Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood



" The throne was mine!

Ezio: Wanting something does not make it your right.

What do you know?

Ezio: That a true leader empowers the people he rules.

I will lead mankind into a new world!

Ezio: Che nessuno ricordi il tuo nome. Requiescat in pace."

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the third chronological game in the Assassin's Creed series, but is not a numbered sequel. The game opens in 1499 immediately after the end of Assassin's Creed II, and centers around Ezio's continuous conflict against the power hungry Borgia family and his attempt to restore the Assassin Brotherhood to its former glory. And back in 2012, Desmond and the other Assassins continue their search for the Apple of Eden that Ezio left behind.

Gameplay improvements include a more robust fighting system that allows chaining instant kills together if you don't miss or take damage, riding horses inside the city, and control of larger weapons such as cannons. In addition, multiplayer has been added to the roster for the first time in series history, with the "plot" being Templars in training at Abstergo to think and work like Assassins.

Ubisoft has gotten very involved with the fandom for Brotherhood, hosting videos on a YouTube channel as well as their official website.

The sequel, Assassin's Creed Revelations, concludes Ezio's story, after which the series resumes being numbered.

This game contains examples of:
"Leonardo: I work on this small portrait of a woman, I grow rather fond of it.
 * Action Girl: The Courtesan, The Thief, The Smuggler, The Hellequin, The Dama Rossa,, and even Catarina in a sense. Also, any female Assassins you recruit.
 * Actor Existence Failure: A possible reason for Rosa (with whom Ezio appeared to have a romantic relationship) not appearing or even being mentioned in Brotherhood.
 * Acrofatic: The Blacksmith and Engineer, despite a prominent beer-gut, are just as capable free-runners as the other multiplayer characters.
 * If one of the Assassin recruits is detected (when called to kill one of the guards) during the pagan party, Juan Borgia can become this.
 * Alliterative Name: Many of the Assassin Recruits. Carlotta Caci, Zita Zanovelli, Ciro Cavallari, Panfilo Petaccia, Stefano Spallone...
 * ...Primo Penna, Rinaldo Rocca, Piero Piacentini, Lorenzo La Falce, Nestore Nucci, Paolo Profetta, Severino Sabelli, Giovanni Gugliemi, Desideria Donati...
 * Aluminium Christmas Trees:
 * Amazon Brigade: It's possible to make all your summonable Assassins female. An in-Animus cheat called Sisterhood does it for you.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Leonardo da Vinci. Considering that in the DLC his assistant Salai was around, this could be Truth in Television since they were rumored lovers.
 * Also this exchange with Ezio and himself:

Ezio: Do not let a beautiful girl distract you from constructing my designs.

Leonardo: Have no worries, women... provide little distraction.

Ezio: Wait... I don't get it.

(cue awkward looks)"


