Assassin's Creed Identity

Assassin's Creed Identity is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft. It is the second mobile-exclusive game in the Assassin's Creed series to be released after Assassin's Creed Pirates, and the first on mobile to incorporate the third-person urban traversal-style gameplay as seen in the main console titles.^[1] It was initially soft-launched in 2014 as a free-to-play game for New Zealand and Australian App Stores. The game was released worldwide for on iOS on 25 February 2016. The Android version released on 18 May 2016 along with a new DLC worth which is now available for both platforms.

Gameplay

The game takes place during the Italian Renaissance and features locations such as the Colosseum in Rome, Firenze, and Monteriggioni, with a Forlì chapter released separately as a DLC on 18th May, 2016.^[2]

Gameplay is similar to the original Assassin's Creed. The player's Assassin can perform parkour by running towards climbable walls, hills, or objects, and will automatically perform parkour upon contact. The Assassin can also blend into various people/structures by either pressing the Action button or running into blendable structures/objects, although the Assassin must be in Alerted status or below to blend. Assassinations are performed by tapping the Action button when a nearby guard has the Hidden Blade icon over his head. During combat, players can attack, block attacks, use skills, or exit the fight. However, some skills cannot be used in combat, and exiting fights has a cooldown. The Assassin starts off at the Anonymous status, in which normal guards ignore him. If the Assassin manages to break hostile guards' lines of sight or is doing suspicious acts, the Assassin enters Alerted status, in which normal guards watch the Assassin closely, but do not do anything. During fights or when running from hostile guards, the Assassin is in Wanted status, in which all guards attack the Assassin on sight. Assassins can lower statuses by either breaking hostile guards' lines of sight for an extended period of time or by blending. However, the Assassin will always be attacked on sight in Restricted Areas, and by some Templar enemies. During combat, the player can also summon hirelings, which depending on class, have a skill and passive upgrade. However, if the player uses the hireling's skill, the hireling can no longer be used for the mission, and passive upgrade is nullified. Players can also use the iconic Eagle Vision and Leap of Faith during missions.

Missions

There are several types of missions. Campaign missions advance the storyline, and often have multiple parts (or multiple objectives), as well as side objectives. Campaign missions have objectives like Tail, Escort, Assassinate, and Courier, and side objectives are often assassinate special units, complete the objectives within a certain time limit, and more. Campaign missions give items, XP, and coins. Contract missions are side missions with a single objective, with objectives like Tail, Escort, Assassinate, Courier, Pursuit, Pillage, Recovery, and more. Contract missions give items, XP, and coins. Initiate and higher level Contract missions also give Tokens.

Plot

In Italy, an Assassin is patrolling Monterrigioni when he spots a group of Borgia mercenaries disguised as tax collectors. Although the Asssasin kills all of the mercenaries, a thief escapes with the contents of a chest belonging to the Assassins. The thief is revealed to be Pietro de Galencia, a Borgia Agent working undercover in Monteriggioni. Pietro had captured an old man, who was the father of a Roman Assassin, and tortured him into revealing one of the secret entrances into Villa Auditore, which led Pietro to the chest. After the theft, the old man escapes and warns the citizens of Monteriggioni about Pietro's betrayal. The Assassin then hunts down and kills Pietro. However, when investigating Pietro's house, the Assassins can only find letters from Cesare Borgia, Captain General of the Papal Forces and leader of the Templars. Soon after, rumors begin circulating about mysterious men wearing black-feathered armor massacring people for sport.

Afterwards, Leonardo da Vinci, an inventor and ally of the Assassins, suspects he is being followed and calls an Assassin stationed in Firenze. While escorting Leonardo, the Assassin senses danger and uses his Eagle Vision to find a man disguised as a civilian. The man was wearing black armor decorated with crow feathers. The Assassin kills the man and hurries toward the Assassin hideout with Leonardo, but are constantly stopped by Medici Guards, who were allegedly asked to arrest Leonardo. The Assassin manages to escort Leonardo to safety, but even more reports on the black armored men begin to circulate, describing them as having uniforms filled with crow feathers, a fighting style exactly like the Assassins', and using a modified version of the Hidden Blade. Later, an Assassin scout visits Niccolò Machiavelli, an Assassin. The scout had been exploring a set of catacombs and found a tunnel blocked by grates. The scout saw several scrolls and manuscripts, but also saw a small chest with the Assassins' mark on it. Machiavelli then sends the scout, along with three Assassin apprentices, to retrieve the chest. However, after they fail to return, Machiavelli sends a scout to investigate. The scout tells Machiavelli that the Assassins were captured and killed by a group of Borgia Agents and their men. Infuriated, Machiavelli summons a veteran Assassin and tasks him to hunt down the Agents and recover the fallen Assassins' belongings. The Assassin retrieves the chest and kills the Agents before returning to Machiavelli with the chest. After examining the chest, Machiavelli discovers it was the chest Pietro de Galencia had stolen from Villa Auditore. The chest contained a modified copy of the original Hidden Blade blueprints, with a crow's head carved in the blade. Machiavelli then deduces that someone has successfully replicated the Hidden Blades.

