Asshai by the Shadow

The city of Asshai, or Asshai by the Shadow, from A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). Unreal Engine.

Probably the most difficult environment I have worked on. I didn't have a lot of info to go on when I built this, since neither the books or the show reveals much info about this place. I knew it was a massive coastal city far to the east, where the buildings are made out of a black, greasy stone. The river that flows through the city glows green during the night, possibly because of some sort of magical pollution. Altough the city is huge, very few people live there, hence why there are so few lights on during the night. For the buildings I took a lot of inspiration from various Hindu temples. Originally the layout of the city was very inspired by Venice, but that slowly changed over time.

It was challenging creating a good layout and composition, and I redid parts of the city over and over again until I was happy. For that reason, it was not always a fun project to work on, but I'm glad I saw it through.