JC’s Review of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Part 2

Warning: Part 2, as well as Part 1, of this review contains spoilers, including but not limited to important information about the Assassin’s Creed story, key plot points and the ending of the game.

The Locations

Like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Revelations takes place mainly in the very large city of Constantinople, as opposed to switching between locations as seen in the first and second Assassin’s Creed titles.

Having not played Brotherhood, I wasn’t sure if I would like the idea of staying in a single City for the whole game, as I thought the location would become boring after a while. After finishing the game, though, I found having a single city actually worked in Revelations’ favour.

Certainly in the first game, there was a lot of travelling, usually done by horseback. It could take quite a long time and seeing the same scenary repeatedly at such a slow pace quickly became tiresome.

It’s clear from the design of Revelations that the developers have noticed this. A single, large city means no loading screens between cities, no boring roads, minimal horseback travel and opportunities to develop new and quite novel ways of travel, which I’ll talk about later in the Weapons section.

As well as the main city of Constantinople, you also get to see the Assassin Stronghold in Masyaf (last seen in the original Assassin’s Creed), an underground Templar city, as well as other bridging locations, which are part of the story as opposed to being eventless go-betweens.

Characters

Main Characters For Ezio Auditore Da Firenze

Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad

Hero of the original Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations brings Altair and Ezio Auditore together for both of their final stories. Through the Masyaf keys, which Altair encoded with his key memories, Ezio Auditore sees some of the most significant moments of his life.

Yusuf Tamzin

Yusuf Tamzin is a Master Assassin and the leader of the Ottoman Assassins in Constantinople. Throughout the game, he assists Ezio Auditore on a number of missions, forming good friendships with him and Prince Suleiman, son of the future Ottoman Sultan.

Sofia Sartor

An Ventian-Ottoman bookshop owner, who has a passion for books and is key, in certain parts of the story, in helping Ezio decipher a map, which showed the location of books hidden by Niccolo Polo, which in turn indicated where he’d hidden the Masyaf Keys at Altair’s request.

Ezio quickly warms to her and she’ll go on to be an important part of his life.

Prince Suleiman

Son of the future Ottoman Sultan, his Uncle (Ahmet) and Father (Selim) have been bitterly quaralling over who will be the next Sultan, despite his Grandfather wishing that it’ll be Selim. Suleiman will one day go on to become the 10th Ottoman Sultan himself, but when Ezio first meets him on the boat to Constantinople, he doesn’t reveal who he is. This is only revealed when Yusuf and Ezio foil an assassination attempt on him, by forces working for Suleiman’s Uncle.

Main Chracters For Altair Ibn-La’Ahad

Darim Ibn-La’Ahad

The only surviving Son of Altair, through which the genetic line runs from Altair to Desmond Miles in the present day. His brother Sef Ibn-La’Ahad was murdered by a corrupt Assassin by the name of Swami, who worked as a spy for Abbas (See Abbas Sofian Below).

In his final words to his Father, Darim said:

“All that is good in me, began with you, Father”

Maria Thorpe

When Altair first met Maria Thorpe, she was a Templar and at one point, he nearly assassinated her by mistake, believing her to be Robert De Sable, Grand Master of the Templars.

Maria would eventually realise that the Templars plans weren’t beneficial for humanity, despite what they claimed, and so began to get close to Altair of the Assassins.

Maria would eventually go on to marry Altair and produce two sons, Darim and Sef (See Above). Her son Darim is a direct relative to modern day Desmond Miles.

Niccolò Polo

Niccolò Polo was a Venetian merchant and explorer, Father of famous explorer Marco Polo. Altair trained him and his brother Maffeo in the ways of the Assassin. Towards the end of his life, Altair trusted Niccolò with the Masyaf keys and with the future of the Assassins. Faithfully, he hid the keys and begun Assassin Dens in Constantinople and Venice.

Abbas Sofian

Abbas and Altair grew up as the best of friends, but when he learnt from Altair that his Father had commited suicide, as opposed to leaving the Assassins as he’d previous believed, Abbas went on to develop a lifelong hatred of Altair.

We see this throughout the game and indeed, throughout Altair’s life as seen in the Masyaf Keys, resulting in the murder of Altair’s Son and Wife, as well as himself and his remaining son being exiled from the Assassin Stronghold in Masyaf as Abbas staged a successful coup.

The Weapons

If you’ve played any of the previous three Assassin’s Creed games, you’ll already be familiar with the majority of the weapons.

As always, Ezio Auditore has his trusty hidden blade, which was constructed by Leonardo Di Vinci back in Assassin’s Creed 2. Ezio’s a much older man now, as is his hidden blade and Yusuf recommends not a replacement, but an upgrade exclusive so-far to Revelations. Instead of having a straight blade like a knife, the Hook Blade (as the name implies) has a curved blade that actively helps in transporting Ezio around the large City of Constantinople.

When jumping from buildings, the Hook Blade catches on the roofs, windowsills and balconies of buildings. When climbing, the Hook Blade catches on the sides of buildings, allowing Ezio to jump further and pull himself up.

