Memory Corridor

Memory corridor of the Animus 2.0

The Memory Corridor was a digital construct that allowed the Animus to recreate accurate images from a subject's genetic memory. It appeared to the user as an empty virtual space located within the Animus. When the memory loaded, the virtual environment would be recreated over the memory corridor.

Usage

The corridor was mainly used as a "loading screen" between memories, where the user could roam around while a memory was being compiled. The memory corridor appeared to be an endless void, having a different appearance in each software version of the Animus. If the user was desynchronized while reliving a memory, his or her avatar returned to the corridor, allowing the memory to reload.

Additionally, the final moments of assassination targets were displayed in the memory corridor, where they would have shared their final words with their killer, the source of the respective genetic memory, before receiving their last rites.

Animus renditions

The Animus was the primary exemplar of using memory corridors. Within the Animus, memory corridors were a computer-constructed method to allow the user to interact with the avatar while the memory compiled. The appearance, complexity and duration the user was left in a corridor varied between Animus versions.

Animus 1.28

The Abstergo Industries Animus 1.28 originally had an icy-blue background, in which simulated fog and strings of computer code existed. The user could move the avatar of their ancestor freely around this simulation and could use all weapons. This provided the user with the opportunity to experiment with their weapons while allowing new memories to load. This version of the corridor was utilized as a location for the tutorial for Desmond Miles during his first use of the Animus while reliving the memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad at Abstergo's facility in Rome.

Animus 2.0 and 2.01

The background of the Animus 2.0 and its 2.01 update was light grey with white lines. It existed as the main corridor used within the virtual machine, coming to be known as the "White Room". In the Animus 2.0, an avatar could only be made to run or walk around, but this restriction was removed in the upgraded versions, allowing the user to use weapons as well. In the Animus 2.01, the corridor was used as an interface for Rebecca Crane's Animus Virtual Training Program, in which Desmond regained complete control over the avatar of Ezio Auditore da Firenze to test his skills on challenges composed of enemies transferred from his ancestor's memories and digital constructs that mirrored the White Room's background.

Memory corridor of a repressed memory

During some instances, the background changed for certain memories such as repressed ones or traumatic parts of the subject's life. Examples of repressed memories included some of Ezio Auditore's experiences with Cristina Vespucci, one of his lovers from his youth, and were rendered with a ghost-like Ezio chasing a phantom of Cristina through a dark, red-hued corridor with floating binary code. This corridor remained for a much longer time than most other memories, and the memory could take a very long time to compile.

"Pax Romana" was another example of a traumatic memory, in which the memory corridor took on an orange coloration with broken fragments of data. This occurred when Desmond first tried accessing the memory after Cesare Borgia's death once Ezio threw him off of the Viana Castle's battlements, failing to completely load the memory due to its instability.

Animus safe mode

The safe mode program built into the Animus, known as the "Black Room", had a varying dark and bright blue background with black lines, the polar opposite of the appearance of Animus 2.03 in its stable condition. Like its predecessors, the "Black Room" allowed the user to roam freely while the memory compiled. This portion of the memory corridor was used when Desmond Miles fell into a coma following his first encounter with Juno in the Colosseum Vault; when he roamed in the corridor during loadings, the color of his clothes appeared to be inverted much as the space itself.

Animi Training Program

During the first training stage of the Animi Training Program, the memory corridor appeared to be a combination of the Animus 1.28's and 2.03's. It had both a blue, fog-filled background and white lines. The corridor within the Animi that was used for the second stage of Abstergo's training program had a gray background with cubical fragments. Unlike other memory corridors, these did not allow for free roaming.

Animus 3.0

Desmond in the memory corridor of Animus 3.0

The Animus 3.0's background was similar to that of the Animus 1.28, in that it was icy-blue but withheld fog. It also appeared to be composed of triangular fragments, which appeared to mesh themselves together to form the environment of any loading memory, replacing the code strings of the Animus 1.28. Much like its predecessors, the Animus 3.0's corridor allowed the user to roam freely. Desmond used the corridor to test the features of the new Animus after he arrived at the Grand Temple to ensure a good synchronization with Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké:ton's memories.

