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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a sandbox style action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on November 16, 2010 (US), November 18, 2010 (AU), and November 19, 2010 (worldwide) for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The PC version was released on March 18, 2011 (worldwide) and March 22, 2011 (NA).
A direct sequel to Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood again focuses on Desmond Miles and the other modern-day Assassins as they flee to Monteriggioni to escape the Templars' attack. Once there, they establish a new hideout in the Sanctuary underneath the ruins of the Villa Auditore. Inside of the Animus 2.0, Desmond takes control of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, now a legendary Master Assassin, as he strives to rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood in Rome. In order to do so, he must bring down a tyrannical Templar family, the Borgia, and guide the city into the true wealth and splendor of the Renaissance.
Gameplay
Plot
Using the Animus 2.0, Desmond attempts to relive one of the late memories of Ezio, hoping that it would reveal the location of the Apple of Eden and thereby allowing him to prevent the disaster foretold by Those Who Came Before. However, instead of entering the memory set in 1507, Ezio is forced into a different one, occurring during a battle in Viana. From there, as Ezio looks upon the besieged Viana Castle, he recalls the similar events of the siege of Monteriggioni and forces Desmond even back further- to a memory from 1499.
As Ezio leaves the Vatican Vault after listening to Minerva's message, he discovers that Rodrigo Borgia has disappeared. Also noticing that the Staff had been left behind, he attempts to extract it from where it had been forced into the floor; however, it descends into the ground and is sealed away. Mario Auditore then calls down to him from the entrance, and he and Ezio fight their way out of the Vatican. Ezio, unable to decide whether or not to cast the Apple into the Tiber River, gives it to Mario for safe keeping. The two then ride back to Monteriggioni on horseback.
However, Ezio soon learns that the Templar threat has diminished little, when Cesare Borgia, son of Rodrigo Borgia, lays siege to Monteriggioni. Cesare's army of soldiers, siege towers, and cannons attack in full force, destroying much of the city and the Villa Auditore. The assault ends with Monteriggioni in ruins, Ezio severely wounded by arquebusiers, and Mario's murder at the hands of Cesare. Ezio attempts to follow his uncle's murderer on horseback, but passes out on the road to Rome due to his injuries.
At this point, Desmond awakens from the Animus and finds that he and the rest of the modern-day Assassins have arrived at the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, their last safehouse in Italy. Lucy Stillman explaines that they need to recover Ezio's Apple of Eden, as she suspected that Minerva had altered it somehow when she had touched it in the Vault.
Desmond, Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca then headed for the Villa, seeking the safety of the underground Sanctuary, which would keep them hidden from Abstergo's cell towers. However, as the door was locked, Desmond and Lucy left to discover another way in. After making their way through the secret passage that Ezio and the citizens had used to flee the Borgia attack, they opened the way for Shaun and Rebecca.
Inside the Sanctuary, Desmond saw an aged Ezio due to the Bleeding Effect, and deduced that he must have returned to the villa many years after the attack, though for an unknown purpose. He also found a symbol that Ezio had drawn on the wall and, using Eagle Vision, saw a series of numbers hidden underneath.
The four of them then set up the Animus 2.0, and Desmond returned to Ezio's memories, with Lucy believing that improving his Synchronization with Ezio would allow Desmond to access the memory revealing the location of the Apple. 
Ezio regained consciousness in a small house in Rome, where Margherita dei Campi, who had been tending to him, told him that a man had brought him there, and had supplied him with new armor and clothing. After leaving the house and receiving medicine from a doctor, Ezio left to meet with Niccolò Machiavelli.
Through Machiavelli Ezio discovered that Rome was in disrepair, and that the citizens were being oppressed by the Borgia. Later, he would also stumble across the Followers of Romulus, and explore one of their lairs inside Nero's Golden Palace.
Basing himself on Tiber Island in the center of the city, Ezio began his mission to rid the city of the influence of Cesare and his generals. To do so, Ezio reestablished relationships between his Assassins Guild and the other guilds in the city, namely that of the Courtesans (led by Madonna Solari, and later Claudia Auditore), the Thieves (led by La Volpe) and the Mercenaries (led by Bartolomeo d'Alviano).
Ezio then began to rebuild the Brotherhood by recruiting Apprentices, who were made up of both distressed citizens who wished to liberate their city, and young novice Assassins, such as Francesco Vecellio. After the recruits had completed their training, he placed them in teams and sent them on missions across Europe.
Ezio then began to break down the Borgia influence in Rome by destroying several Borgia towers and their captains. He also sabotaged Cesare's forces by striking at their arsenal, their military funding, and their support from the France forces. To do so, he destroyed the war machines of Leonardo da Vinci, and assassinated two of Cesare's key generals, his Banker, Juan Borgia, and the French general, Octavian de Valois.