 * Animal Theme Naming: Il Lupo "The Prowler" carries on the tradition.
 * Anticlimax Boss: Like, Cesare is a letdown gameplay-wise. He's essentially a reskin of the Longsword-wielding Papal Guard with extra Health but no unique abilities or moves of his own, and while he can deflect Ezio's grab attempts, and is immune to executions or counter kill attempts, he doesn't perform the grab or sand toss that regular guards do use from time to time, nor does he counter Ezio's attacks (like guards in AC2 could) or kick to break Ezio's defense (like Ezio's apprentices can). As such, the battle amounts to whittling down his Health, interspersed with two or three QTEs (just button mash the Weapon Hand button) while small groups of Regular guards, Agiles (rarely) or Brutes (somewhat more so) spawn with increasing frequency.
 * Well, at least the added guards do add a little difficulty and the chaotic atmosphere put it a step above
 * Taken to new heights with Ercole Massimo, Big Bad of The Da Vinci Disappearance DLC and leader of the Hermeticists.  To add insult to insult, he's not even the final encounter of the DLC, as there's an extensive platforming section afterward.
 * Apologetic Attacker: In addition to Ezio's traditional "Requiescat in pace," the assassin recruits sometimes quietly mutter their condolences after taking out a target, such as, "You did your duty," or "Be at ease," or (when using Italian voices) "Riposa in pace".
 * An Offer You Can't Refuse: Leonardo was coerced into building war machines for the Borgia family, with his life at stake.
 * Arc Number:
 * Aristocrats Are Evil: Human-trafficking Silvestro "The Noble" Sabbatini, as well as the Borgia.
 * Armor Is Useless: Averted and played straight. Ezio's armor increases his health as he gets stronger versions of it. But the real aversion comes from, where his well-placed upper body armor deflects Ezio's Hidden Blade. The battle comes with a series of quicktime scenes where you strip away the armor piece by piece to render him vulnerable... and then.
 * Ezio also revealed to Mario during their escape from the Vatican that the Armor of Altaïr prevented Rodrigo Borgia's dagger back in AC2 from effectively wounding him.
 * Played straight with opponents in combat -- while the amount of armor a guard is wearing correlates with his Health, there's no real protection from Ezio's kill streaks -- and Ezio's attack/kill animations sometimes have him slashing/stabbing in locations where some enemies are wearing armor (i.e. gut stabbing an unarmored Regular, then gut stabbing an armored Brute).
 * Played completely straight by a disarm animation when you disarm a Brute guard. Ezio *headbutts* the fully plate-mail-wearing guard and suffers no ill effects.
 * Armor of Invincibility: The Armour of Brutus, which you get for completing all the Templar Treasure free-running missions. Like the Armour of Altair in the previous game, Brutus' armour offers the highest HP bonus and is also unbreakable, but prevents you from being able to dye your clothes. The Armour of Altair does appear in the opening memory sequence, and can be recovered as a bonus costume after Ezio loses it, but in this case it is merely cosmetic and uses the stats of whatever armour you actually have equipped.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
 * They would have been more equal crimes during the Renaissance, as the Catholic Church was more involved with law making and therefore moral crimes could be civil crimes as well.
 * Artificial Limbs: The Nobleman has one ending in a claw. According to "Project Legacy", his original arm was lopped off by Cesare for failure at... something.
 * Ascended Extra: Cristina Vespucci, seen only briefly as Ezio's sex partner in Assassin's Creed II, appears in Brotherhood in a series of repressed memories for Ezio, showing her as a much more important person in Ezio's life than a mere "outlet".
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Ezio is even more kickass than he was pre-Master Assassin and is naturally more badass than the novice Assassins he recruits... though at Assassino, those former novices are among the game's strongest NPCs, able to hold their own against multiple enemies -- and armed with Smoke Bombs, at that.
 * Automaton Horses: Barring one in the finale, they can't even die!
 * A Taste of Power: The game starts off with Ezio after the final battle of ACII, wielding the Sword of Altaïr, the Notched Cinquedea, and wearing the Armor of Altaïr, thus having his maximum health from AC2 when . After the Siege of Monteriggioni, he loses the right-forearm Hidden Blade as well as much of his stuff -- which he didn't have time to put on -- leaving him with five Health squares, the same as what he'd started with in AC2. He still gets to keep the Poison Blade and Hidden Gun since they were built into his left-forearm Hidden Blade's bracer which he did put on.
 * The Armor of Altaïr can be unlocked for 20 Units through Uplay, though now it's only cosmetic (it uses the stats of your most powerful armor pieces), while the Sword of Altaïr is unlocked by completing all of the Assassins Guild Challenges (Assassin recruits who reach max level are given replicas called Assassin Swords).
 * Ezio can climb leap at the beginning of Brotherhood but loses the ability after being wounded, even after he recovers all of his other "free-running" abilities. Starting in Sequence 4, Memory 8, after he can buy a "reinforced" Climb Leap Glove which lets him climb leap again and upgrades his Fists to the Metal Cestus (increasing his Damage from 1 to 3).
 * All of the missions Leonardo gives you are A Taste of Power. Specifically, he's been forced to create War Machines that you need to destroy (and burn the blueprints for so that nobody can make more). Before wrecking the machine, Ezio inevitably decides to have fun with it first before crashing it and blowing it up. Justified with, and with
 * And lets not forget the  in the final stages. You basically get to walk casually around,.
 * Attempted Rape: As if his implied comments weren't enough in Assassin's Creed II, Vieri de' Pazzi attempts to rape Cristina Vespucci, before Ezio comes along to beat the crap out of the little bastard, in a flashback to Ezio's pre-Assassin life.
 * Awakening the Sleeping Giant: After defeating the Borgias and obtaining the Apple of Eden in the previous game, Ezio returns to Monteriggioni and decides to retire from the Assassin lifestyle. However, those plans are dashed when Cesare decides to show up (against his father's orders) and attack Monteriggioni, stealing back the Apple and . Later in the game, when the tide begins to turn against the Templars, Rodrigo calls out Cesare for unnecessarily pissing off Ezio when the Borgias could have easily taken over Italy without the Apple.
 * Awesome but Impractical:
 * Arrow Storm kills most or all of the nearby guards, but shares a cooldown with summoning your Assassins and takes three times as long to recharge.
 * Parachuting over Rome is definitely awesome. Practical use of those things is sadly limited, though.

""...Do you not see, Father? I control all of this. If I want to live, I live. If I want to take, I take! If I want you to die, you DIE!""
 * Badass Back: Some of the kill animations.
 * Badass Boast: Cesare, despite being, well, Cesare, gives us a pretty good one:

"Ezio: ''"So my sister knows how to use a knife..?"
 * Doubles as a Villainous Breakdown though due to the timing and what causes him to say this -- finding out that
 * Ezio rushes to the Rosa in Fiore, fearing the worst after an attack...

Claudia: "And I'd do it again.""