After a while, Machiavelli receives a short, mysterious letter from a man named Demetrio, who plans to murder Cesare Borgia during the night. In the letter, Demetrio requests Assassins to escort him to safety after the murder. Machiavelli and an Assassin wait for a night to no avail when they see Cesare Borgia commanding his guards to execute a man. The Assassin points out that the man to be executed is Demetrio, a blacksmith working for Cesare Borgia. The Assassin manages to rescue Demetrio and escort him to safety. Demetrio tells Machiavelli that after he refused Cesare's order to replicate even more Hidden Blades, he was tortured. Demetrio then tried to murder Cesare many times, but failed each time. When Machiavelli shows Demetrio the modified Hidden Blade blueprint from the stolen chest, Demetrio confirms that he was the one who made them, and calls them the Corvix Blades. Demetrio then reveals information on Cesare Borgia and the men with the crow feathers. Demetrio explains that after realizing that his guards cannot use the Corvix Blades, Cesare decides to make his own Assassins. Cesare finds a group of young men in an orphanage and sends them to Vallombrosa, an abbey near Firenze. He then uses his contacts to trick a Spanish Assassin named Raphael Sánchez into training the men by making Raphael believe that it was the Assassin's Brotherhood that contact him. After the training is complete, Cesare sends a bald man to Vallombrosa. The bald man claims that Raphael's task is complete and that he needs to return to Spain immediately. After the confused Raphael leaves, the bald man calls the young men "The Crows".

One day, Assassin scouts tell Machiavelli that something unusual was happening at the Borgia camp next to the Colosseum. Machiavelli sends an Assassin to investigate. The Assassin finds a huge load of weapons arriving from Firenze and opens one of the crates, which he discovers is filled with Corvix Blades. The Assassin then infiltrates the camp, which he discovers is full of members of The Crows. He then uses Eagle Vision and spots an ex-Borgia captain named Matteo conversing with a bald man. The Assassin eavesdrops on their conversation before tailing Matteo to the top of the Colosseum. After a brief fight, the Assassin kills Matteo. After the Crows leave the camp, Assassin scouts follow the Crows and find the bald man who had been talking to Matteo. His name was Sirus Favero, a weapons merchant from which Cesare was ordering special weapons. Sirus swears that he had no knowledge what the crates contained and agreed to help the Assassins against the Borgias. Sirus then proves to be a useful ally, as he provides the Assassins with information on Cesare's activities. He also gives Machiavelli a device used by Cesare's scribes to decrypt the messages used by Cesare's scribes and the Crows. Machiavelli then decides to chase one of Cesare's men, a bookkeeper running a ledger containing detailed information on Cesare's plans. Machiavelli sends an Assassin, who follows the bookkeeper to his hideout and steals the ledger. While reading the ledger, Machiavelli discovers the existence of Il Corvo, the Grandmaster of the Crows It also revealed that there was a Crow hideout in Rome, and that the Crows were planning something involving the nobles. Sirus then insists on staying in Rome, where he would intercept Crow messengers.

