The Olympics 2024’s hooded parkour man was in fact a reference to Assassin’s Creed Unity’s Arno

So, yeah, that hooded parkour man from this year’s Olympics opening ceremony was indeed supposed to be a reference to Assassin’s Creed Unity. 

The Olympics 2024 Games’ opening ceremony gave us a protracted rundown of everything there is to know about French culture: a beheaded, maybe-Marie Antoinette lady trapped in a heavy metal performance, Celine Dion singing atop the Eiffel Tower, and a mysterious flag-bearer that ran and jumped across Paris’ rooftops in a familiar white hood.

I initially thought it was just a cute coincidence since the clip below doesn’t quite have the same iconic hood design from Assassin’s Creed, but nope, it seems like the Olympics actually went full-on with the video game reference. 

As spotted by Eurogamer, publisher Ubisoft tweeted that we should “Keep an eye on Paris’ rooftops – Arno might just be watching from above,” in reference to the main character from Assassin’s Creed Unity.

You might remember Assassin’s Creed Unity, which is somehow almost ten years old, as the gorgeous Paris-based entry in the stealthy stabathon series that launched with some major bugs and a subsequently dampened reception. But the years have been kind to Unity’s jaw-dropping city since post-launch updates have more or less cleaned up most people’s complaints. 

Unity’s rendition of Paris was actually so realistic, in-game data of the Notre Dam was used to restore its real life counterpart after a disastrous fire. That makes the above Olympics nod all the more a fitting celebration of the French publisher’s storied series. 

Assassin’s Creed Shadows debate somehow reached the Japanese government, who reportedly remind everyone that historical fiction isn’t really their concern at all.