"Ezio: Someone my age. Imbecille.
 * Bag of Spilling: Justified, as the leaves him only enough time to put on his pants, boots, a shirt, a sword and one Hidden Blade -- though it's the original inherited from his father, and thanks to Leonardo Da Vinci it also has both the Hidden Gun and the Poison Blade (it is not explained why those are also on Ezio's "new" left-arm Hidden Blade, so they may be the original weapons with a new bracer).
 * Battle Couple: Bartolomeo and his wife Pantasilea.
 * Battle Cry: "Insieme per la vittoria! Vittoria agli Assassini!"(United we shall claim victory! Victory to the Assassins!)
 * Bald of Evil: The Priest.
 * Beard of Evil: The Prowler has a soul patch and goatee, contrasting with Ezio's 'stache-and-beard. Rodrigo, Cesare and the Engineer have one.
 * Beat Them At Their Own Game: The Prowler (Il Lupo, "The Wolf") is a Templar hitman trained in Assassin techniques from notes taken by Cesare's master spy Baltasar de Silva ("The Barber") in "Project Legacy". He looks very similar to Ezio, save for darker colors and no "eagle beak" on the hood, and uses a Switchblade that operates akin to a Hidden Blade.
 * The Smuggler (Lia de Russo), while not sharing the Prowler's training, is also similar in look to the Assassins. She wears a hooded robe, which can be upgraded to Assassin colors, and uses an "Inverted Hidden Blade" on the outside of her forearm.
 * The entire multiplayer mode is basically this, Abstergo trying to replicate the Animus bleeding effect on a bunch of employees/Templars.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Citizen-saving returns, only now the chums become novice Assassins.
 * Vigilantes are back too, get ready to have your ass saved for a change!
 * Big Good: Ezio, who goes on to become Grand Master and undisputed leader of the Assassin Brotherhood.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: The Borgias, already a Truth in Television example. Made most obvious in an incident where Lucrezia berates a servant because they were all out of her favorite blend of arsenic, only to learn that it was gone because her father had used it all.
 * Ezio's family too in many ways but managing to still be somewhat familial despite it all.
 * Bling Bling Bang: Cesare and the Baron de Valois have gilded pistols.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Lucrezia Borgia,
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Bartolomeo returns with significantly more screen time.
 * Book Ends: The first words you hear from Ezio in Assassin's Creed II are "Insieme per la vittoria" as he and his gang prepares to take on Vieri. He uses those very same words at the end of Sequence 8 when he gathers up his allies to take on Cesare.
 * Boring but Practical: Poison darts. An extremely covert and efficient way of eliminating guards, but is nowhere near as cool as the other methods of killing them.
 * Break the Haughty: Lucrezia gets her ego steadily beat down throughout the entire story by at least three different people . Cesare gets it even worse; see Humiliation Conga below.
 * Broken Bridge: The barriers that wall off areas not available in the current memory sequence. Going past them desynchronizes you.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Lucrezia and Cesare make out and she mentions how lonely she is at night. Cesare then suggests a few ways to manipulate Rodrigo. As noted above, this is considered to be Truth in Television. In actuality, the historical record is scant on Lucrezia, and her level of involvement in her father and brother's schemes beyond political marriage pawn is unknown. Certainly, the incest makes for a more interesting story.
 * accuses Lucrezia of this and the other incest, "or maybe both at the same time!"
 * It's among the cited charges when.
 * Bus Crash: After Marco Barbarigo was killed late in AC2, his brother Agostino succeeded him as Doge of Venezia and tolerated the Assassins' conflict against his cousin Silvio (a Templar). Nevertheless, according to Project Legacy he was turned by the Borgia, and
 * While some of the multiplayer characters' single-player counterparts are killed by Ezio or his apprentices, the rest -- specifically -- are killed by other Assassins (possibly including Ezio's apprentices) when  turns on Cesare Borgia.
 * Call Back: When Ezio goes to Bartolomeo and he can't find his wife, Ezio suggests that he look behind the table, where the most important lady in Bartolomeo's life (at the time) was in AC2.
 * Can be Invoked by the player during
 * Camera Screw: Usually you can turn your camera with the mouse, and move Ezio by issuing commands relative to the camera. However in some platforming situations the camera will fixate at a specified angle, which is deliberatly done to give you a clear view of where you're supposed to jump. This in turn leads to situations where the command for "going forward" from Ezio's point of view is now "right", because you cannot turn the camera, and input is relative to it. Especially annoying in situations where you're under pressure, because it might lead to you suddenly jumping in the wrong direction. The PC-version suffers the most from this, because you have no analogue stick to fine-tune your directional commands, and have to very carefully adjust your directions with the keyboard.
 * Cat Fight: Catarina Sforza and Lucrezia Borgia. At first, it starts with verbal insults from both sides, finally culminating with Ezio and Catarina locking Lucrezia into a cell, in which then Caterina slams her head on the jail cell bars.
 * Cast From Hit Points: Using will drain your health, causing Ezio to faint if you lose it all. However your health regenerates fairly quickly during the sequence, so it's not too annoying.
 * Chainmail Bikini: Averted with the female Assassin Recruits. Their robes, while low-cut, are covered up by adding the chestpieces, and they never show any more skin than that and their faces. As with their male counterparts, upon promotion to the highest rank Assassino they wear slimmer versions of Ezio's attire.
 * Character Development: Ezio's repressed memory missions are like a cross-section examination of the stages of his life. The first is of him as a carefree youth palling around with his brother, the second is of him as a tormented young man out for justice, the third is a more determined and mature, but slightly scarier Assassin Ezio, and so on.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The thief with the cloth eyepatch when Ezio and Claudia enter Mario's office during the Siege of Monteriggioni and excuses himself to "help the troops" is spotted three years later when Ezio
 * This is hinted at when, when someone amongst the refugees reports that Borgia troops are circling the town, and then centuries later when one of Desmond's hallucinations implying
 * After Ezio's arrival in Roma, he gets introduced to Bartolomeo's cousin Fabio Orsini, who rents the hideout on Tiber Island for the Assassin Order. Fabio doesn't appear in the game until
 * Christmas Cake: Ezio starts getting a few jabs about his age in this game from people who don't know just how physically fit he is. Considering he's living in an era with terrible life expectancy to begin with, maybe he is crossing over into what they would consider Cool Old Guy territory.

Ezio(moments later while climbing up a wall): Ugh. My back."

