Assassin's Creed Retrospective: Everything You Need To Know Before Assassin's Creed III

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

When Desmond reenters the Animus, he finds Ezio in Monteriggioni. Things quickly devolve out of this tenuous peace as Cesare Borgia, son of Rodrigo, begins his siege on Monteriggioni, forcing Ezio out of the villa and on to the armaments. In his escape from this Templar force, Ezio sees his Uncle Mario killed by Cesare, who then takes the Apple of Eden.

Ezio then travels to Rome once more. A large part of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is based on freeing territories around Rome from oppression and corruption. Doing so tallies new members of the Assassin's Order, giving the brotherhood more strength and Ezio new abilities in combat and on missions. As the tide turns, Ezio chases Cesare and Rodrigo.

Cesare kills his father with a poisoned apple, originally intended for Cesare by Rodrigo himself. Ezio retrieves the Apple of Eden and Cesare is arrested, though he quickly escapes from prison in Spain with the help of the Borgia clan and the Templars. Ezio confronts Cesare amid the chaos the Templar has spread in his wake. When Cesare claims he cannot be killed by a mortal man, Ezio leaves the villain "in the hands of fate" by dropping him from on high.


Of course, Cesare was a dumbass and he died. Ezio then hides the Apple of Eden underneath Santa Maria in Aracoeli. That's when the player returns to Desmond in the present day. With the coordinates of the Apple in hand, the four modern Assassins recover the artifact from its hiding place, but they are again confronted by a mysterious being, projected from the mysterious technology in the temple. Juno is not visible to Lucy, Rebecca, or Shaun, but Desmond learns from the being that humanity is "innocent and ignorant" and lack the sixth sense: knowledge. It's at this point that Juno becomes violently angry and yells, "We should have left you as you were!"

When Desmond touches the Apple of Eden, time appears to freeze and he can no longer move or speak. At this point, Desmond seems to lose control of his body. Juno forces the assassin to stab Lucy in the abdomen, stating that there is a woman who would follow Desmond through "the gate," but that it could not be allowed. Desmond then falls into a coma. As the credits begin to roll, two men are heard arguing whether or not they should put Desmond back in the Animus.


Assassin's Creed: Revelations

In the final title of Ezio's trilogy, the player cycles between the three main protagonists, Desmond, Altaïr, and Ezio. Where Desmond had previously inhabited the White Room of the Animus, his coma drops him in the Black Room, a hacker's back door, if you will. Desmond's task is to piece together the rest of Ezio's life in order to make his escape from the Animus. As the story progresses, Desmond can complete platforming puzzles to learn more about his childhood and the Assassin order he grew up in. Still, as Ezio, Desmond finds further conflict with the Templars in the search for five keys required to unlock Altaïr's library under Masyaf.

The keys allow Ezio to inhabit Altaïr like Desmond does with the Animus. When his search takes Ezio to Istanbul, he meets with Master Assassin Yusuf Tazim who refers to Ezio as Mentor. With Yusuf's help, Ezio recovers the five keys, but discovers that Altaïr's library is not a library at all. Instead, he finds a vault where Altaïr's remains lay at rest with another key and the Apple of Eden. Ezio leaves the Apple to itself in his old age. At this point, the older Assassin speaks to the air in order to communicate with "anyone watching." Ezio leaves his hidden blades and sword in the vault with Altaïr.


At this point, Desmond is approached by Jupiter, another member of the "first civilization," who explains that the vaults sought out through the course of the series were built to study methods that would save the planet from a repeated disaster. The knowledge was transmitted to a central vault where theories were tested. Jupiter says that the first civilization failed, but that the central vault is located in New England and that Desmond must use the combined knowledge of his ancestors and the first civilization to prevent a second solar flare from destroying the planet yet again.

Demond wakes up, greeted by Rebecca, Shaun, and his father, William. "I know what to do" he says while the central vault begins to activate underground.

In The Lost Archive DLC, players taken on the role of Subject 16, the previous Animus user trapped inside the machine. In this segment, we learn that Lucy was actually a Templar posing as an Assassin (posing as a Templar within Abstergo).

Now that that's all behind us, which is your favorite Assassin's Creed game? I personally like the city-building and wide-open space of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, but Assassin's Creed II's focused story and varied cities makes for a compelling experience as well. Share your AC hype, hate, and more in the comments below.