A few months later, Sirus sends a letter saying he knows where Il Corvo is hiding, and requests an Assassin to help him gather more information. The Assassin arrives in Rome and, on Sirus's command, kills a Crow messenger and brings his letter to Sirus. Sirus then tells the Assassin to hide until he finds exactly where the Crows are. However, the Assassin happened to be the one who witnessed Sirus talk to Matteo at the Colosseum, and the Assassin decides to follow Sirus. While following Sirus, the Assassin is ambushed by several Crow Leaders. After realizing the Crows are losing, Sirus shouts, "My Crows will do to you exactly the same as what you did to my son! You and all your brothers will pay with blood!" before disappearing. Machiavelli then realizes that Sirus is actually Il Corvo. Later, Machiavelli is visited by Father Pio, a friend of his, who complains about a group of people with the Borgia seal locking down the courtyard of the Santa Croce Cathedral. Machiavelli then sends an Assassin to investigate. After learning that there was a Crow messenger in Firenze, the Assassin identifies the messenger and kills a Templar Agent in the cathedral courtyard, causing chaos. With the messenger kept from entering until the chaos settled, the Assassin uses a fake letter and persuades the terrified messenger to switch the letters. The Assassin then brings the letter to Machiavelli, who realizes that Il Corvo is calling all of the Crows to Rome to kill the Assassins. Machiavelli then rushes to Rome, where he summons an Assassin to help him find Il Corvo's hideout. After identifying the hideout, the two witness a large group of Crows on the street. Suggesting that Il Corvo had set a trap, the Assassin escorts Machiavelli to a nearby bridge before killing Il Corvo and his bodyguards. He then rejoins Machiavelli, and they search Il Corvo's hideout. They find a piece of paper with the painting of a cube on it. They also find a small chest, which contains a small shard. While investigating the letters, Machiavelli reads a letter on how an object called the Crystal Cube was important to the Templars. He also deduces that even Cesare hated Il Corvo.

A few months later, one of Machiavelli's spies reports that The Crows had committed a string of ruthless murders in Forlí. After receiving the letter, Machiavelli is visited by Ezio Auditore, who possessed an artifact with supposedly magical powers. They decide to give it to Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forlí. Machiavelli then sends a message to his spy, asking him to meet him in Forlí. Machiavelli is escorted by an Assassin to meet the spy. While meeting with the spy, Machiavelli is ambushed by several Crows, who the Assassin fights off. Machiavelli then decides to eliminate the Crows. Machiavelli asks the Assassin to track down the Crows and kill them. The Assassin identifies an undercover Crow and follows him to a Crow meeting, where he kills all of the Crows. After the Assassin kills the Crows, Caterina Sforza and Machiavelli are told that the Borgia were attacking Forlí. During the attack, several of Machiavelli's spies are captured. However, the Assassin manages to free most of them before they are executed. Machiavelli then decides to watch the attack from a tower. However, he is hit by an arrow, which knocks him into the moat. Borgia guards then capture him and bring him to a small church outside of the city. However, one of Machiavelli's spies witnesses Machiavelli's capture and informs Ezio, who promptly informs the Assassin. While Ezio distracts the guards, the Assassin frees Machiavelli. Later, Machiavelli expresses his opinion that all of the remaining Crows were killed or scattered during the attack on the city.

Character

The game allows players to customize their assassin from four classes: the combat-orientated Berserker, the stealthy Shadow Blade, the jack-of-all-trades Trickster and the agile Thief.^[2] Each class has its own set of skills and perks, like Splinter Bomb and attack upgrades for Berserker and Smoke Bomb and notoriety upgrades for Shadowblade, which can be unlocked through currency and skill points at the skill tab. Skill points are earned by leveling up, and using enough skill points unlocks a new Tier of skills for each class, with four Tiers total.. Each Assassin can have both a primary and secondary class, with the secondary class unlocked through currency. The player can also unlock multiple Assassins through currency, although the Inventory is shared among Assassins. In the inventory tab, the player can equip Swords, Chest Armor, Pauldrons, Hidden Blades, Leggings, Insignias, Boosts, and Outfits. Boosts are bought in the shop, and provide temporary buffs. Items can either be bought in the shop, earned in-game, or crafted using Blueprints at the Forge tab, and provide stat increases to the player. Outfits can be unlocked through Achievements or bought in the shop, and gives buffs and a different visual appearance for the Assassin equipped.

In the shop, players can use the Heroic Shop, Items, Forge, Boosts, and more tabs, including IAP tabs. In the Heroic shop, player can spend Tokens to buy better Ranks. Each rank unlocks more difficult Contract missions, as well as three items, such as Outfits, new maps, new Contract modes, and the Thief class. Certain items and outfits can be bought in the shop, Boosts can be bought in the Boosts tab, and the player can make new items in the Forge tab.

Development

Assassin's Creed Identity was developed by Ubisoft Blue Byte,^[3] using the Unity game engine.^[2] It was initially soft-launched for iOS in Australia and New Zealand in September 2014,^[4] with a general worldwide release for iOS on 25 February 2016. The game was released for Android on 18th May, 2016.^[5]

References

External links

• Official website