Freerunning
Free Running or freerunning is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural 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: Parkour emphasizes efficiency, whilst free running embodies complete freedom of movement which allows the inclusion of many acrobatic maneuvers (often for aesthetics and challenges). In this way, the movements Altaïr and Ezio perform can rather be considered as Parkour while referred as Free running in the game and by the developers. Characters in the game also use many movements of the Parkour discipline such as Passe muraille (climbing of a tall wall by kicking its surface once to propel upward), Lâché (swinging on a bar), Saut de bras, Planche... etc.
Known practitioners
- Altaïr
- Malik (before the amputation of his arm)
- Kadar
- Giovanni Auditore
- Ezio Auditore
- Federico Auditore
- Antonio
- Probably most of the Assassins
- Thieves (including Pickpockets)
- Agiles
- Messengers
- Desmond Miles (obtaining Ezio's skill through the bleeding effect of the Animus)
- Adam and Eve
Trivia
- There is a bug in Assassin's Creed when sometimes even citizens or regular guards perform some freerunning movements that only Assassins can do. This bug mostly occurs when the NPC appears on a building or higher platform.