Assassin's Creed
Desmond is captured by Abstergo and forced to use a machine
called the Animus to explore Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad's memories during the time of
the Third Crusade. Desmond begins to witness events after Altaïr breaks all three
tenets of the Assassin Brotherhood while attempting to stop Robert de Sablé from taking a Piece of Eden. Al Mualim, the Brotherhood's
leader, demotes Altaïr to Novice and tasks him with assassinating the nine Knights
Templars, including de Sablé, to regain his former status. Altaïr's quest
eventually leads him to face de Sablé in the presence of King Richard I of England warning the King of de Sablé's plot to kill
him. Altaïr defeats de Sablé, but with his last words, de Sablé reveals that
there were ten Templars, the last being Al Mualim, who now holds the Piece of
Eden. Altaïr returns to face Al Mualim, struggling to fight through the
illusions created by the Piece, but eventually kills Al Mualim. When Altaïr
recovers the piece, he—and those watching the Animus—witness a holographic map
showing locations across the globe where other artifacts are located. Desmond
is pulled from the Animus, and was going to be killed, but his life is spared
by Lucy Stillman, an Assassin working as a mole within Abstergo, as she claims
they might need to further examine his memories later. He comes to learn that a
former test subject had left messages only Desmond can see, foretelling of the
end of the world in 2012.
The first Assassin's Creed introduced elements that would remain
cornerstones of the rest of the series. The game attempts to create historical
versions of Masyaf (the Brotherhood's location), Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus, and incorporates a number of documented historical figures
into the story. The virtualized Animus system, free running, climbing, stealth,
and parkour elements were all present in this title, as well as the initial
formulation of the combat system. The player would have to complete a number of
side quests before they would be able to obtain an assassin quest from a local
Brotherhood guidemaster in each city, though future games would abandon this
prerequisite.
Assassin's Creed II
Similar to the first game, Assassin's Creed takes place in historical recreations of Venice, Florence, Forlì, San Gimignano, and the Tuscan countryside, and incorporates events during that period
as part of the story. Missions are divided into main story missions, themselves
divided into memory sequences reflected points along Ezio's life, and side
missions which can be accomplished at any time; this approach to mission
structure remains consistent in the other games in the series. The
Monteriggioni villa provides several functions which can be expanded on by
paying money for upgrades of surrounding buildings, or by purchasing artwork,
weapons, and costumes for the villa; in turn, the villa will generate wealth
for the player at a rate influenced by the upgrades and acquisition of these
items. Additional quests involve locating secret Assassin seals, and finding
hidden marks left by "Subject 16", a former Animus user, that hint at
the nature of Minerva's society.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Brotherhood shares many of the
same features as the previous game though it takes place primarily in Rome.
Similar to the villa, the player is able to spend money to buy and upgrade
shops and other facilities throughout the city as to increase revenue they can
collect from it; however, the player will be required to destroy Borgia towers
that control various sections of the city before they can do so. The
Brotherhood of Assassins is introduced, by which, after saving citizens from
certain events, the player can invite these citizens as Assassins; they can
then be dispatched to remote locations across Europe to gain experience and
money, or can be called in to help the player directly in a mission. For the
first time in the series, the game features online multiplayer. Players play as
Abstergo employees, who, through the use of the Animus, take on the genetic
memories of Renaissance Templars in various game modes.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Desmond comes to consciousness in a virtual area within the
Animus, the Animus Island, where he meets the digital personality of Subject
16. Subject 16 explains that from the trauma of
memories of both Altaïr and Ezio to be able to separate his mind
from theirs and to allow him to come out of his coma; however, doing so will
destabilize the island as the Animus recovers that memory segment and at one
point Subject 16 sacrifices himself to allow Desmond to continue. Desmond
rejoins Ezio's story many years after 
Ezio - and through him, Desmond - uses the keys to witness
Altaïr's memories following the death of Al Mualim. These show Altaïr having
lost his wife and youngest son in the midst of a coup d'etat within the Assassins followed by a twenty-year self-imposed
exile. Eventually, Altaïr returned to Masyaf, killed the usurper, and retook
control. Near death, Altaïr inscribed the keys with his memories and gave them
to his friend Niccoló to hide at a distant location, before disappearing into
his library forever. In Ezio's present, he and Sofia go to Masyaf and open the
library to find Altaïr's corpse and the Piece of Eden he possessed. Ezio leaves
the Piece as well as his assassin tools, and speaks directly to Desmond,
knowing he was only a conduit for him, and hopes he finds the answer he needs.
Desmond is then approached by another holographic figure, Jupiter, who explains
that their society had tried to use technology to stop the destruction of the
earth's surface by a massive solar flare but failed, but they had stored their
repository of knowledge in several vaults linked to a central vault which
Desmond must use to stop another similar flare that will occur soon; Desmond
recognizes the location in New England. Desmond wakes up from his coma, finding
Rebecca, Shaun, and to his surprise, his father William, there. After learning
that Lucy died from his stabbing, he informs of the location in New York, the
Temple that will save humanity.
