In Ge's video essay "The Idyllic Video Game Sublime," the soundtrack in Aaru in Assassin's Creed: Origins used the harmonic major and lydian modes to augment the ethereality setting. Ambient tones and gestural melodies create a sense of surrealilty, and the absence of consistent rhythm complemented the timelessness of the world. The augmented harmony of the harmonic major mode creates an ethereal and slightly uneasy feeling. As a balance to the uncertainty of the harmonic major, he harmony switches to the parallel Lydian mode at times, providing a sense of just peacefulness. In the interplay between these two sonorous but unresolved modes, teetering on either side of consonance, the soundtrack's harmonic uncertainty joins the aesthetic and functional loops, creating the sense that somehow, something is amiss about the place's perfect tranquility. Through the soundtrack, restfullness takes on unrest for an unwelcome visitor in the afterlife.
As I watched Ge's video essay, I wondered how much the game is an informed, respectful depiction of the culture of ancient Egypt. To what extent did the developers "design inside-out," to quote Artful Design's Principle 2.2, from the culture they borrowed, as opposed to contorting the mythology and religion to serve their own narrative use? To design inside-out using religion as a narrative medium would entail that the story produced inhabits the religion's conceptual space, embodying its tenets and teachings. However, as is the nature of design, the result would be greater than the sum of its parts, not just reiterating the ideological materials but manifesting them in a new way, changing their meaning. This change may be good or bad, but I believe it is ethical if the design takes from existing traditions in a way that is respectful to and in service of their orignal creators.
In thinking about Assassin's Creed, I also wonder if the game's violence is beautiful. I am skeptical of the game's justification of violence. In media, there is often an absolute good and an absolute evil that are used to justify the use of violence. I am skeptical of the existence of such absolutes. I do try to live in accordance with an absolute good, although I embrace its impossibility. I believe that the profound truth to which good design points is unknowable. As such, it can not be used to justify anything but its own pursuit. So, I disagree with the notion that an absolute good or evil can justify violence. I am also skeptical that it is beautiful to practice violence in a video game, especially frivolous violence.
In the last scenes of the video essay, Ge's character puts out his hand to brush through the reeds as he walks. This detail enhanced the immersiveness of the experience for me, as that action is something I have done and that feels sublime to me. That the character also seems to appreciate the sublime in the environment makes the story more compelling to me.