This week I thought I would take a look back into the historical origins and characters within the games I am focusing on for my final artifact (Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and Sengoku Basara: Samauri Heroes)
I know my research has been all over the place with posts on sexualizing costuming etc., but welcome to the life of a cosplayer; there are so many elements which have to be taken into consideration for accuracy purposes.
I came to the following conclusions after watching many ‘Lets play’ videos online and literally engrossing myself into the 16th century historical accounts of both Italy and Japan.
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
Released 2010 / UBISOFT / FFA and Co-op
GAMEPLAY:
- Ezio is a fictional character
- Fictional history of real world events
- The game uses protagonists such as Leonardo Di Vinci and Macovelli plus the ‘House of Medici’ and other historical elements to make the game as realistic as possible
- Developers use real documents and collaboration with real world historians for ultimate accuracy although had to make minor changes to the scenery to fit in with the game demands
COSTUMING OF EZIO:
- Roman robes
- Cape included over his left shoulder with a leather spaulder
- red sash displays the Assassin’s insignia
- Includes a knife, dual-wielded sword and mace, throwing knives and a hidden Gun
- Has similarities to ancient roman assassins in the forearm guards and layered detailing of the different sections
- Hood to conceal identity and emphasize mystery – reveals assassin status
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes
Released 2010 / Capcom / Single and Co-op
GAMEPLAY:
- Takes real Japanese historical events, locations and figures and makes them larger than life with dynamic character designs and all-out action.
- There is an overall character goal of wanting to re-write history and rule over 16th century Japan with characters fighting to the battle of sekigahara.
- Dramatizes the warring states period of Japan known as ‘Sengoku’
- Includes magic and sorcery and over the top battles – magical elements reveal the strong eastern influences present in the games genre
COSTUMING OF NOBUNAGA:
- Character is based on the Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga
- Full body armor which seems to be inspired by that of traditional Japanese samurai given the forearm guards (which are similar to Ezio’s), creative head piece, neck brace and shoulder/thigh shields.
- To me it gives off more of a medieval knight vibe, through the full head to toe restrictions of the armor and full shin/feet covering.
- Red colour in cape and detailing; emphasizes his depiction as evil and ruthless as it has connotations to blood
- Includes a curved sword and rifle
- His armor is pretty badass although extremely unrealistic and unpractical.
The two main sources I used to find this information were these videos below as well as a personal analysis of the costuming. The first video shows historical elements present in Assassins Creed which I found extremely helpful and informative and the second video is a Lets play of Sengoku Basara and the character Nobunaga to reveal the differences in visuals and the magical elements within the game play.
I have always been interested in Ancient history but know very little about Japanese history other than what I have seen in movies, so this activity I actually really enjoyed. However, there is a lot of information out there so I was unable to touch on all game/historical details without actually playing the games which made it difficult to fit pieces together.
The years of historical detailing which both game developers would have done in order to perfect all aspects of the game experience is exceptional. I was amazed at how similar both games were in terms of historical accuracy of information although of course, to fit game demands things had to be changed and extensively dramatized (I wouldn’t have even notice to be honest). Knowing more about both characters attire and has been a real eye opener, especially when considering important details to be included in my costume design.
Digital Asia 
Interesting post, although I feel it could have been greatly improved with an actual comparison between the two characters after listing their features. I also noticed the inclusion of personal assumed knowledge and judgements, such as the mentioning of unexplained Italian characters like “Macovelli” or the description of Nobunaga’s “pretty badass” costume, that, in my opinion, make the post unaccessible to those unfamiliar with the games and would have been better suited to the aforementioned analysis, offering understanding of these factors through your own experience after objectively explaining them.
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It’s incredible to think about the actual detail that really goes into a game costume. I would never have normally given too much thought to particular colour of a character’s cape, but it’s really interesting to think about the connotations something like that does have. How is your own costume creation coming along? Are you still looking at merging the two styles from the different games? Good luck!
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