I adore people recreating mundane places in AAA level editors
Who needs lurid apocalyptic worlds?
When I first built a blocky version of my house in Quake level editor Worldcraft, I couldn't have imagined what would be possible two decades years later. With multimillion-pound technology and libraries of professional assets, modern level editors can turn your dreams into stunning worlds. So I'm delighted when people use all that to recreate mundane places, especially when they're close to home. Case in point, today I saw someone has used Far Cry 5's level editor to recreate some Edinburgh flats that were demolished years back. Wonderful.
The Sighthill blocks are the work of YouTuber "Mojo Swoptops", who has also used the Far Cry 5 editor to make scenic Edinburgh landmarks like the Forth Bridge and Princes Street in the 19th century, as well as fancy fictional places like The Lion King's Pride Rock. But drab blocks of flats, that's the stuff for me.
Ubisoft built a colourful post-apocalyptic world for Far Cry 5, let people create their own spaces in it, and even stuffed the editor full of assets from several Assassin's Creed and Far Cry games, and people are here making demolished flats. This brings me so much more joy than the uncanny sanitised Edinburgh of Forza Horizon 4, and not just because I'm bitter that the racing game cut off Leith.
"If I could I would have sprayed PAM I LOVE YOU I'M SORRY CALL ME on the side of the football changing rooms bit," Swoptops joked on Reddit.
Go on, do Leith's banana flats next. Capture the empty vibes of Ocean Terminal shopping centre. Or the horrors of the Cowgate on a Saturday night in peak stag weekend season. God, at this point of lockdown I almost feel nostalgic for that.
The way Sighthill went down, mind, is something Ubisoft's tech team would be proud of.