As the in-house composer and sound designer at Ubisoft Sofia, Elitsa Alexandrova had a dual challenge of getting the sound design and music exactly right for two recent Assassin's Creed games: Origins: Curse of the Pharaohs and Rogue.
I caught up with her after her session at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, in which she explained how her music gives a sense of time and place to the settings of both games: ancient Egypt and 18th century France.
Elitsa says music of the Baroque is among her favorites, which gave her lots of inspiration for her music for Rogue, but coming up with an authentic sound for Curse of the Pharaohs was more of a challenge. Her research into ancient Egyptian instruments revealed a connection between traditional Bulgarian instruments and those of Egypt. The Bulgarian kaval and Egyptian ney flutes have a similar construction and unique sound and may have originated in the same region.
Elitsa used the kaval and many other traditional instruments to create the mystery of ancient Egypt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZL59U-Bwok">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZL59U-Bwok
Elitsa says that while she doesn't have a favorite soundtrack, she really admires Rogue's main character, Shay Patrick Cormack, and his Irish swagger.
Episode tracklist:
All tracks by Elitsa Alexandrova
Assassin's Creed Origins: The Curse of the Pharaohs: The Apple Has a Tale to Tell; KV 5; The Heretic King; The Field of Reeds
Assassin's Creed Rogue: Agnus Dei; Alemanda in F# Minor; I Am Shay Patrick Cormac
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Thanks to Natalie Carey, Ubisoft San Francisco
