Freerunning

Free Running or freerunning is a form of acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and urban landscape to perform movements through its structures. It is one of the core gameplay mechanics of the Assassin's Creed series. It derived from the French Parkour, l'art du déplacement (English: "the art of moving"), but is now considered as a separate discipline. While Parkour emphasizes efficiency, free running embodies complete freedom of movement, which allows the inclusion of many acrobatic maneuvers often simply for aesthetics and challenge. In this way, the movements that Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze perform should rather be considered as Parkour, despite being referred to as free running both in the game and by the developers. Characters in the game also use many movements of the Parkour discipline such as Passe-muraille, Balancé, Saut de bras, Planche, etc.

Known practitioners

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Freerun chasing between Ezio and an Agile Guard in San Gimignano.

• Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
• Malik A-Sayf (before the amputation of his arm)
• Kadar A-Sayf
• Rauf
• Giovanni Auditore
• Ezio Auditore
• Federico Auditore
• La Volpe
• Antonio
• Most of the known Assassins
• Rosa
• Thieves (including Pickpockets)
• Agiles
• Borgia Messengers
• Desmond Miles (obtaining Ezio's skill through the bleeding effect of the Animus)
• Adam and Eve
• Francesco de' Pazzi
• Guards (except Seekers and Brutes)
• Mario Auditore
• Lucy Stillman
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Multiplayer Characters

Movements

Assassin's Creed

Altaïr can climb up any wall if its surface is not too flat, and possesses anything he can possibly grab onto (such as windows, cracks or ledges). In addition, he can use many of the following Parkour movements:

Balancé

Balancé (Swing) is a movement where you swing on a bar and let go, in order to grab another object, or to drop to the ground.

Lâché

Lâché (Drop) is the act of dropping from a hanging position or from a bar.

Passe-muraille

Passe-muraille (Wallpass) is the climbing of a tall wall by kicking its surface once to propel upward.

Planche

Planche (Muscle-up or Climb-up) is the movement of climbing an obstacle from a hanging position into a position where your upper body is above the obstacle, supported by the arms.

Roulade

Roulade (Roll), often called breakfall, is a forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground. It is used primarily to transfer the momentum from jumps, and to minimize impact and prevent a painful landing.

Saut de bras

Saut de bras (Arm jump) is to land on the side of an obstacle in a hanging position, the hands gripping the top edge, holding the body, ready to perform a muscle up.

Saut de fond

Saut de fond (Long jump) is a jump from a high height, usually followed by a roll.

Saut de détente

Saut de détente (Gap jump, running jump) is similar to a long jump.

Saut de précision

Saut de précision (Precision jump) is a static or moving jump from one object to a precise spot on another object of a small surface such as low walls. It is usually done with the feet close together but nobody in the games does it in this way.

Assassin's Creed II

thumb|300px|right|Uplay Help - Assassin's Creed II: Parkour Tutorial In addition to all the movements of Assassin's Creed, the second episode has some additional ones.

Fast Climb

By holding the High Profile trigger, Ezio can climb up the building much faster than his ancestor. However, the scheme of the ledges he will grab onto must be regular.

Climb Leap

This movement is first shown by Rosa, and allows Ezio to grab a potentially out-of-reach handhold by performing a vertical jump while climbing. Being wounded, she makes a fellow thief teach Ezio how to do the movement:

"Begin in a hanging position, then jump to the ledge above you. As you reach it, grab it with your hand and pull yourself up!"

―Rosa

Sprint Jump

Sprint Jump is a new maneuver, unlocked in the Bonfire of the Vanities DLC, but can only be used in the Oltrarno district of Florence. The Sprint Jump allows Ezio to jump twice as far as normal. This move is performed by sprinting straight onto and jumping from a springboard. If you do not sprint up to the springboard, the move will fail, and Ezio will only do a normal jump.

Trivia

• There is a bug present in both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II, wherein citizens or regular guards sometimes perform free running movements that only Assassins are able to do. This bug mostly occurs when the NPC appears on a building or higher platform.
• In-game hints in Assassin's Creed II suggest looking for white sheets, as stacked boxes that serve as a starting point for free running will always have those draped over them.
• In Assassin's Creed II Bonfire of Vanites DLC the player is be able to do a new move called the sprint jump. However, it can only be performed by jumping from a pole extruding from a rooftop draped with a red cloth, and those clothed poles only exist in the new area of Florence introduced in the DLC -- no where else.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio is able to swing from a wooden beam while free running, rather than simply pulling himself up.
• It is worth noting that the Brotherhood multiplayer characters also have the ability to climb leap, even though it is a move that was discovered by Thieves.
• The sprint jump will be a part of Ezio's normal free running abilities in Brotherhood.