Ubisoft is donating over $500,000 to help the reconstruction of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. It is giving away Assassin's Creed Unity on PC for free.

"In light of Monday's events, we will be donating €500,000 to help with the restoration and reconstruction of the Cathedral," reads the Ubisoft blog.

Assassin's Creed Unity On PC For Free

The gaming developer also encourages its customers to donate. To inspire the cause, Assassin's Creed Unity on PC will be free to download to give everyone a chance to experience the majesty and beauty of Notre-Dame.

The blog post continues to mention that developing the game gave them an even closer connection to Paris and its landmarks, which include the recently burnt Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Assassin's Creed Unity features an almost perfect digital recreation of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and it means that players can explore the cathedral in the game before it was partially destroyed by fire.

Despite the stunning recreation of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Assassin's Creed Unity was widely criticized for some other reasons at the time of its release. Players complained for its lackluster gameplay, tons of technical bugs, and other issues.

Players were also disappointed that the game did not meet the quality of graphics that was shown off at E3 2014 before its release. There were glitches such as the protagonist could fall through the ground and then become stuck in hay carts, encounter unseen walls, and parts of his face could become invisible.

There were frame rate issues and outright game crashes that led to criticism that the title was not really ready for release, particularly the PC version. Some French politicians even accused the developer for the game's historical inaccuracy.

Yannis Mallat, chief executive of Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto, apologized on behalf of Ubisoft and the entire Assassin's Creed team.

"Unfortunately, at launch, the overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues," wrote Mr. Mallat to BBC via e-mail in 2014.

To appease the gamers, Ubisoft offered them a yet unreleased add-on story of the game for free. Those who purchased a Season Pass were offered another complete game of their choice, including Far Cry 4 and racing game The Crew.

Assassin's Creed Unity on PC can be downloaded on Uplay until April 25.