Augmented Reality Walking Tour Of Revolutionary-Era New York Will Launch This Summer

​NEW YORK CITY —​ A new augmented reality walking tour in downtown Manhattan is set to launch this summer.

"NYC Revolutionary Trail: Echoes of Revolution" will launch in June 2026 to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, according to CUNY's Gotham Center.

The multimedia 90-minute walking tour in downtown Manhattan reframes New York at the heart of the American Revolution. Partnering with video game publisher Ubisoft and Creative Technology Studio Sugar Creative, the Gotham Center is launching Echoes of Revolution as a free, mobile, geolocated immersive walking tour that uses augmented reality to place visitors inside Revolutionary-era New York.

Characters, ships and streets are recreated from Ubisoft Inc.’s Assassin’s Creed’s universe. ​

Echoes of Revolution is a new version of Gotham’s original NYC Revolutionary Trail App and will also partner with the Museum of the City of New York for the upcoming exhibit, “The Occupied City,” to ring in New York’s 250th celebration.​

“While Boston and Philadelphia often dominate the conversation about America’s Revolution, New York was at the center of events surrounding Independence and the City’s history is often overlooked. The war literally began and ended in the city, from the earliest major battle – the largest and most important of the war – to the British evacuation,” said Peter-Christian Aigner, co-founder of NYC Revolutionary Trail and director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at The Graduate Center, told Patch.

“Our goal is to correct this misunderstanding and reframe New York as the city at the heart of the American Revolution. We are thrilled to partner with Ubisoft and Sugar Creative to launch NYC Revolutionary Trail and bring history to life in a compelling, immersive and interactive way that will attract a new generation of history fans.”

Starting at the Battery and ending at Federal Hall via Bowling Green, Wall Street, and other pivotal sites, the 90-minute, 3-mile walking tour will transport visitors back in time on a journey throughout Lower Manhattan, where they will relive pivotal historical moments from the founding of the United States, uncover the stories that shaped the nation’s beginnings in the actual locations where they took place, and have a close-up experience of the “city at the heart of the Revolution."

Each stop will provide audio narration with site information, character profiles, videos and links to The Graduate Center’s Library.

The trail will incorporate cutting-edge AR and geolocation technology alongside exclusive historical environments and character assets from the Assassin’s Creed universe, allowing visitors to explore a digitally reconstructed colonial New York layered directly onto today’s streets.

“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 New York City,” Amy Jenkins-Le Guerroué, Strategic Alliances Director at Ubisoft, told Patch.

In addition, as part of NYC Revolutionary Trail, The Gotham Center will offer an online classroom featuring short, standard-aligned lesson modules for middle school, high school, and college students nationwide.​

"The Freedom Trail that many of us visited on school trips as kids helped redefine Boston’s place in the story of the American Revolution,” said Ted Knudsen, co-founder of the NYC Revolutionary Trail and professor of history at CUNY Queens College, told Patch. “By connecting nationally significant sites through a simple, accessible walking route, it became a beloved tradition for families, students, locals, and visitors—and permanently put Boston on the historical map. Our goal is to do the same for New York. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we’re inviting New Yorkers and visitors alike to rediscover the city’s central role in the founding of the United States.”

Echoes of Revolution was 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 the Downtown Alliance.