NEWSLETTER
Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary
New York, NY (April 30, 2026) – Today, the creators of Echoes of Revolution: NYC unveiled a first-look preview of what users will experience when using this app and diving into this world leading cultural experience that will launch in June 2026. Coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary, Echoes of Revolution: NYC will bring to life New York City’s defining role in America’s founding. A preview can be viewed HERE.
Created by The Gotham Center for NYC History at the CUNY Graduate Center, leading global video game publisher Ubisoft and creative technology studio Sugar Creative, this multimedia 90-minute walking tour in downtown Manhattan will be a FREE city-scale augmented reality experience for mobile devices utilizing the detailed historical environments of Assassin’s Creed® III (set during the American Revolution).
Peter-Christian Aigner, Director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at the CUNY Graduate Center; Ted Knudsen, Professor of History at CUNY Queens College; Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, Strategic Alliances Director at Ubisoft; and Will Humphrey, Creative Director of Sugar Creative was joined by Jessica Lappin, President of the Downtown Alliance; Josh Brumberg, President of the CUNY Graduate Center; and Scott Dwyer Executive Director, Sons of the Revolution℠ in the State of New York, Inc. and the Fraunces Tavern® Museum with school kids from Living City Project gathered at Fraunces Tavern to provide a first-look preview of the experience.
Powered by Niantic Spatial's Visual Positioning System (VPS), Echoes of Revolution: NYC precisely anchors the immersive mixed-reality storytelling to ten real-world locations including Bowling Green, Wall Street, Federal Hall, and other pivotal sites across lower Manhattan. Thanks to immersive AR and geolocation technology and using the world of Assassin’s Creed III as a visual framework, this 90-minute experience transports visitors back in time, placing them inside the defining moments of New York City's revolutionary story at the exact locations where they unfolded. Visitors can explore a digitally reconstructed colonial New York layered directly onto today’s streets. The experience is available on both iOS and Android.
“New York City has long deserved a ‘freedom trail’ to spotlight its centrality in the American Revolution. But now thanks to Ubisoft and Sugar Creative, we can give people a rich visual and experiential sense of what it was like to live through this harrowing, inspiring, dramatic, and foundational moment in history,” said Peter Aigner, Director, The Gotham Center for New York City History at the CUNY Graduate Center.
“Ubisoft is excited about using the worlds of Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed Rogue to bring key moments of the American Revolution to life for visitors exploring the streets of Boston and New York City,” said Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, Strategic Alliances Director, Ubisoft.
“The ability to intelligently and effectively add content to the world is not simply a tool – it is the vital catalyst to transforming places into canvases for an infinite number of stories,” said Will Humphrey, Creative Director, Sugar Creative.
“Projects of this ambition depend entirely on the quality of the people you work with. We've been fortunate to find in Gotham Center and Ubisoft partners who care as much about getting it right as we do. It's a source of real pride that it's a Welsh studio helping to bring New York's revolutionary story back to life,” said Jason Veal, Managing Director, Sugar Creative.
Echoes of Revolution: NYC is built on the historical expertise and curatorial vision of the NYC Revolutionary Trail, developed by Gotham Center for New York City History. The Gotham Center for New York City is also partnering with the Museum of the City of New York for the upcoming exhibit, “The Occupied City,” to ring in New York’s 250th celebration.
In addition, as part of NYC Revolutionary Trail, The Gotham Center offers an online classroom featuring short, standard-aligned lesson modules for middle school, high school, and college students nationwide.
Echoes of Revolution: NYC is made possible by support from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis-Bodman Foundation, Creative Wales and Media Cymru through UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) and New York’s Downtown Alliance.
For more information, visit nycrevolutionarytrail.org, echoesofrevolution.com or follow on Instagram @NYCRevTrail, Facebook or X @NYCRevTrail.
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NYC Press Contacts on behalf of Gotham Center for New York City History:
Shin-Jung Hong – ShinJung@nicholaslence.com | Cell: 617-413-7880
Jasmin Curtiss – Jasmin@nicholaslence.com | Cell: 631-880-9644
Press Contact for Ubisoft:
Anthony Acosta – anthony.acosta@ubisoft.com | Cell: 415-357-2628