Helix

Helix interface screen

Helix is a cloud-based software developed by Abstergo Entertainment and released in 2014.

A continuation of the Data Dump Scanner, a creation of Álvaro Gramática, the Helix software allowed users to view accounts of various Templars and Assassins throughout history, with propaganda-based narrations delivered by Abstergo in favor of the former, delivered to the public via a games console-style format at a cheap price. Using the headsets protected by the Hospitalier Antivirus program, ^{[citation needed]} Abstergo could also collect players' genetic data without their knowledge.

Health and privacy concern regarding Helix included data tracking, cortex monitoring, fMRI-Omega technology, hippocampal shock, occipital ghosting, brain death, server bridges, rogue programs, and Erudito.

Through Helix, a research analyst at Abstergo Entertainment relived Shay Cormac's memories and fixed the damage caused by a virus hidden within Shay's memory bank. A different research analyst also used Helix to explore the memories of various individuals connected to a Precursor box instrumental to Abstergo's Phoenix Project, including Shao Jun, Arbaaz Mir, Nikolai Orelov, and Anastasia Nikolaevna. Around the same time, an individual associated with the Assassins used a game console running the Helix software to relive the memories of Arno Dorian, and later those of Jacob and Evie Frye.

Helix served as the predecessor to the Animus EGO, an Animus model that was also widely distributed as an entertainment product by Abstergo and integrated a similar feature called the Animus Hub.

Known Helix memories

• The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay: features the Grand Master Jacques de Molay during the dissolution of the Knights Templar and his burning at the stake.
• Triumph of the Borgias: features Rodrigo Borgia in his Papal regalia.
• The Lone Eagle: features Haytham Kenway.
• Murder in the Levant: features Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.
• The Emperor's Shadow: features Shao Jun.
• Fear and Loathing in Florence: features Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
• Washington and the Wolf: features Ratonhnhaké:ton.
• The Liberation of Lady Aveline: features Aveline de Grandpré.
• Devils of the Caribbean: features Edward Kenway; initially developed as Pirates of Nightmares.
• The Bladed Cross: features a Roman Assassin during Constantine I's rule as Roman Emperor, set in 330 AD.
• Jazz Age Junkies: features an American Assassin during the Jazz Age, and explores the lives of writers Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein.
• Hell in Hibernia: features an Irish Assassin during the Irish War of Independence.
• A memory featuring an Assassin during the California Gold Rush.
• Showdown in Shanghai: features Albert Bolden, the Templar Black Cross.

Works in progress (c. 2014)

As of 2014, Abstergo Entertainment was working on a number of Helix programs planned to release in the nearby future:

• Fallen Heroes Series
  • Jacques de Molay
  • Rodrigo Borgia
  • Cesare Borgia
  • Haytham Kenway
  • Prince Ahmet
  • Laureano Torres
  • Robert de Sablé
• History's Hit Men series
  • Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
  • Ezio Auditore
  • Connor
  • Aveline de Grandpré
  • Edward Kenway
• They Walk Among Us
• Animus: History's Battleground: multiplayer re-enactments of the American Revolution
• Animus: History's Battleground 2: multiplayer re-enactments of the Golden Age of Piracy
• Dvija A.I.: Monima Das' final film
• White Death: features Nikolai Orelov
• Wounded Dragon, Rising Phoenix: features Shao Jun
• The Sad Lonely Death of Ratonhnhaké:ton

Cancelled and proposed projects

The following is a list of proposed Helix projects which were either cancelled for various reasons, put on indefinite hold, or had yet to start production as of late 2014:

• Untitled Arno Dorian project: approved by Melanie Lemay and expected to be finished by 2015. Robert Fraser was assigned to gather footage of Arno's life, with Dr. Victoria Bibeau assisting him, but following Fraser's death in mid-2014, the status of the project remains unknown.
• Untitled Edward Kenway film: a sequel to Devils of the Caribbean, focusing on Edward's later life in London. The project was approved by Melanie in 2014.
• Untitled Robert de Sablé project: put on indefinite hold by Melanie, who believed there were more remarkable figures worth focusing on.
• Untitled Cesare Borgia project: rejected by Melanie, who found the pitch too risqué due to Cesare's loathsome nature. Part of the gathered footage was later added to Triumph of the Borgias.
• Untitled Laureano Torres project: rejected by Melanie due to finding the pitch too "boring".
• Untitled Giovanni Borgia film: approved by Melanie, who suggested focusing on the supernatural aspects of Giovanni's life to create a "new occult thriller franchise".
• Untitled Fiora Cavazza project: approved by Melanie, who suggested focusing on Fiora's struggles as a double agent rather than her past as a courtesan.
• Untitled Kyros of Zarax film: approved by Melanie, who wanted to create a "big budget historical epic" equally focused on Kyros' life as an athlete and a student of Pythagoras.
• Untitled "Animus combat sports" project: a series of virtual features focusing on various MMA fighters, including Guilherme Venancio, Arend Schut, and Luis Otavio Duris. The project was approved by Melanie and was being developed in collaboration with MysoreTech.
• Untitled "conspiracies" project: a series of virtual features focusing on various conspiracies throughout human history, including the Cult of Hermes, the lost civilization of Lemuria, Biblical miracles, and planetary consciousness.
• Identity Project: initially running on the Helix Navigator, the project was later moved to the Animus Omega.

Gallery

The Helix memory menu

The Initiates commenting on the Helix

Charlotte de la Cruz using her Helix console

The Showdown in Shanghai mission for Helix

Identity Project email mentioning the Mobile Helix Navigator

Behind the scenes

At one point in the development of Assassin's Creed: Unity, the feature The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay was going to end with a closing title card stating "Written and Directed by L.P. Garneau".

The experience starring Edward Kenway is seemingly mislabeled as Devils of the Caribbean, Abstergo's feature film, when the title of their video game adaptation of Edward's memories was Pirates of Nightmares.

In earlier versions of Assassin's Creed: Identity, an email received by the player revealed that the memories of Lo Sparviero were running on the Mobile Helix Navigator, but the Memory Corridor was the same as that of the Animus Omega. This information was later removed for unknown reasons in an update.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment – Employee Handbook (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
• Assassin's Creed (Titan Comics)
• Assassin's Creed: Templars
• Assassin's Creed: Identity
• Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Tomb of the Khan (mentioned only)