Animus console

As part of Abstergo Entertainment's rendition of the Animus as a game console for consumer interaction with the objective of influencing the general public, the virtual machine was displayed in a similar manner to the "Black Room" of the Animus 2.03. Accompanying this, a large symbol of the Abstergo Industries' logo could be seen spinning in some instances, alongside a bokeh graphical design that transitioned from blue to orange.

Animus Omega

Animus Omega's memory corridor

In the Animus Omega that were installed in the Abstergo Entertainment Headquarters in Montreal, the corridor exhibited a blue-green coloration and seemed to have ocean waves formed by light dots in the background, both indications that the space may have been tailored to fit the naval theme of the Sample 17 Project that the Animi were all focusing on. The Animus used for the Identity Project also followed the same background, although the project was not related with the ocean.

The Helix-based versions of the Animus Omega featured a darker, deeper blue color with fog, triangules and waves composed by lines and particles. A different colored variation was also seen when a specific memory from Shay Cormac was accessed, in which the subject had been poisoned.

Helix Navigator

While the first iterations of the Helix servers did not feature a memory corridor, as seen when a Helix Initiate relieved the memories of Arno Dorian, by the time of the Helix 4.0, when said Initiate relived Jacob Frye's and Evie Frye's memories, a corridor was present, being mainly an off-white color with grey fog in the background and a cloudy sky that meant to evoke the rainy weather of London, witnessed by the Frye twins in their prime. Additionally, white rectangular prisms of varying heights could be seen near the ground, while taller structures rose up in the distance, with some of them even disappearing among the clouds.

Portable Animus HR-8

Portable Animus HR-8's memory corridor when accessing a new memory sequence

Layla Hassan's Portable Animus had a memory corridor which consisted on a transparent floor made of small yellow dots that resembled desert dunes. A bright setting sun would appear on the horizon while the background was black. In this space, the user could use Bayek's or Aya's weapons as well as sprint, crouch and dodge. In the loading of a new memory sequence, several panels filled with golden hieroglyphics could be seen phasing in different directions until the next memory was compiled.

When Bayek and Aya interrogated one of their assassinated targets in the memory corridor, it would conjurate different visual representations of objects and environments that were related to the target's schemes and machinations, as well as their own passage to the Duat, as supported by Egyptian mythology.

Portable Animus HR-8.5

Portable Animus HR-8.5's memory corridor

The Portable Animus upgraded by Layla with Victoria Bibeau's help only displayed a memory corridor when one first entered or was extracted from a simulation while exploring Kassandra's memories. It exhibited a constant vortex of blue light surrounded by several waving letters from the Greek alphabet in bright white. While reliving the Spartan's memories of her time on Aletheia's simulations, various flickering bright lines of orange light would appear within the vortex and would sometimes destabilize the corridor.

Layla in another iteration of her Animus' memory corridor

The corridor returned to be displayed normally and its appearance changed when Layla and later Basim Ibn Ishaq relived Eivor Varinsdottir's memories, now with a flooded floor and a background filled with stars and aurora borealis, reflecting the skies seen by the Viking in her time. However, the background of the corridor turned darker during interrogations of assassinated targets, who would, at times, be surrounded by objects that alluded to their lives and motives. Eivor herself even commented on the corridor and its aspects once, comparing it to Niflheimr, the realm of the dead according to Norse mythology.

In some instances, a depiction of Odin would interact with Eivor in the memory corridor, either counseling her during some key interrogations or appearing to her in visions. This was later revealed to be caused by Eivor's nature as the reborn form of Odin, whose memories slowly resurfaced inside the Viking. While Eivor was plugged into the Yggdrasil supercomputer, a battle between her and Odin was fought in a recreation of the memory corridor, which the Viking ultimately won by relinquishing her pursuit of glory and thus rejecting Odin's influence.

Other Animi

Basim Ibn Ishaq

Basim in the memory corridor of an unindentified Animus

When Basim Ibn Ishaq's memories were relived by the Assassins, the corridor, displayed similarly to the later iteration of it on the Portable Animus HR-8.5, assumed two states: the first one, which depicted an endless, dark desert, from which various silhouettes emerged under a desaturated setting sun, was used when Basim's memories were being loaded in the Animus or when the Hidden One interrogated a dying target; the victim would be accompanied by their respective mask and the tool used by Basim to kill them.

