The Animus allows Assassin’s Creed characters to experience genetic memories.
In the series, the Animus is a machine that reads inherited memories encoded in a person’s DNA. It lets a modern user relive the experiences of an ancestor, creating the historical gameplay settings that define the franchise.
The machine is central to the early story of Desmond Miles, who is forced to use it by the Abstergo organization. His sessions reveal the lives of ancestors such as Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore.
The Animus does not literally send users into the past. Instead, it reconstructs ancestral memories, and the series uses this idea to connect modern-day science-fiction scenes with historical adventures. Later games portray newer versions, including portable and commercial systems developed by Abstergo and its rivals.