Assassin's Creed is a 2007 historical fiction action-adventure open world stealth video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first major installment in the Assassin's Creed series. The game was first released on the Xbox 360 and later released to the Playstation 3 in November 2007, and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in April 2008. The game primarily takes place during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in 1191, with the plot revolving around the Secret Order of Assassins, based upon the Hashshashin sect. Assassins is a sub-branch of the Shiite sect. The player is in reality playing as a modern-day man named Desmond Miles, who, through the use of a machine named the "Animus", is allowed the viewing and controlling of the protagonist's genetic memories of his ancestors, in this case, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a member of the Assassins.