Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Assassin's Creed series. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007 and was made available on Microsoft Windows in April 2008. Also, the game can be played on Xbox One consoles via backward compatibility.
The plot is set in a fictional history of real-world events and follows the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through control. The game primarily takes place during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in 1191, with the plot revolving around the Secret Order of Assassins, based upon the Hashshashin sect. The player is, in reality, playing as a modern-day man named Desmond Miles, who, through the use of a machine named the "Animus", is allowed the viewing and controlling of the protagonist's genetic memories of his ancestors, in this case, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a member of the Assassins. Through this plot device, details emerge of a struggle between two factions: the Knights Templar and the Assassins, over an artifact known as the "Apple of Eden", an ancient artifact used to control minds.
The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its storytelling, visuals, art design, and originality, although the game was also criticized for the repetitive nature of its gameplay. Assassin's Creed won several awards at E3 in 2006, as well as several end-year awards after its release. The game spawned a sequel, Assassin's Creed II, which was released in November 2009. Since the release and success of Assassin's Creed II, subsequent games have been released, with various other Assassins and time periods.
Gameplay
Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective in which the player primarily assumes the role of Altaïr, as experienced by protagonist Desmond Miles. The primary goal of the game is to carry out a series of assassinations ordered by Al Mualim, the leader of the Assassins. To achieve this goal, the player must travel from the Brotherhood's headquarters in Masyaf, across the terrain of the Holy Land known as the Kingdom to one of three cities—Jerusalem, Acre, or Damascus—to find the Brotherhood agent in that city.
There, the agent, in addition to providing a safe house, gives the player minimal knowledge about the target and requires them to perform additional reconnaissance missions before attempting the assassination. These missions include eavesdropping, interrogation, pickpocketing, and completing tasks for informers and fellow Assassins. Additionally, the player may take part in any number of side objectives, including climbing tall towers to map out the city and saving citizens who are being threatened or harassed by the city guards. There are also various "additional memories" that do not advance the plot, such as hunting down and killing Templars and flag collecting. After completing each assassination, the player is returned to the Brotherhood and rewarded with a better weapon and/or upgrade before going after the next target or given another set of targets, with the player free to select the order of certain targets.
The player is made aware of how noticeable Altaïr is to enemy guards as well as the current state of alert in the local area via the "Social Status Icon". To perform many of the assassinations and other tasks, the player must consider the use of actions distinguished by its type of profile. Low-profile actions allow Altaïr to blend into nearby crowds, pass by other citizens, or perform other non-threatening tasks that can be used to hide and reduce the alertness level; the player can also use Altaïr's retractable hidden blade to attempt low-profile assassinations. High-profile actions are more noticeable, and include running, scaling the sides of buildings to climb to higher vantage points, and attacking foes; performing these actions at certain times may raise the local area's awareness level. Once the area is at high alert, crowds run and scatter while guards attempt to chase and bring down Altaïr; to reduce the alert level, the player must control Altaïr as to break the guards' line of sight and then find a hiding space, such as a haystack or rooftop garden, or blend in with the citizens sitting on benches or wandering scholars. Should the player be unable to escape the guards, they can fight back using swordplay maneuvers.
The player's health is described as the level of "Synchronization" between Desmond and Altaïr's memories; should Altaïr suffer injury, it is represented as deviation from the actual events of the memory, rather than physical damage. If all synchronization is lost, the current memory that Desmond is experiencing will be restarted at the last checkpoint. When the synchronization bar is full, the player has the additional option to use "Eagle Vision", which allows the computer-rendered memory to highlight all visible characters in colors corresponding to whether they are allies (blue), foes (red), neutral (white), or even the target of their assassination (gold). Due to Altaïr's memories being rendered by the computer of the Animus project, the player may experience "glitches" in the rendering of the historical world, which may help the player to identify targets, or can be used to alter the viewpoint during in-game scripted scenes should the player react fast enough when they appear.
Plot
See also: List of Assassin's Creed characters
In 2012, bartender Desmond Miles is kidnapped by agents of Abstergo Industries, the world's largest pharmaceutical conglomerate, and is taken to the headquarters in Rome, Italy. Under the guidance of Dr. Warren Vidic and his assistant Lucy Stillman, Desmond is forced to participate in a series of trials revolving around the "Animus", a machine capable of translating the genetic memories of his ancestors into a simulated reality. Vidic instructs him to relive the early years of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a senior member of the Assassin Brotherhood during the time of the Third Crusade. His investigation reveals that Altaïr, blinded by arrogance, botched an attempt by the Assassins to retrieve an artifact, the Piece of Eden, from the forces of Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading to the death of one Assassin, and severely wounding another in the process. Though Altaïr manages to partially redeem himself by fighting off a Crusader attack on the Assassin home base of Masyaf, his mentor and superior, Al Mualim, orders him to assassinate nine individuals in order to regain his honor:
- Tamir, an arms merchant selling weapons to both sides.
- Garnier de Nablus, a prominent Crusader conducting alchemical experiments on the sick.
- Talal, the leader of a gang of slavers.
- Abu'l Nuquod, a pompous trader stealing money meant to fund the war.
- William V, Marquess of Montferrat, the cruel and abusive regent of Acre.
- Majd Addin (based on Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad), a tyrant who rules Jerusalem through fear.
- Master Sibrand, a paranoid knight planning to betray the Crusaders.
- Jubair al Hakim, a scholar using his position to seize and destroy all written knowledge.
- Robert de Sablé, the grandmaster of the Templars, the ancient enemies of the Brotherhood.