Afterwards, he was informed that Pietro Rossi, an actor and Lucrezia Borgia's lover, possessed a key to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Knowing that he would need it in order to assassinate Cesare and Rodrigo successfully, Ezio tailed Micheletto Corella, Cesare's personal assassin, who had been sent to kill Pietro. After Ezio had rescued him, both from being stabbed with a spear during Colosseum Passion Play|his play, and from the ailments of poison, Pietro handed the Assassin the key to the Castello.
Upon completion of these tasks, Ezio inducted Claudia into the Assassin Order, and was also elected by Machiavelli to be Il Mentore of the Assassin Order.
Soon afterwards, Ezio infiltrated the Castel, where he witnessed the murder of Rodrigo by his son, Cesare. Cesare forced the location of the Apple of Eden from Lucrezia, and hurried to retrieve it from Basilica di San Pietro. However, Ezio successfully reached the Apple before Cesare, and subsequently used it to demilitarize the remnants of Cesare's army.
In one last battle, Ezio and his fellow Assassins fought Cesare and his surviving men at the gates of Rome. Cesare was then arrested by Fabio Orsini by the order of the new Pope, though not before commenting that he would not be in chains for long and that he would never be killed by any man.
Sometime later, Ezio, troubled by Cesare's comments, discussed them with Leonardo, who suggested using the Apple to find out if what he said was true. Ezio was hesitant, but decided to take his advice, and discovered that Cesare would indeed free himself from prison. Ezio declared that he needed to leave at once, reassuring Leonardo's concerns for the Assassin Guild he was leaving behind by saying, "I built this Brotherhood to last, with or without me."
In 1507, Ezio finally tracked Cesare down at the Siege of Viana, Spain. Ezio fought through the infantry, and finally managed to corner Cesare on the castle wall. There, in a climactic battle, Ezio managed to destroy Cesare's armor and ultimately defeat him. Though Cesare insisted that he would not die in the hands of man, Ezio then left him to the "hands of fate," and threw him from the battlements to his death.
Afterwards, Ezio took the Apple of Eden into the Colosseum Vault under Santa Maria Aracoeli, within the Temple of Juno. Desmond emerged from the Animus shortly after reliving this memory, listening to his teammates deducing a way to get into the Vault. Just as Rebecca mentioned that they needed a spoken password to enter it, a blackout occurred, cutting them off from using the Animus to find out. However, Desmond realized that the symbol he had seen on the door of the Vault was the same one he had seen drawn on the villa wall. Shaun discovered that the sequence of numbers hidden behind the symbol referred to the seventy-two names of God, meaning the password was 72.
The Assassins then drove to the Colosseo in Rome, and Desmond separated from the others to find a way into the Vault. As he travelled the underground passageway, he encountered another of Those Who Came Before, Juno, who spoke at length of the downfall of humankind.
Arriving inside the Santa Maria Aracoeli, Desmond unlocked the door for his teammates and, shortly afterwards, witnessed a memory of Ezio free-running through the church. He followed him and activated a system of bars and levers, finally causing a small pedestal to emerge from the floor. Placing his hand on it, Desmond activated the floor, lowering the four of them down to the door of the Vault.
Desmond spoke the password, and the door opened to reveal a large empty chamber, with a tall platform raised in the middle, upon which the Apple awaited. Desmond activated the staircase up to it by jumping across a series of pillars; while Juno's voice echoed through the cavern as she spoke cryptically of humans, the Pieces of Eden and a "sixth sense." However, Desmond was apparently the only one who could hear her.
Once the Assassins had access to the platform, Desmond touched the Apple, and a series of holographic symbols appeared.
Shaun mentioned that two of the most distinct ones, the Phrygian Cap and the Masonic Eye, only came together in one place; however, when Desmond picked up the Apple, time seemed to stop and he found himself controlled by Juno. Despite his resistance, Juno forced him to draw his hidden blade and stab Lucy in the abdomen. The two then fell to the ground unconscious, with blood pooling around Lucy.
Later, William M. and another unknown male could be heard speaking, saying that Desmond had gone into shock. William ordered the other man to put Desmond back into the Animus, despite the other's protests on how badly the Animus had affected Desmond already. Later Desmond entered a coma, though William claimed that Desmond would live through it.
Development
A new Assassin's Creed episode featuring multiplayer was announced during Ubisoft's 2009 fiscal third quarter results while not revealing its name. In early May 2010, a GameStop employee published on the internet some images of a pre-order box featuring the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood title while Ubisoft was teasing the game on Facebook and Twitter. Ubisoft then confirmed the authenticity of these pictures. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has not been numbered unlike Assassin's Creed II because players, and even developers themselves would have expected a new setting and a new ancestor while this is only the continuation of Ezio's story.
