Review

10 Feb

Being introduced to the Assassin’s Creed series, we were introduced to an incredible and historically complex world filled with secrets and great depth. At the heart of this story was Desmond Miles, a young nobody you would meet every day who has a unique lineage: He comes from a long line of Assassins. Through a device known as the Animus, Desmond can relive the genetic memories of his ancestor. The first ancestor we meet is Altair, a stoic assassin from the crusades. The 2nd Assassin we meet is Ezio, a charismatic and incredible Assassin from the renaissance. Getting to know all 3 of these characters throughout the last 3 games has been an incredible experience as we have witnessed the immense growth, hardships, and achievements these 3 individuals have achieved. The 4th entry in the Assassin’s Creed series would bring a final close to Ezio and Altair’s story and see Desmond embrace his destiny as an Assassin and help him understand the secrets of The Precursor needed to save the world.

Following the ending of Brotherhood, Desmond remains in a coma, inside the animus his mind is being kept intact and he finds himself in a safe program where he encounters the Infamous Subject 16, Clay Kaczmarek. Animus Island acts as a hub for Desmond to explore the deeper parts of the Animus and also aspects of his past. With Desmond’s mind fractured, due to his prolonged exposure to the Animus, he must fix himself by finishing the relevant memories of his ancestors. Years after defeating the Borgia and hiding the Apple, Ezio seeks to uncover the secrets left behind by the legendary Altair. Ezio embarks on a final journey to Masyaf, the ancient home of the Assassin to find Altair’s library with the keys hidden long ago and so Ezio travels to Constantinople and becomes embroiled in the affairs of the Ottoman Assassins and Byzantine Templars.

The city of Constantinople offers an interesting change from the typical Renaissance-style cities we are used to. While Ezio can adapt to typically any environment he is thrown into, it is interesting to learn some of the unique attributes that different Assassins use and the challenges they face. A notable change is the inclusion of the Hookblade, an innovative, traversal, and combat upgrade to the hidden blade. The Hookblade becomes a companion for the old Assassin as he would never have been able to complete his journey without it. Ezio is not low about friends in this new city as he meets a memorable and instantly likable cast of characters that help him on his journey. Characters like Yusuf Tazim provide a fun and skilled Assassin and Sofia provides Ezio with a Friendship that he hasn’t had in a long time. Sadly with new friends, come new foes, in the form of the Byzantine Templars who provide Ezio with many challenges in the city. Instead of dealing with targets who are usually killed quickly, we are now able to dig deeper into the effects the Templars have on the city and the people and how Ezio can help his fellow Assassins confront them and grow as people.

Where Ezio sought vengeance and justice in the past, he now looks for a reason to keep fighting and to understand what his place is in the fight due to what he has already done in the past. It’s a good question as Ezio has always used the pain of others as his reason to fight but now he must embark on a new journey of realization and acceptance. Ezio is not the only one whose journey seems to come full circle. Altair, the legendary Assassin from the crusades and reinventor of the order. As Ezio journeys to gain access to Altair’s library, he must find keys that will open it. These keys are precursor keys, each imbued with a memory that proves key to Altair’s own personal journey, from Assassin to Assassin leader. As Ezio views each of these memories he learns many important lessons from Altair and how deep his lessons can impact Ezio on his journey for answers. After hearing much of Altair’s actions after the 1st game, it was good to be able to see what happened to the young Assassin and his later life. As expected it wasn’t all good, as Altair had to face many different challenges throughout his life that would show how strong and wise an Assassin he would be from when we left him. As we enjoy our final time with Ezio and Altair we are also able to visit Desmond on his journey into the guts of the Animus as he embarks on his journey of self-realization and acceptance. Learning more about Desmond’s childhood and how the Modern Assassins operate provides some valuable backstory for Desmond as we are only really familiar with Desmond’s history when he is caught by Abstergo.

The Verdict

Tying up the loose ends of Ezio’s and Altair’s journey satisfyingly and compellingly was no easy feat. First being introduced to Altair was an incredible journey and it was fulfilling to learn more about his later life and the challenges he had to overcome. Ezio was someone who we have been with since his literal birth and it was an amazing journey to accompany this young and brash assassin into a master assassin and leader. As the game expands on the histories of the Assassins and Templars, it also expands on the mysteries of the precursors who have become an ominous, yet exciting presence that continues to shake up the landscape of the game’s central conflict. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations serves as a fitting conclusion to the stories of Ezio and Altair and allows us to move on from these characters that we have grown to love so much. While it will be a difficult feat to create characters with the same appeal, I look forward to seeing what the writers think of next.

Main Narrative - Being able to tie up the stories of Altair and Ezio in satisfying and honourable ways was no easy feat and this was also done while making sure they could build upon Desmond’s story and progress forward on his final journey - 9/10
Characters - Building on the momentum on ACB with Ezio’s and Desmond’s respective characters was a relatively easy feat but being able re-establish Altair was more difficult but still done well. The new Assassin’s we meet are also a fun and skilled bunch. The Templar’s on the other hand are more varied but don’t take much of a stage this time around - 8/10
Side Narrative - While there are not many side narratives in Revelations, it does focus on making the one’s it does have shine and reveal better layers to the organizations, especially the Templar’s. 8/10
Environmental and Collectible Storytelling - Making the few collectibles in the game be able to lead to exciting narrative sections was a fun feat. The data fragments that were scattered would unlock Desmond’s journey which made finding them well wanted. Being able to make the players find every collectible they can find is always a good sign that the collectibles have been designed well. Using Eagle Vision helps to reveal aspects of the environment and what has happened while also revealing many deep memories for Ezio and Altair - 8.5/10