"Cesare:
 * Good thing they don't notice then that how he heavily breathes while navigating the platforming puzzles (i.e. wall-running and beam-hopping)...
 * Or how loudly he grunts in pain when he takes a bad fall...
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Borgias. All of them. If Ezio wasn't literally backstabbing them they'd tear each other apart.
 * The only exception was because he left home after getting fed up with Cesare, Micheletto and Rodrigo -- though not Lucrezia -- and ended up
 * Cliff Hanger: The game ends on one, thanks to Juno's meddling, setting up the Win to Exit scenario of Assassin's Creed Revelations.
 * Clock Punk: Thanks to Leonardo's inventions
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Caterina Sforza.
 * Bartolomeo swears up a storm at times too.
 * Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: Since the first Assassin's Creed, the series has steadily become this, touching on pretty much every scrap of cryptohistorical, parapolitical, and paranormal event and pseudoscientific theory.
 * Interestingly, you can see through the hidden files as well as the series progression that the Templars have been adjusting their world-domination scheme to go with the times. During Altaïr's time, they focused on playing multiple sides in wars and influencing the monarchy with physical power; Rodrigo Borgia's rise to the papacy allowed him and others to dominate the world through people's faith; in the 20th and 21st century, Abstergo set about quietly dominating the world through raw, unchecked capitalism, greed, and stimulating people's consumerism. Many, many historical names are dropped in all this.
 * Contract On the Hitman: The entire point of Wanted Mode in multiplayer.
 * Contractual Boss Immunity: Most bosses not only resist grabs but can also block or dodge counter kill attempts.
 * Borgia Captains are all immune to attempted Poison use (i.e. a Poison Dart will automatically miss if he is unaware and you full locked on before firing), and Papal Guards -- despite being Elite Mooks -- also have the ability to dodge counter kills even from the Hidden Blade.
 * As with AC2, Ezio loses his ability to use ranged weapons when chasing targets inside the Lairs of Romulus or the Templar Lairs, or to call Assassins or Arrow Storms, since any of those would make the chase moot.
 * Cool but Inefficient: Quite a few of the later weapons, thanks to the execution/KillStreak mechanic making melee weapon Damage irrelevant in most cases -- for example, you can clear out a group almost as quickly with the Common Sword as with the Sword of Altaïr. The main exception would be, simply because he as a Boss Battle is immune to executions.
 * Coup De Grace: Taken even further than II, possibly comparable to AC1 (because so far NOTHING outdoes the knee stomp). Some of the moves shown include sweeping an enemy off his feet for an near-point-blank crossbow shot, or following up a flooring Groin Attack with a curb stomp.
 * Crew of One: Both used and averted with Leonardo's war machines:
 * The Bomber is the only one he operated by himself with both "move" and "shoot" actions simultaneously. In-universe the Tank requires a crew of three (gameplay-wise the tank is entirely under the player's control), Ezio ends up first driving the chariot before letting go of the reins to operate the Machine Gun with no driver, and he had to alternate between rowing a boat and operating its onboard Naval Cannon.
 * The Machine Gun one is lampshaded -- Ezio mutters "You're smart, aren't you." to the horses just before he lets them have their head.
 * Creepy Twins: Cahin the harlequin, and Caha the hellequin, who perform, kill, and together.
 * Crows and Ravens: Murders of crows are seen flying around towers under Borgia control.
 * Cutscene Power to The Max: Averted in the Attract Mode video (the E3 reveal trailer), where all of the capabilities demonstrated by Ezio -- calling Assassins, Arrow Storms, double hidden blades, multiple throwing knives, countering horse charges -- are mostly-accurate representations of his in-game capabilities. (The only difference being the Assassins/Arrow Storm's shared cooldown timer.)
 * Also, his fancy martial arts in the "Story Trailer" (narrated by Cesare) are actual footage of his Hidden Blade and Short Blade + Throwing Knife kill streaks, in slow motion with the HUD off and at cinematic camera angles.
 * Damsel in Distress: Subverted by the female Assassin recruits. It's possible to come across them with them using a guard as a Human Shield.
 * Played straight with many courtesans - yet subverted again when
 * Dashed Plotline: Going from one memory to the next can involve jumps of several years; the game also suggests that the events of one memory sequence took place over the course of months.
 * Deadly Doctor: Malfatto, the Renaissance equivalent of Jack the Ripper and "Doctor" template in multiplayer. Ends up
