A WINCHESTER charity has struck a new partnership with one of the world’s leading creators of video games to bring to life the city of Alfred the Great.

Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) has been working with Ubisoft, creators of the global gaming series Assassin’s Creed, which has sold more than 155 million copies worldwide, on the development of a new educational experience which will be released on October 19. Winchester featured heavily in the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the city will feature again in Discovery Tour: Viking Age, which allows players to explore and interact with the history and culture of the Viking era in 9th century England and Norway.

Anglo-Saxon objects from the collections cared for by HCT appear in Discovery Tour: Viking Age, which provides a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in and around Winchester. These objects range from the mundane – such as a simple wooden bowl – to the exceptional Winchester Reliquary, the sole surviving holy relic in the UK from the time, which is on display at City Museum.

HCT is not the only contemporary Winchester link to the project. Ubisoft worked with many historians on the development of the Discovery Tour to ensure . One of these was Ryan Lavelle, Professor of Early Medieval History at Winchester University. As well as acting as advisor to the hit BBC and Netflix series The Last Kingdom, Lavelle had helped bring Anglo-Saxon Wessex to life in the original Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

He said: “The Discovery Tour will open up the Viking Age to new audiences and can even make those of us who think we know the period think again. It was a real pleasure to have participated in its creation. As well as helping with the text of the historical markers, which help the player’s quests become learning experiences, I was really excited to have helped the team decide how best to represent a corner of Wessex at that turbulent time.”

The partnership will continue into 2022, with HCT developing and raising funds for a new, unique visitor experience which will open in the city in the later part of the year. This experience will give visitors an interactive insight into life in Anglo-Saxon Winchester through immersive storytelling, 360 degree projections and the use of contemporary objects, complemented by assets from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

HCT is also working with one of the UK’s leading creative studios, Sugar Creative, on an app to accompany the exhibition, which will include augmented reality recreations of Anglo-Saxon buildings and people placed at key points around the modern day city. Advisors to this experience include Prof Lavelle, Dr Patrick Ottaway - whose archaeological credits include the discovery of the Winchester Reliquary - and the University of Winchester’s Professor Bill Lucas, also chair of The English Project. He said: “For a decade the English Project has dreamed of creating the first ever museum for the English language, in Winchester. Working with Hampshire Cultural Trust, Ubisoft and Sugar Creative has convinced me that designing an interactive attraction is the first step to fulfilling this dream. Alfred and Winchester are key to our understanding of the story of English”.

Paul Sapwell, chief executive at Hampshire Cultural Trust, said: “This is one of the most exciting and innovative projects that we have worked on at HCT. The collaboration between Ubisoft, Sugar Creative and ourselves is a unique, cross-sector partnership and the Anglo-Saxon experience we are developing will be the first of its kind – combining real objects with gaming assets and augmented reality.

“We have an incredible team of advisors and are very pleased to have the support of both Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council who we are working with to bring this project to fruition next year. It is a long-held aspiration of many people, not just at HCT, but across Winchester, to create a permanent attraction celebrating the city’s Anglo-Saxon past and to establish Winchester as an important cultural heritage destination. This is a significant step in that direction.

“We see this innovative project as a unique opportunity to enable players to complete their gaming experience with a physical one,” commented Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, strategic alliances director at Ubisoft.

“They will be able to learn even more about Anglo-Saxon England through the collaboration with Hampshire Cultural Trust, first in the Discovery Tour: Viking Age and next year in Winchester through the new visitor experience. We are eager to see this innovative and thrilling cultural initiative come to life.”