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: Parkour emphasizes efficiency, whilst free running embodies complete freedom of movement which allows the inclusion of many acrobatic manoeuvres (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, Balancé, Saut de bras, Planche... etc.

Known practitioners

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

• Altaïr
• Malik (before the amputation of his arm)
• Kadar
• Giovanni Auditore
• Ezio Auditore
• Federico Auditore
• Antonio
• Probably most of the 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

Movements

Assassin's Creed

Altaïr can climb up any wall if its surface is not too flat, having anything he can grab to (windows, cracks, ledges...). In addition, he can use many of the parkour movements:

Balancé

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

Lâché

Lâché (Drop) is the act of dropping from a hanging position or 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) is a forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground, often called breakfall. Used primarily to transfer the momentum/energy from jumps and to minimize impact, preventing 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.

Vaulting

Vaulting is the use of hands to traverse over an object, this is a little-advertised skill in Assassin's creed I and is unconfirmed whether it is in Assassin's Creed II. Shown here.

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 new ones.

Fast Climb

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

Climb Leap

This movement is first shown by Rosa and allows Ezio to grab an 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 Bonfire of the Vanities but can only be used in the southern part of the city of Florence. The Sprint Jump allows Ezio to jump twice as far as normal. This maneuver is performed by sprinting and then jumping from a springboard.

Trivia

• There is a bug in Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II 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.
• In-game hints in Assassin's Creed II, also suggest looking for white sheets, as stacked boxes that serve as a starting point for Free Running will always have those hanging over them.