 * Deadpan Snarker: Shaun could run for president of Snarkers of the Month. Desmond is also snarkier this time around and shares some decent banter.
 * Demoted to Extra:, the Big Bad of ACII, barely appears at all throughout the game.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: In the Lair of Romulus mission in the Vatican, if you throw the boss off of an edge, you get a special cutscene where Ezio catches the guy, grabbing the Romulus Key he has, then unceremoniously dropping him as opposed to the general *stab* "Requiescat in pace" thing he usually does.
 * There's also the changing behavior of NPCs in Rome, particularly civilians, as Ezio renovates Rome and progresses through the story.
 * Died in Your Arms Tonight:
 * Dirty Coward: The Baron de Valois, who takes Bartolomeo's wife prisoner to try and force a surrender, tries to run when surprised and will kill her if Ezio is detected going after him.
 * To some (a lesser?) extent, at least a third of the Borgia Captains will immediately flee if detecting Ezio; if they escape to their tower, then the player has to leave the immediate area (of the tower's "restricted area") and wait until the next guard shift at dawn or dusk before the Borgia Captain reappears; these Captains are explicitly called "Coward" type in the in-game main map's Borgia Influence view.
 * Disney Villain Death:.
 * Truth in Television
 * The final Lair of Romulus allows you to do this to if you catch up to him or throw him at a ledge.
 * Do Well, But Not Perfect: The "Strong Closer" Achievement/Trophy, for taking the lead within the last ten seconds of a multiplayer match and thereby coming in first place.
 * Dressing As the Enemy: On three occasions: the first was to . The second was to . The third time was when
 * Doomed Hometown: Monteriggioni.
 * Downloadable Content: The Da Vinci Disappearance is set in 1506 and fills in part of the time skip between Sequences 8 (set in 1503) and 9 (set in 1507), adding eight mission memories, two new mini-games, and ten achievements/trophies. The DLC includes an extra outfit previously exclusive to Amazon.com pre-orders (of Brotherhood) and the two Templar Lair mission memories from the collector's editions. On the multiplayer side of things the DLC adds four multiplayer personas, two new match types, and one new map.
 * There's also the Copernicus Conspiracy, an exclusive for the PS 3 system that has Copernicus and his fellow scientist hunted down in an effort to silence them.
 * The Dragon: Cesare Borgia, who takes this role for his father Rodrigo despite also being the Big Bad.
 * Dragon With an Agenda: Cesare wants to conquer Italy, while Rodrigo wants to consolidate the family's political and military power.
 * Dragon Ascendant: According to the novel,.
 * Elaborate Underground Base: The Assassins' Headquarters are in the cellar of a warehouse in the Centro District of Rome, and include a large ceremonial hall, a library, an art gallery, an armory and three secret exits apart from the main one, to sewers, the river and the roof.
 * Elite Mooks: The Papal Guards, both in-universe and in gameplay. They're able to dodge/counter attempted counter kills, use pistols of their own, use any of the other guard archetypes' melee weapons, and they have a lot of Health and armor of their own, which can take quite a while to deplete with regular melee attacks.
 * In general the Mooks are somewhat more effective than their counterparts in the previous game. Arquebusiers are more damaging than Crossbowmen and can use the arquebus for melee attacks, while Crossbowmen deal more damage than AC2 archers, back away if closed in on, and never draw a melee weapon that could be countered. Likewise the game introduces cavalry in the form of the armored Regular guard, who is capable of getting onto an available horse (or spawning on horseback as a Horseman) and charging at the player -- the only melee attack in the game immune to a Hidden Blade counter kill... oh, and they have Crossbows of their own. The three special archetypes from 2 are still here too, though Seekers (at least moreso than any other guard archetype) can toss sand at Ezio or his apprentices to stun them, in Ezio's case also ending any kill streak he was performing. Finally, many of these guard types (though mainly Regulars) are able to grab Ezio, ending any in-progress kill streak and immobilizing him so that other guards can get in a free hit.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The multiplayer characters were thought to use this before the beta revealed their names, made canon in Brotherhoods Templar Agents side missions and Project Legacys Rome set (Chapter 1, Fiora "The Courtesan" Cavazza's memories). Whether the fans will remember to use them, on the other hand...
 * Played straight with the Executioner. Guess what "Il Carnefice" means...
 * Exact Words: Cesare really should learn to watch his wording.

