If there is someone here who knows more about UK architecture and history then I would like to know if the castle fits one specific time period and if it’s accurate.
I hope that they actually tried to make it faithful instead of just making vaguely British castle.
Based on the ramparts, arrow slits, use of a keep and strategic verticality, it’s definitely Middle Ages, though I’m unaware of any differences between Scottish and English castle design.
It looks to be early Gothic - circa 12th century - judging by the ecclesiastical-style perpendicular transoms and flying buttresses. External layout is generally accurate, though some liberties have been taken for the sake of game design.
The giant glass cube is not an original feature.
It looks like a typical late Middle Ages keep (glass room and extra tower aside), but I doubt it’s actually from that period. The purpose of castles was to defend a position (usually up a hill or at a river crossing) and there’s nothing to defend here, it’s just a rock in the middle of the sea.
My guess is that it was just built by some eccentric during the 19th century, pseudo-medieval stuff was pretty common during Romanticism.
Added onto this, castles were often the seat of local power in a region (and so, not built remotely) and took many years to build, which would’ve been difficult in the middle of the sea.
It’s also important to remember that castles we see today are actually the inner ring of what was originally a far larger community that included the farms, workshops, barracks and stables needed to sustain the feudal lord within the inner ring. In the modern age, the outer wall is gone and those communities are now towns and cities. So the idea of a 19th century Romantic revival makes sense ![]()
NPCs on the level actually discuss the (alleged) history of the island! With some ties both into the real history and the fictional Hitman-universe one, albeit with some suspension of disbelief ![]()
Wow totally forgot about that dialogue, despite that reference to the Lost Legion ![]()
But yeah it makes no sense historically, the Orkneys (and Iceland as well) were Norwegian territory in the 12th century so the British (who were actually just “the English” at this point really) wouldn’t have been able to keep a fortress here.
It would be interesting to know which castle(s) IOI used for reference during development though.
