But what about untraditional sources of information? What if there is a high-definition, digital record of Notre Dame’s intricate Gothic architectural beauty that is discoverable by the title ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity’?

Your son or nephew may possess a helpful key to rediscovering Notre Dame’s past for the future.

Who would have thought?

“The free offer for Assassin’s Creed Unity is a way for Ubisoft to share the cathedral in its original form to as many as possible. As a French company, it put a lot of love into its rendition and is donating €500,000 ($564,000, £433,000) to help with the restoration.”
–Ryan Maskell, ‘Ubisoft is giving refunds for poorly timed Assassin’s Creed Unity purchases,’ PCGamesN online 

The intersection of popular culture in the form of film, TV and video games with real-world situations/reality is just getting busier by the day. Recall the dedicated interest of Christopher Nolan and Co. to work with famed American theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to visually create a black hole for the 2014 science fiction film ‘Interstellar’ that turned out to be pretty damn close to the first image of a black hole in space. Now a video game could assist in rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral. 

While I’m not surprised by this revelation, I am nonetheless at a slight loss for words in happiness that a video game can help restore Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.