Ezio:"

"Mario: What can I say? We sent a single man against an entire army. I was concerned."
 * Exclusive Enemy Equipment: The Heavy Sheath now allows you to carry axes and two-handed swords permanently, but polearms still need to be taken off of Seekers, and are still dropped if performing Off-Hand actions or sprinting/free-running.
 * Slightly more exploitable now, as if you equip a Heavy Weapon (instead of picking it up from a slain Brute) and use its special attack, that slot will be emptied and Ezio will be able to keep the next Medium or Heavy Weapon he takes (he can lose it again if you switch weapons at the Blacksmith or at the Hideout armory, but otherwise it's his to keep, though sometimes it appears in his Inventory, sometimes not).
 * This is the only way to keep the Scimitar, however, you still lose it if you change weapons as it will not be stored at your hideout nor can it be bought.
 * Arquebuses and Crossbows cannot be looted or disarmed from Arquebusiers, Crossbowmen or armored Regulars, nor can a Papal Guard be looted or disarmed of his Pistol. As with AC2, one can also only loot weapons that had been drawn (requiring that the guard have detected Ezio or one of his apprentices), with the exception of Polearms carried by Seekers or Papal Guards.
 * False Flag Operation: It seems that the point of the Followers of Romulus is this. A Templar cardinal comes up with the idea of a cult of violent pagans in wolfskins running around to vilify any non-Church-related religious activity and thus send more people into the arms of the Church, with the added side-benefit of having a group of violent crazy men with knives to do his secret bidding.
 * False Reassurance: Done to.
 * Fake Difficulty: All missions have an extra, optional "victory" condition, to achieve what is known as 'full synchronization'. This is done to pad out the game, but in some places can be seem lazily done: The mission "Crepi Il Lupo" requires the player to defeat no less than thirteen enemies without taking a single hit, a feat made even more difficult by the fact that the mission begins with the enemies spawned in a tight circle around the player, some readied to attack.
 * Oddly enough, the easiest way to clear this "full sync" condition is to do exactly what the gameplay was supposed to avert,.
 * The worst of these are the Bomber and Tank missions, both of which have a 'full synch' objective where the war machines cannot sustain any damage.
 * Fake Longevity: Some missions take place in isolated areas inaccessible outside of the mission and feature a time limit that you have to beat to achieve 100% sync ratio. They also feature collectibles such as flags and chests placed outside of the ideal route such that the time limit is impossible to beat if you deviate to collect them, thereby forcing you to play the mission twice to achieve Hundred Percent Completion.
 * Fetch Quest: Returns in the form of Shop Quests. Some stuff can only be unlocked for purchase by giving Tiber Island shopkeepers certain items. Fortunately, they are optional for story purposes.
 * The electricity run between Sequences 1 and 2 also counts, although the locations are fixed in place.
 * The item collecting can be ground, but there appears to be only two Shrunken Heads in the whole game (one in northwestern Antico district just under a cliff face facing a ship, and the other one in a Lair of Romulus), so if either of those are sold it may be impossible to complete the Shop Quest that unlocks the Seusenhofer Chest Guard and Seusenhofer Pauldrons, thereby making 100% Synchronization impossible for that save file.
 * Additional Shrunken Heads can be obtained - if you invest 100,000 florins in one type of shop. Which, given how the investment mechanic works, would take so long as to induce additional Fake Longevity.
 * Final Death: Assassin recruits that die, whether due to mission failure or in combat, are gone for good. Fortunately unlike the finite secondary missions in AC2, the game will dynamically generate recruiting missions whenever an Assassin recruit slot is unfilled.
 * Finishing Stomp: Used in one of the assassination animations.
 * Five-Bad Band: The Borgias (plus Micheletto Corella and Octavio):
 * The Big Bad: Rodrigo
 * The Dragon: Cesare, and Micheletto is dragon in turn to Cesare.
 * The Evil Genius: Juan Borgia, Cesare's money man,.
 * The Brute: Octavian de Valois,.
 * The Dark Chick: Lucrezia
 * The Psycho Rangers: Kind of. Each member of the Five-Man Band has their guild working together to take down a pretty comparable opposite side member of the Five-Bad Band, all of whom needed Ezio to actually finally take them down during three DNA Segments.
 * Five-Man Band: The Assassins of Rome:
 * The Hero: Ezio
 * The Lancer: La Volpe
 * The Smart Guy: Machiavelli (and occasionally, Bartolomeo's wife Pantasilea as well)
 * The Big Guy: Bartolomeo
 * The Chick:
 * The Sixth Ranger:, the Assassin recruits
 * Guest Star Party Member:
 * Fluorescent Footprints: Available during Eagle Vision.
 * Foregone Conclusion: When destroying the, Ezio says that the world is better without it. However, its invention will still come to pass...
 * Also, while playing Ezio's repressed memories regarding Cristina Vespucci, it's pretty obvious Ezio and Cristina don't get married and settle down...
 * One implication of the premise of the game, "DNA memory", is that whatever is happening to the protagonist whose memories are being relived, he definitely survived to get laid at least one more time after that, otherwise it wouldn't have been passed on as genetic memory. On the other hand, Ezio has had many one-time lovers, so he may have many children out there...
 * Foreshadowing: A subtle one of the ending location.
 * Perhaps as a more subtle one, when Desmond asks Shaun about Monteriggioni (in his first "2012" conversation after ), it sounds more Italian-accented than usual...
 * Nolan North does that with pretty much every Italian name though. Monteriggioni... Cesare Borgia... Caterina Sforza, you name it.
 * Yet another subtle one:
 * Another piece of ending-related foreshadowing (though easily missed) comes from Shaun's in-Animus description of a church on the Campigdolio; apparently, there's a rumour it's built upon the ruins of the Temple of Juno and may be of significance.
 * The appearance of at the end of the game is possibly foreshadowed by Lucy's e-mail password. It also would appear to foreshadow
 * French Jerk: Octavien de Valois is exceedingly condescending towards the Italians and seems to believe that he'll eventually conquer all of Italy... . His guards aren't much better either.
 * Also Gaspar de la Croix, aka the Engineer in multiplayer, one of the Templar Agents who's holed up with an arquebus firing at any haplessly inadvertent trespassers.
 * Gainax Ending:
 * To a lesser extent, the weird orange cutscene with.
 * Game Breaking Injury: At the attack on the villa near the beginning of the game, Ezio suffers a gunshot wound to the left upper chest/shoulder which cripples his mobility so severely he even limps in the loading screen. Although his fighting animation doesn't change, but this could be justified gameplay-wise by the Animus still being in tutorial mode at this point (it's likely the real Ezio had a much harder time of it). Your armor (and thus maximum life bar) will also be reduced if you take too many hits, necessitating going to the blacksmith to repair it.
