Assassin's Creed: Revelations Preview

Check out our Assassin's Creed: Revelations Multiplayer VIDEO PREVIEW

Relevant information notwithstanding, what's AC: Revelations all about?

We're hotly anticipating the fourth entry in the Assassin's Creed series from Ubisoft, and I can't help but spoil the ending of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood for everyone I meet. What the hell is wrong with me?

No.

What the hell is wrong with you? Why haven't you finished the excellent continuation of Ezio's story? You'd better hurry because Revelations is about ready to wrap up the loose ends left behind by the Auditore clan. At PAX, Alexandre Amancio walked us through the Gamescom demo of the game. He dispatched guards by planting bombs on dead bodies, by throwing bombs directly at would-be pursuers, and by lobbing bombs like grenades.

Amancio explained that the bomb-crafting system was created to incentivize looting all the bodies and treasure chests Ezio will come across. In previous Assassin's Creed games, you could only sell the goodies you picked up off your victims, but collecting these materials in Revelations and proceeding to a bomb-crafting table will let you tailor your weaponry to your upcoming trials and tribulations.

Amancio quickly dismantled some bombs he had already constructed and used the materials to create new hand grenades that he could drop in the middle of a chase to slow down pursuers. The crafting menus loaded quickly and materials fluidly moved between one type of bomb to the next.

The Gamescom demo allowed Ezio to hunt and kill a Templar agent, though Amancio said that the particular Templar underneath Ezio's blade was brought forward simply to show off an Altaïr section of the game. Ezio is hunting these Templar and historical artifacts to experience pieces of Altaïr's life.

The demo then took us to a section of Altaïr's life before the events in Assassin's Creed 1. A Templar agent, confirmed for the game's multiplayer mode, had taken Altaïr's master hostage and the player had to scale a wall to save him. Amancio noted several different paths the player could take and then proceeded to parkour across the ramparts and land on the Templar agent, hidden blade at the ready.

Multiplayer mode improvements aside, Assassin's Creed: Revelations seems to refocus on the story, bringing several loose ends to a close, all while setting up the next in the fan-favorite Ubisoft series. You can preorder now and pick the game up at retail on November 15th, 2011 for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.