The Lost Archive

"Abstergo has experimented through their Animus program on 17 known test subjects. This is the story of Subject 16."

―Introduction to The Lost Archive.

The Lost Archive is a downloadable content (DLC) addition for Assassin's Creed: Revelations, originally released on 28 February 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The content was first hinted at when a set of achievements was leaked on 14 February 2012, which were later added to Revelations via the 1.03 patch.

Featuring gameplay similar to the Desmond's Journey sequences of the base game, the DLC adds seven new memories focusing on the life of Clay Kaczmarek, also known as Subject 16 of the Animus Project. It also includes most of the exclusive content from the various special editions of Revelations, like outfits and multiplayer characters.

The multiplayer content is omitted in the remastered version of Revelations, released as part of The Ezio Collection, because this version has the multiplayer mode removed.

Plot

During his time in the Black Room, Desmond Miles relives the memories passed to him by a virtual construct of Clay Kaczmarek, his predecessor in the Animus Project. These memories relate to Clay becoming a member of the Assassins, being assigned to infiltrate Abstergo Industries' Animus Project laboratory in Rome, and discovering what Warren Vidic hoped to achieve by exploring the genetic memories of various Assassins.

In his memories, Clay recalls his father's disregard for his career goals, demanding that Clay should instead become an engineer to provide for his family. Clay believed that his father's focus on wealth was what ultimatley pushed his mother away from the family.

Struggling to find a purpose in life, Clay eventually did so when he was approached by William Miles, who convinced him to join the Assassins. Aware of Clay's rich ancestry which would interest Abstergo, William tasked him to infiltrate the Animus Project as its sixteenth subject in order to uncover its true purpose. Lucy Stillman, an Assassin herself, had also been placed within the Abstergo facilty to rescue Clay once his mission was complete.

Following countless long sessions in the Animus, Clay began to succumb to the Bleeding Effect and was driven insane. However, he did manage to learn the true purpose of the Animus Project: to find the locations of various Pieces of Eden, which the Templars hoped to use to control humanity. In particular, Vidic focused on locating an Apple of Eden, which was meant to be launched into space via satellite.

Clay also witnessed conversations between Lucy and Vidic and learned that the former had secretly defected to the Templars, due to her distrust of William Miles and feeling abandoned by the Assassins. To obtain the Apple of Eden, Vidic masterminded "Project Siren", which would see Lucy remove Desmond from the Abstergo facility and transport him to a more comfortable environment, where she could use the Assassins' resources to locate the Apple before delivering it to the Templars. When Lucy eventually found out that Clay had learned about this plan, she got rid of the evidence proving he knew the truth and imprisoned him inside the facility, both to protect him and to keep her true allegiances secret.

These memories continued in a loop until Desmond collects all the scattered memory fragments, which allow him to access a finaly memory. In it, Clay emails his father and tells him not to worry about his disappearance because he has found a greater purpose to serve, foreshadowing his suicide.

Memories

1. The End Is Only the Beginning
2. The Order
3. Abstergo
4. The Mole
5. Bleeding Effect
6. The Truth
7. The End of the Line

Additional content

Aside from the story missions, The Lost Archive includes ten achievements, and various single-player and multiplayer features.

Single-player

• Turkish Assassin Armor - outfit
• Altaïr's robes - outfit
• Armor of Brutus - outfit
• Vlad the Impaler's Prison - secret location
• Capacity upgrades for the Hidden Gun, crossbow, and bombs

Multiplayer

• Crusader
• Ottoman Jester
• Ottoman Doctor

Availability

In October 2022, Ubisoft ended all online services for Revelations, meaning The Lost Archive is no longer available for purchase on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. However, players who have already bought and installed the DLC on these platforms can still play it. The remastered version of Revelations included in The Ezio Collection was not affected by this change, meaning the DLC is also playable on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

Trivia

• Starting up The Lost Archive seems to shut down the game and launch a new application, in the same manner as Desmond's Journey did. Similarly, before a new memory begins, a screen with access code can be seen flashing by.
• Each memory in the DLC flows from the one preceding it.
• Throughout the memories, 'hallucinations' of other memories may occasionally occur.
• The visuals within the memories change, being sometimes sharp, sometimes possessing noise akin to film grain. The visuals also occasionally glitch or gain effects, color variation being the most common.

Gallery

• 
  The doorway and the stone with the words "Fragments are the exit"
• 
  Clay's funeral
• 
  The binary message
• 
  Abstergo
• 
  The corridor
• 
  The circumpunct and the Morse code
• 
  The wall displaying the braille for "The truth is constructed of lies."
• 
  Project Siren revealed

References

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations

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