For the first time in the Assassin’s Creed series, the Hook Blade also allows Ezio to zipwire across the City. When jumping from buildings with a zipwire attached, the Hook Blade catches on to it and gravity propels Ezio across a number of buildings, sometimes significantly lessening travel times during missions. I liked this feature and hope it’s kept, or even improved, in the next Assassin’s Creed game.

Other hand weapons include Axes, Swords, Hammers and Maces. Projectile weapons include a Hidden Gun, Poison Darts, Throwing Knives and a Crossbow.

Another new feature, brought to the series by Revelations, is the ability to craft three different kinds of bombs. Throughout the City, there are Bomb Crafting stations where you can use materials collected to craft your bombs.

Lethal = Bombs that are designed to kill.

Tactical = Bombs that are meant to incapacitate, repulse or scare.

Diversion = Harmless Devices that create distractions through sound, smoke and fake coins that attract crowds.

LETHAL BOMB COMPONENTS

Shrapnel: Detonation disperses metal shards, designed to kill.

Datura Powder: A poison, designed to kill when inhaled.

Coal Dust: Increases the explosive power of the device to kill by that alone.

TACTICAL BOMB COMPONENTS

Lamb’s Blood: Detonation expels lamb’s blood over an enemy, making them believe they have been seriously wounded. A distraction tactic that increases the liklihood of a swift assassination.

Caltrops: Detonation releases metal spikes, which incapacitate the target for a few seconds.

Phosphorus: Detonation creates a thick, black smoke, which hides kills and/or escapes. An Assassin will Eagle Sight can see through this smoke clearly.

Skunk Oil: Detonation creates a terrible smell, which incapacitates and repulses the target.

DIVERSION BOMB COMPONENTS

Sulfur: When detonated, Sulfur generates a loud sound, which draws targets away from their post.

Salt of Petra: When detonated, Salt of Petra releases a light smoke to distract the target.

Pyrite Coins: When detonated, a Pyrite Coin bomb expels fake coins, causing people to rush to collect them. A good distraction technique and way of slowing a target down as you try and escape.

Dens

Brought over and expanded from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Constantinople features multiple dens across the City. At the start of the game, the Assassin’s only have one, whilst the others are controlled by the Knights Templar. Over the game, you will attack the Templar Dens, kill their Captains and take them over in the name of the Assassins.

In doing so, you gradually acquire more and more Assassin trainees, which you can send on missions to other cities. I believe their actions contribute to Multiplayer in some way, but since I don’t play Multiplayer, I’m not sure in what way exactly.

These missions also train up your new Assassins, increasing their Rank, their weapons and their armour. As you attain Dens, you can promote your Assassins to be the Leader of a specific Den and when out in the City, you can call for Assassins to seemingly come from no where and help you assassinate or fight an enemy. As their rank and number increase, you can call for more Assassins to help or, when you reach full rank, you have the option to launch a massive attack, where arrows are fired at all your enemies, taking them down. It’s quite the sight.

Stations to control your Assassins are sited right next to every bomb crafting station throughout the City.

Just as you can take over a Templar Den, however, they can try and take over an Assassin Den. They can do this with considerable force and it’s your job to stop them. Commanding from the rooftop, the Player can station specific Assassins to various other rooftops along the street to the entrance of the Den.

From here, Archers, Riflemen and conventional Assassins kill the attacking Templars. With each kill, you earn Morale Points, which you can spend on placing barriers on the street, which can been upgraded to be bigger and stronger for more Morale Points. In time, more types of Assassins become available, as well as new types of barrier that double as flamethrowers.

You can also shoot enemies as Ezio, or call in cannon fire against the Templars and the battering rams they often bring with them.

The End Comes For Altair And Ezio

Finally, we come to most spoilerific (I know it’s not a word, humour me) part of my review………the ending of the story for Altair and Ezio Auditore.

At the end of the game, Ezio Auditore has collected all five of the Masyaf Keys, he’s returned to the ancient Assassin stronghold and has entered Altair’s library.

The Player, as Ezio, descends into the library, it’s slow going, walking not running, lighting lamps as he goes until he reaches the main chamber.

It’s a circular, stone chamber with ellaborate stone chairs surrounding the center of the room, but despite calling it a library, there are no books.

As Ezio steps inside, he finds that in the chair furthest from him, sit the skeletal remains of Altair…….the heroes of Assassin’s Creed come face to face for the first time.

Altair’s remains hold one final memory, which Ezio accesses. It shows a very elderly Altair saying goodbye to his son. His son realises Altair’s library was never meant to be a library at all, but rather a vault to contain one the Apples of Eden.

Definition of the Apples of Eden from the Assassin’s Creed Wiki:

Long before mankind existed, there was a technologically advanced civilization which inhabited Earth. They made humanity, and enslaved them by modifying their brain to be manipulable by Pieces of Eden. For that moment there was a forced peace, until Adam and Eve stole one of the Pieces, an Apple, and started a war between the two species. Too occupied by the war to see the threat, a major solar flare impacted the Earth and significantly damaged both mankind and their makers, and as the people of First Civilization became extinct, mankind grew and populated the Earth, seeing their predecessors as myths and gods

Ezio Auditore watches, through the memory, the elderly Altair descending into the Vault, sealing himself inside before hiding the Apple of Eden in a secret compartment within the vault.