The other state emerged when Basim was plagued by visions or nightmares of the djinn, in which the sun and the shadows disappeared, and the sand would turn a blueish-dark. The color of the sky would match the sand's color and could sometimes make way for storm clouds.

Noa Kim and Shimazu Sei

Edward Kenway's avatar with Noa Kim's facial features in the memory corridor

The background of the memory corridor of the Animus used when Noa Kim relived Edward Kenway's memories during his captivity aboard Abstergo's research vessel Exitus was remarkably similar to the Animus Omega's first iteration of it, given the resurgence of the previous project's naval themes. Still, it revealed some differences in design and use: the corridor exhibited more grid lines, distorting its wave elements to some extent, and a bright light in the distance would perpetually light the space. The avatar of the user would also slowly turn into the subject's avatar as their synchronization rate increased, instead of being either one or the other as was the case with the other corridors.

While Noa was under the influence of a crescent-shaped Piece of Eden encountered by Edward, the corridor's background changed colors to dark blue and grey, and it also somewhat resembled the Animus 3.0's corridor, being similarly composed of triangular fragments. When Noa interacted with several apparitions of Edward through the Bleeding Effect, the background became light grey with white lines, resembling the Animus 2.0's corridor.

The corridor of the makeshift Animus HR-8 used by Shimazu Sei to explore Shimazu Saito's memories maintained a near identical appearance to the one of Abstergo's Animus. Similarly to Noa, while in the corridor, Sei's avatar slowly turned into that of Saito as her synchronization rate with her ancestor increased.

Assassin hacker

The memory corridor of the Animus in which an Assassin hacker relived the memories of Ezio Auditore, Kassandra and Ratonhnhaké:ton stored in the Abstergo Cloud possessed a background that appeared to be a combination of the Animus 1.28's and 2.0's, exhibiting the latter's white lines and the former's blue foggy background. The corridor was only briefly visible when a memory finished loading, right as it receded and vanished to signify its complete compilation. In addition, the corridor would overlap the simulation in certain situations, either by manually pausing it or by freezing it, which would occur when accessing a historical construct or when a memory was effectively seen to its end.

Alternate renditions

Effects similar to the Animi memory corridors appeared elsewhere. The corridors did, however, always relate to the conveying of memories. They appeared both in the Bleeding Effect and First Civilization memory seals.

First Civilization

Ezio in a Memory Seal's corridor

While viewing the memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad that were stored on memory seals, the memory corridor developed golden symbols similar to those embedded on the Masyaf Keys. Accompanying this, once Desmond had completed the remainder of Ezio Auditore's genetic memories, he achieved a Synch Nexus and conversed with Jupiter, a member of the First Civilization. During this meeting, golden symbols surrounded the group in the memory corridor.

Bleeding Effect

When a person experienced the symptoms of the Bleeding Effect, they would encounter an occurrence similar to a memory corridor. At first, figures and objects in the memory would appear to be white on a black background, though they would optimize in more detail, until a point where the memory corridor disappeared and was replaced with an actual memory, in a similar manner to the Animus' virtual representation of one. As the Bleeding Effect receded, so did the corridor.

Trivia

General

• No matter what position or method the assassination target was killed in or how far away the character was from the target, upon entering the corridor, the character would always be right next to them.
• Majd Addin, Checco Orsi, Shahkulu, and Edward Braddock required being stabbed a second time while inside the memory corridor before finally dying.
• The memory corridor was also used in several failed and spared assassinations. These included Maria Thorpe (spared), Rodrigo Borgia (failed, later spared), Micheletto Corella (spared), Shahkulu (failed), Nicholas Biddle (spared), Benjamin Franklin (failed), Charles Vane (spared) and Woodes Rogers (survived).

Assassin's Creed

• During a sufficiently long loading period, it was possible for Altaïr to run far enough that glitches and other symbols surrounding him were left behind.
• Glitches appeared frequently in the corridor of Animus 1.28 while interrogating felled targets, prompting Desmond to change the angle of the scene and allowing an assassinated target to walk around as they spoke with Altaïr, appearing unharmed.