 * For the remainder of the Sequence Ezio is unable to sprint, free-run, catch ledges or climb leap, and when he first arrives in Rome he's initially unable to even jog. Although he regains those abilities (and his unwounded posture), he's unable to climb leap until midway through the story when he can buy a reinforced brace for the right hand -- suggesting that the gunshot wound also affected his right arm or hand, albeit only in that respect.
 * Get Back Here Boss: Several of the Borgia Captains that you must assassinate to liberate a zone of Rome run off the moment they see you, and if they get away you need to wait to try again.
 * In two separate Lairs of Romulus, you have to chase after the "bosses" until near the end of the Lair -- which makes an incredible free-runner considering his occupation. (He is one of the only NPCs known to use the lift under any circumstances, albeit in a scripted sequence).
 * The who's the boss of the (seemingly collector's edition-exclusive) "Liquid Gold" memory will flee once Ezio manages to break the platform he's on (forming a ramp for Ezio to ascend), forcing a protracted "chase" mainly in the form of free-running maneuvering until Ezio can finally corner him in a cave.
 * Good Colors, Evil Colors: The Prowler wears dark grey, whereas the Assassins he seems to copy wear mainly white.
 * This only applies to Ezio and his recruits, as the guild leaders (Assassins themselves) and Machiavelli wear appropriate clothing for their public roles.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: Much better now. You can unlock and buy maps for the Borgia Flags on the overworld and Feathers, in addition to the treasure chests. Unfortunately, the Flags and chests in the Lairs of Romulus do not have maps, so you have to run around in Eagle Vision and hope you spot them.
 * Guide Dang It: You're supposed to use the horse on Timed Missions. is a Charged Attack. While there are now maps for the Feathers and Borgia Flags, some of them are in places where how to access the things is not immediately obvious, and the maps only unlock when you either acquire 25 Borgia flags or clear the story. There are no flag maps for the Secret Locations. Some of the Guild Challenges are not so obvious to complete as they first appear, such as the jump from horse to beam one, or the guards killed while on horseback one.
 * In order to access one of the Lairs of Romulus, you need to repair certain aqueducts in Rome. There is no indication in-game that repairing the aqueducts has any other effect on the over world or that repairing the aqueducts is the solution to entering the Lair, or even which aqueduct it is.
 * Most Trading Items exist only for the purpose of being sold to merchants, but some are required to complete Shop Quests. There is no indication as to which items are for Shop Quests outside going to each individual shop that offers them. There is also no indication as to when all of the Shop Quests are actually viewable. Many players don't realize that there are more Shop Quests that unlock later in the game, since the game makes it seem like the first group of quests are the only ones available. This results in players accidentally selling shop quest items only to realize later they lost access to an item only available for those quests. The Fast Poison one is among the worst because it uses Tomatoes. Most players will get almost all of the Tomatoes very early in the game, but the Fast Poison shop quest is one of the last to unlock.
 * Gundamjack: Done to all the War Machines.
 * Heel Face Turn: Of sorts, since doesn't do anything else in the game to redeem :
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Ezio forms a relationship with the red-headed Caterina Sforza.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja: In multiplayer you can take this route by running about and climbing walls. However, the game rewards you with more points per kill for killing your target without blowing your cover. Doing this sort of stuff, which NPCs do not do, is a quick way to give yourself away. Furthermore, performing High Profile actions within line of sight to your target will quickly result in the game automatically tipping your target off even if s/he was not actively looking out for you.
 * There is actually some backwards logic for doing this, especially if you're playing in Wanted mode, since although your pursuer may spot you they can't always risk chasing after you across the rooftops. Doing so would make them a Highly-Visible Ninja themselves, and thus potentially reveal themselves to their own pursuer if they tried to pursue you. Sometimes, being in plain sight is the best place to hide.
 * Ezio has the same issues as he did in AC2 (although the Assassin emblem is no longer on his starting Hidden Blade vambraces and a stylized arrowhead -- albeit within the arch of the Assassin emblem -- against feathers or leaves is used for his front buckle), and while for "immersion's sake" one could use the Florentine Noble Attire (a Uplay Reward that makes Ezio look like he did in AC2 before first donning the robes), it has no half-cape to conceal his main weapons in Low Profile and the Crossbow is still openly worn on his back.
 * However, as with the previous game, when a guard is actively looking for Ezio, or Ezio is in a restricted area, the guards spot him instantly and will draw weapons in seconds and attack if he doesn't hide or move away quickly.
 * This can be taken to ludicrous proportions with a couple unlockable outfits. Completing all the VR training with at least a bronze medal unlocks Raiden's outfit from Metal Gear Solid 4. Beating the game will give you the ability to play as Desmond even while in the Animus. Needless to say, neither of these fit well with the attire of those around you, but as they are both purely cosmetic changes, no one will notice you any more than wearing Ezio's default robes.
 * Historical In-Joke: When Machiavelli questions how Ezio got the Thieves to help them again, Ezio only responds "virtu," which Machiavelli contemplates. The joke comes from the fact that this is a central concept in Machiavelli's Discourses On Livy, which he will write in 1517.
 * Later on, after Ezio becomes the head of the Assassins, Machiavelli says that he might write a book about him one day. Ezio then tells him "don't make it too long." The Prince, Machiavelli's most well-known work, is only 100 pages long in most versions.
 * Humiliation Conga: Sequences 5 through 9 are one long spree of failures for : first Ezio
 * Revealed in Project Legacy to have been pretty much intentionally planned by Ezio, when he turned down a shot at Cesare's life, claiming that the death of one man would not bring down the Borgia -- instead resorting to things like poisoning French duelists (to "force" Cesare to applaud their Italian opponents and thus potentially degrade relations with his French allies), or swapping prisoners scheduled for execution with hapless Borgia guards.
 * Hundred Percent Completion: Achieving "Full Synchronization" requires missions to be completed with set standards (avoiding detection, avoiding damage, set time limit), the completion of which allows access to Ezio's Repressed Memories... though the last one is actually unlocked at only 75% overall Synchronization.
 * "Hundred percenting" the renovation of Rome unlocks the Auditore Cape, while removing all of the 101 Borgia flags unlocks the Borgia Cape, though both have the same effect of artificially keeping Ezio's Notoriety at zero. Collecting the ten Feathers this time only results in an Achievement/Trophy.