For me, one of the most powerful sequences of the series happened next.

The Player, as Altair, had to walk to the chair, where Altair would “rest for a moment”. It’s an emotionally powerful moment, as the Player knows that Altair will never get up again and indeed, he doesn’t. So ends the life of Altair.

The memory gradually ends as the camera slowly rotates around, Ezio Auditore coming into view, kneeling in front of the remains of Altair.

As far as I remember, Ezio then says his famous line…..Requiescat in Pace, which is latin for Rest In Peace.

Ezio decides that the Apple of Eden is safer where it is. He has dedicated a great portion of his life to the Assassins and now feels that the work he was tasked with is complete.

Ezio then leaves his blades and sword near in front of the Apple’s hiding place and, in another of the most extraordinary sequences of the series, then begins to speak directly to Desmond, his modern day relative.

Ezio says that he doesn’t know how he can be talking to someone so far in the future, but he’s known that Desmond has been watching for a long time. #

Ezio tells Desmond that he will retire now from the life of an Assassin and hopes that Desmond will find the answers to questions that Ezio and Altaïr had suffered so much to uncover.

And so comes the end of Ezio Auditore’s story also. He would go on to marry Sofia and have children, a son named Marcello and a daughter named Flavia.

This, as well as Ezio Auditore’s death, is shown in the short animated film, “Assassin’s Creed: Embers”.

The following summary of the end of Ezio Auditore’s life, as well as included screenshot, are again referenced from the Assassin’s Creed Wiki:

In his final hours, Ezio chose to go to Florence with Sofia and Flavia while they went shopping. Ezio sat down on a bench, feeling ill, and shrugging off Sofia’s concerns that he should have stayed home, stating “I am home.”

The young man quickly grabbed Ezio’s hand and told Ezio to have courage. He told Ezio to “get some rest,” and then left. Ezio looked back at him angrily, but calmed down just as quickly. Breathing heavily, Ezio looked over at Sofia and Flavia, smiling, before resting his head against the back of the bench, and passing away peacefully

The Road To Assassin’s Creed 3

When Ezio Auditore finishes speaking, his image fades away and another takes his place. It is the image of a man called Jupiter. He tells Desmond that the First Civilisation, the original creators of Humanity and the Planet’s first technologically advanced, dominant species, had built various underground vaults where they had tried to find solutions to the solar flare that had made the First Civilisation extinct.

Jupiter tells Desmond that he has the power to stop a second Solar Flare from destroying humanity at the end of 2012, the way the first destroyed the First Civilisation, and Jupiter then shows Desmond the location of the central vault.

Finally, Desmond Miles is able to separate himself from the Animus and returns to his present. He finds that his Father, along with Rebecca and Shaun (all three modern-day Assassins) have managed to smuggle Desmond out of Rome and have taken him to America, whilst he’s been trapped in the Animus.

Mysteriously, Desmond’s arm begins to glow with blue patterns, and with a glance at Ezio Auditore’s Apple of Eden, Desmond tells them he knows what to do……

And so ends Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

Conclusion

I wasn’t a superfan of Assassin’s Creed when I played Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. I wanted the game, but I hadn’t been happy with Assassin’s Creed 2, which was the only game I’d played of the series up until this point, and wondered if I was going to enjoy this sequel and the included copy of the original Assassin’s Creed.

After completing the original Assassin’s Creed, I felt as though the score was 1-1. I’d enjoyed the original Assassin’s Creed much more than Assassin’s Creed 2 and I’d actually been able to complete it, which was more than could be said for it’s immediate sequel.

So would another story featuring Ezio Auditore be a repeatition of my experience with Assassin’s Creed 2?……….Thankfully not.

I really enjoyed Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Sure, it can be repeatative and travelling across the City can be time consuming, but the story in Revelations was very rich.

As I mentioned earlier, you could feel that it was made to tie up the lose ends to Ezio Auditore and Altair’s stories, but rather than feeling as though it was a game that mourned the end of these Character’s stories, it felt much more like a normal Assassin’s Creed game. That sounds bad, but actually, it wasn’t.

The developers didn’t dwell on this being Ezio Auditore’s final story, that it would see the wrapping up of Altair’s story and even show his death, they made a decent Assassin’s Creed game and through rich story, slowly drew the stories of these characters to what felt to me, as the Player, like their natural ends.

It showed me that my previous dislike of Assassin’s Creed was based mostly in the second game, but the original Assassin’s Creed and Revelations renewed and revitalised my interest in the series.

I applaud Ubisoft on how they handled the Revelations stories, how they managed to inject so much feeling into game characters, how they made you care about the characters and what happened to them, and how they rewarded fans of Assassin’s Creed by giving Ezio and Altair powerful and fitting endings.

This, finally, concludes my review of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

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