The Animus is the device that lets Assassin's Creed characters experience ancestral memories.
In the series' modern-day framework, a person enters the Animus and relives genetic memories inherited from an ancestor. This concept allows the games to shift between a contemporary storyline and historical settings without treating the historical sequences as ordinary time travel.
The device is associated with Abstergo Industries, the modern organization linked to the Templars. Later stories introduce related systems, including the Helix entertainment platform and portable or modified Animus technology. These variations expand who can access memories, but the Animus remains the franchise's defining memory-exploration machine.
Eagle Vision is different: it is a perception ability used by Assassins and other characters to identify people and objects. A Leap of Faith is an acrobatic descent, not a machine. The word Animus also comes from Latin and can refer to mind, spirit, or intention, which suits the series' emphasis on memory and identity.