The game was developed primarily by Ubisoft Montreal in Canada, but production was aided in part by four other Ubisoft developers: Annecy, Singapore, Bucharest and Québec City. The multiplayer mode is mainly developed by Ubisoft Annecy, the studio responsible for creating the multiplayer mode in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Ubisoft also announced plans for downloadable content after the game's launch. Two sets of free DLC have already been released under the names "Animus Project Update 1.0" and "Animus Project Update 2.0". The "Animus Project Update 2.0" was released in January 2011, was also free, and included another map, mode and the introduction of a player grading system. From the perspective of performance, Ubisoft have commented that they hope the gaps between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions will be even smaller with Brotherhood.
Editions
Codex Edition
- Renaissance Collector Chest.
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex.
- Strategic Map of Rome.
- Multiplayer character cards.
- DVD of the Assassin’s Creed: Lineage short-film (European version only).
- Game Soundtrack.
- Bonus Disc.
- Making-of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Video.
- Digital Sneak Peak at the comic book series.
- Trailers.
- Two exclusive singleplayer maps (Aqua Gear and Trajan Market).
- Two exclusive multiplayer characters (The Harlequin and the Officer)
- Helmschmied Drachen Armor.
- Three Ubiworkshop artcards.
Auditore Edition
- Transparent box with 3D thermoformed portrait of Ezio.
- Multiplayer character cards.
- Aqua Gear exclusive singleplayer map.
- DVD of the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short-film.
- Helmschmied Drachen Armor.
- Three ubiworkshop artcards.
Collector's Edition
- Collectible black package.
- The Harlequin Jack-in-the-Box (GameStop only) or the Doctor Jack-in-the-Box (other participating retailers).
- Harlequin multiplayer character (GameStop only).
- Two exclusive singleplayer maps (Aqua Gear & Trajan Market).
- Strategic Map of Rome.
- Exclusive Art Book.
- Bonus Disc.
- Exclusive Making-of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Video.
- Digital Sneak Peak at the comic book series.
- Trailers and Dev Diaries.
- Game Soundtrack.
- Helmschmied Drachen Armor (Amazon.com pre-order only).
Special Edition
- Exclusive Packaging.
- Trajan Market exclusive singleplayer map.
- The Officer multiplayer character.
HMV Exclusive Edition
- Exclusive Packaging.
- Aqua Gear exclusive singleplayer map.
- The Harlequin multiplayer character.
Digital Deluxe Edition (PC Only)
- Trajan Market & the Aqueducts.
- The Harlequin and Officer multiplayer characters.
- Helmschmied Drachen Armor.
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex.
- Multiplayer characters cards.
- Strategic Map of Rome.
- DVD of the Assassin’s Creed: Lineage short film.
- Making-of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.
- Game Soundtrack.
*Available through Steam for US $59.99
Da Vinci Edition
- Free The Da Vinci Disappearance downloadable content download.
- Two exclusive singleplayer maps (Aqua Gear & Trajan Market).
- The Harlequin, Officer, Dama Rossa, Knight, Marquis, and Pariah multiplayer characters.
- Helmschmied Drachen Armor.
Sequel
In May of 2011, Ubisoft announced Assassin's Creed: Revelations which is set to be released on November 15, 2011. The story will be Ezio's final chapter, and will wrap up the Ezio and Altaïr storylines, as well as continue the modern day Assassins storyline with Desmond going into the Black Room inside of the Animus.
Awards
Won
- Spike TV Video Game Awards
- "Best Action-Adventure Game"
- British Academy Video Game Awards
- "Action"
Nominations
- British Academy Video Game Awards
- "Best Artistic Achievement" - Lost to God of War III
- "Best Game" - Lost to Mass Effect 2
- "Gameplay" - Lost to Super Mario Galaxy 2
- "Multiplayer" - Lost to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
- "Technical Innovation" - Lost to Heavy Rain
- "Use of Audio" - Lost to Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Trivia
- The background of the game's title menu cycles between the blue of Abstergo's Animus (1.28), and the white of the Assassins' Animus 2.0.
- In the multiplayer mode, despite all the characters being Templars and using Abstergo's Animi, the desynchronization animation with the numerous white lines, and the blend animation with the white lines at the character's feet are from the Animus 2.0.
- Nolan North, the voice actor of Desmond Miles, had admitted to be working on a new Assassin's Creed game before any official announcement, and game developers said that his story would "take an interesting turn."
- The covers of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game show Ezio with dual Hidden Blades in an "X" pointing upwards, while on the PC version cover, the blades are facing downwards.
Videos
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Debut Teaser Trailer
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Presentation of Rome
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Shaun Hastings' Reveal Video
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Enter Rome Trailer
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E3 2010 Multiplayer Trailer
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Multiplayer Beta Trailer
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The Story Trailer
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Exotic Gameplay Trailer
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Singleplayer Gameplay #1
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Singleplayer Gameplay #2
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Retailers Bonuses
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Desmond In Asassin's Creed Brotherhood
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Codex Edition
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Beta Gameplay
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Single Player Launch Trailer
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Recorded Footage
References
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