Revelations includes many new
systems, including additional weapons. Bomb-crafting is now available, allowing
the player to create explosive, distraction and tactical bombs, using materials
found throughout the world and on Assassin's Guild missions. As the player
progresses through, Ezio can train new recruits to defend "dens"
(Assassin HQs) and an upgraded Assassin's missions section called
"Mediterranean Defense" in which the player works to strip control of
various cities from Templar hands. The hookblade is also introduced, which can
be used in free-running (to travel along zip wires and climb more easily) and
in combat (to manipulate enemies). Eagle Vision has been upgraded to Eagle
Sense, which allows Ezio to not only see where his enemies and targets are but
where they have been and where they are going to be. The multiplayer mode
returns inRevelations, this time with more characters, modes, and maps,
and by advancing up through levels of experience, the player learns more about
Abstergo's history.
Assassin's Creed III
Desmond and his allies arrive at the Temple entrance in a cave
in the New York area on October 31, 2012, and open its door using the Apple Of
Eden, discovering a larger chamber of Precursor technology behind it, including
another door requiring a key. Desmond suddenly falls into a fugue state, and is put into the Animus. There, he experiences the memories
of a half Mohawk, half British man named Ratonhnhaké:ton (/ˈrəduːnˈhəɡeɪduːn/;
"Ra-doon-ha-kay-doon"),[8] later dubbed Connor (Achilles calls him this in memory of his
dead son), who lived through the American Revolution, as well as Connor's father,
Connor eventually encounters his father, but Kenway offers a
cease fire, as he is also after Benjamin Church for usurping his authority.
During their investigation, Kenway warns Connor that the Patriots, worried of
the allegiance of the various tribes to the British, are seeking to remove
Connor's people from their lands. Connor eventually hunts Lee down and kills
him, taking the medallion and ending the Templar threat. He is despondent to
find his tribe's village abandoned save for the Piece of Eden; through it, Juno
tells him to bury the amulet. As December 21 approaches and signs of the solar
flare begin to ensue, Desmond and his allies find the buried medallion, and use
it at the inner Temple door, behind which is a control sphere. Juno appears and
encourages Desmond to touch it, but Minerva appears and warns him to stop it,
warning that this will release Juno as an entity that may protect against the
solar flare but will be a threat to mankind in the future. Juno counters,
explaining that Minerva would rather have most of humanity wiped out, with
Desmond safe in the Temple to emerge as a religious figure to lead the
survivors but ultimately leading into conflict. Desmond opts to release Juno,
believing humanity will have a better chance fighting Juno. As his body is
wracked by energy from the control sphere, an aurora surrounds the Earth and
protects it from the solar flare. Juno tells the now fallen Desmond that his
work is now done, and now it is time for her to do her work.
Assassin's Creed III is structured similarly to the previous games, with missions
taking place on an open-world map based on Colonial Boston and New York, and
offers a large wilderness area, the Frontier and in the Davenport Homestead,
where the player can hunt animals for materials, which then subsequently can be
used to construct goods to be traded and sold throughout the colonies. Naval
battles were introduced, wherein the player must steer a warship named Aquila in dangerous waters and perform ship-to-ship combat with cannons
and mounted guns. In Assassin's Creed III there are a large assortment of mini
missions to play and many different outfits to purchase as the player
progresses through the game. The modern-day aspects of the story were also
significantly expanded, and featured missions taking place in, among other
locations, Manhattan, Rome and Brazil.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Samples taken from Desmond Miles' body in the moments after his
death have enabled Abstergo Industries to continue to explore his genetic
memories using the Animus' newfound cloud computing abilities. The unnamed
player
character is hired by Abstergo's entertainment division to sift through the memories of Edward Kenway, an eighteenth-century pirate and the grandfather of Connor. Ostensibly, this is to gather material for an Animus-powered interactive feature film, but in reality, Abstergo and the Templars are searching for the Observatory, a Precursor structure that allows the user to see through the eyes of a subject. As Kenway, the player must unravel a conspiracy between high-ranking Templars to manipulate the British, Spanish and French empires into locating the Sage - later identified as Bartholomew Roberts - who is the only man who can lead them to the Observatory.
In the present day, the player is contacted by John, Abstergo
Entertainment's information technology manager. John convinces the player that
his employer knows more than they are telling, and encourages them to
investigate in more detail. He arranges for the player to access the Animus'
core, at which point Juno materialises
Assassin's Creed Unity
On March 19, 2014, images leaked for the next game, titled or
code-named Unity, showing a new assassin in Paris. The screenshots show new "parkour up"
and "parkour down" buttons, a new navigation mechanic as noted by Kotaku. Kotaku also stated that Unity would release in late
2014
Xbox One, and Windows.