Assassin's Creed II

• Dante Moro and Silvio Barbarigo appeared in the memory corridor together, even if they were killed separately.
• Ezio could only use his fists while he was displayed in the corridor.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

• When the Templar agents situated in Rome were killed and entered the corridor, they did not speak. Ezio simply gave them last rites, before closing their eyes and walking away.
• It was possible to run out of ammunition if Ezio used the Hidden Gun, throwing knives, or the crossbow in the memory corridor.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

• The memory corridor allowed Ezio to freely test bombs without risk of harming civilians.
• Ezio wrote letters to his sister Claudia inside the corridor.

Assassin's Creed III

• Neither Desmond Miles, Ratonhnhaké:ton, nor Haytham Kenway could equip a weapon inside the memory corridor with the exception of the start of a new memory sequence.
• Kaniehtí:io was briefly playable during the memory corridor between the end of Haytham's memories and the start of their son's, making her the first woman to be playable in Desmond's ancestry.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

• Aveline de Grandpré could not equip a weapon inside the memory corridor, but was able to sprint, even in guises that technically would not allow her to do so.
• If Aveline jumped upward, the memory corridor's background would lightly shift upward, before returning to its original position when Aveline landed.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Edward Kenway could not use any weapon or tool in the memory corridor. However, in the aptly-named memory "Delirium", he could consume enough alcohol to stumble about before falling over drunk.
• Like Dante Moro and Silvio Barbarigo, John Cockram and Josiah Burgess appeared in the corridor together, even if they were killed separately.
• In most other versions of the Animus, the memory being viewed would slowly dematerialize upon transformation into the Corridor when assassinating a target. In the Animus Omega, the memory simply halts with a black screen before immediately jumping to the Corridor.

Assassin's Creed: Identity

• Lo Sparviero can only enter the memory corridor in the tutorials.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

• In the memory corridor Jacob and Evie would not have their hoods raised even if they were during the assassination.
• Like in the memory corridors with Altaïr and his victims, Jacob and Evie's victims had the opportunity to walk around, with the sole exception of the businessman Malcolm Millner.

Assassin's Creed: Origins

• Mirroring past memory corridor iterations during interrogations, Bayek and Amunet's victims could simultaneosly walk around the space and appear injured at their arms in some instances.

Assassin's Creed: Mirage

• While in the memory corridor, Basim could perform every action, except for using his tools.
• The shapes in the corridor would disappear in sand if Basim approached them.

Gallery

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  Altaïr and Sibrand in the Animus 1.28's memory corridor
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  Ezio and Jacopo de' Pazzi in the Animus 2.0's memory corridor
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  Ezio and Cesare Borgia in the Animus 2.01's memory corridor
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  The memory corridor at the end of one of Ezio's traumatic memories
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  Ezio and Manuel Palaiologos in the Animus 2.03's memory corridor
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  Ratonhnhaké:ton and John Pitcairn in the Animus 3.0's memory corridor
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  Aveline and Baptiste in the Animus Console's memory corridor
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  Edward and Julien du Casse in the Animus Omega's memory corridor
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  Lo Sparviero in the Animus Omega's memory corridor
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  Shay Cormac and Le Chasseur in the Animus Omega's memory corridor
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  Shay poisoned with Hope Jensen in the Animus Omega's memory corridor
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  Jacob Frye and Rupert Ferris in the Helix Navigator 4.0's memory corridor
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  Evie Frye with David Brewster in the Helix Navigator 4.0's memory corridor
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  Bayek with Medunamun in the Animus HR-8's memory corridor
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  Aya and Julius Caesar in the Animus HR-8's memory corridor
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  Animus HR-8.5's memory corridor being disrupted by Aletheia's simulations
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  Eivor fighting a manifestation of Odin in the Animus HR-8.5's memory corridor
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  Basim with a target in the memory corridor
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  Noa Kim in the memory corridor, surrounded by apparitions of Edward
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  Noa in the memory corridor while under the crescent amulet's influence
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  Shimazu Saito in the Animus HR-8's memory corridor
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  The memory corridor featured in Assassin's Creed: Jade

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed
• Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed: Heresy
• Assassin's Creed: Identity
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage
• Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR
• Assassin's Creed: Jade