 * Hypocrite: While rescuing Catarina in the Castello, you must take Lucrezia Borgia up to where she's being held, by force. The entire time you do this she's ranting about how the Assassins have ruined many people's lives and ensured the end of the Pazzi family's bloodline...despite the fact that the Borgia destroy businesses, have let Rome fall into ruin and squalor, have hopelessly corrupted the Cardinals, and have Ezio as the only surviving male member of the Auditore family by the end of the game's intro, this last one for apparently giggles.
 * I Found You Like This: After the siege on Monteriggioni, Ezio takes a bullet in the side and proceeds to ride towards Rome. He collapses on the road and awakens in a small house on the outskirts of Rome being tended by an anonymous woman. Causes him to Restart At Level One.
 * I Have Your Wife:.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her: Ezio to Christina's fiance Manfredo in the third Christina memory.
 * Impossible Item Drop: Guards now carry more stuff on their person for looting, as opposed to just cash in AC2.
 * Borgia Captains are particularly lucrative sources, particularly for ranged weapon ammo, and tend to have 900+ florins in coins.
 * One upside to chasing down Pickpockets and Borgia Couriers this time is that they inevitably have a trade item when you tackle, grab or loot them (Borgia Couriers in particular are the exclusive source of Aconite), and Bandit corpses inevitably have trade items.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Most of the weapons that the multiplayer characters use make some amount of sense. But the Engineer? He uses a Compass, the sharp kind people used for maps, but it's still a compass. The Dama Rossa, meanwhile, stabs her victims with an oversized hairpin. The Thief may qualify as well, as she uses one half of a scissor... though it is a rather pointy, tapered scissor blade at that.
 * Ezio can kill people with a broom. The achievement for actually killing someone with it is called "Spring Cleaning". It's hilarious.
 * There's another improbable weapon achievement for killing a guard by dropping the counter-weight of a winch lift on him as you ride it upwards. It's easy enough to do by purposely bumping into a guard near one of the lifts and having him follow/harass you as you go over to the lift; he'll end up right behind you as you ascend and be crushed under the counter-weight. Strangely, doing this doesn't provoke the other guards into chasing you.
 * Infinity-1 Sword: Obtained by completing the Guild Challenges (besides the Assassin's Guild). They don't have maxed out stats like the Sword of Altair or Dagger of Brutus, but are the next best things.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Both the Sword of Altaïr (unlocked by completing all of the Assassin Guild Challenges) and the Dagger of Brutus (acquired along with the Armor of Brutus by completing all six Lairs of Romulus) have maxed out stats. The Dagger of Brutus also has a hidden effect that makes guards more likely to flee, and it has unique kill animations compared to the other Short Blades.
 * In Medias Res: The very first cutscene after Desmond's introductory recap is near the end of the game. Then the first playable bit rewinds to.
 * Said very first cutscene after the recap is almost identically reprised at the beginning of the final Sequence, except revealing that Ezio's line was incompletely shown: " Mario Auditore led me to you!"
 * In the End You Are On Your Own: Invoked when.
 * It's Probably Nothing: When Ezio is roused from slumber with Caterina due to cannon-firing noises, he thinks this since the men of Monteriggioni had been planning on cannon practice that morning. Then a cannonball goes through his room, knocking over the Armor of Altaïr in the process. It can't be destroyed, not even by cannons because it's made from super-metal, and Desmond later sees Ezio wearing it after the attack.
 * Its Not You Its My Enemies: Ezio attempts this with Maria and Claudia by sending them to Florence. Needless to say he is somewhat annoyed when they turn up in Rome anyway, and especially when they decide to "fill the gap" (after his failure to save the madam of a Roman brothel) by taking over it themselves. He gets over it though when he is shown his sister Took a Level In Badass.
 * Just Following Orders: Cristina, in one of the flashback memory missions, tells Ezio to not kill the guards moving his family's bodies because they're just doing their jobs. Ezio doesn't really buy this ("They follow orders without questioning--!") but he relents to appease her.
 * Kick the Dog: To remind the player that the mooks they're sneaking by might not be Just Following Orders, one of the later sequences has a cutscene of Cesare having his soldiers stab an innocent for no reason other than asking them to save her son.
 * Kung Fu-Proof Mook: In addition to retaining (from earlier games) some mooks' ability to resist grabs or block frontal assassination, Papal Guards can block/dodge counters without taking damage, in some cases even hitting Ezio in the process (albeit without Ezio taking damage). They are not however immune to executions and inclusion in a kill streak though...
 * Unlike the first Assassin's Creed's bosses, shares that immunity, since he's essentially a reskin of them but with execution/kill streak immunity.
 * La Résistance: The Assassins under Ezio's rule becomes this against the Borgia-ruled Rome.
 * The "Templar Agent" mission against Gaspar de la Croix involves an attempted resistance, formed apparently independent of the Assassins.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: The intro movie effectively spoils the ending of the first game, namely . You would expect the game to spoil ACII, what with it being a direct sequel in the same setting, but not the first one where Desmond's experiences in the Animus are unrelated.
 * Laughably Evil: Cesare at times for his maniacal villainy.
 * Legitimate Businessmens Social Club: La Volpe Addormentata (The Sleeping Fox), the Thieve's Guild disguised as an inn.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Papal Guards take and deal great amounts of damage while being surprisingly quick, can wield any of the other guard archetypes' melee weapons, and have a pistol attack of their own.
 * Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Edition: The American collector's edition has the usual DVD bonuses... and a jack-in-the-box!
 * On the other hand, there's a European Codex Edition, which features a real-life version of Altaïr's Codex as a hardcover book with a large Assassin logo.
 * The Russian Collector's Edition is similar to the Codex Edition (albeit on a shoestring budget - lower quality for the Codex itself, and all the extra discs come in paper slips), BUT it also comes with six metal figurines of the multiplayer characters - The Courtesan, The Executioner, The Prowler, The Doctor, The Noble and The Priest. The lesser-grade Limited Edition has half the digital bonuses and two seemingly random figurines from the whole set.
 * Loophole Abuse:
 * Made of Iron: is surprisingly resilient given his lack of apparent armor. He's also an incredible free-runner.
 * The Borgia Captains and Papal Guards, although they're heavily armored -- just for being the only non-boss enemies in the game to require multiple Pistol shots to kill when in Open Conflict.
 * Magnetic Hero: Ezio's goal is to rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood by training new recruits from those already... displeased with the current state of affairs, eventually building an army to strike at the Borgia.
 * It's revealed in Project Legacy that some of them were already-inducted apprentices who were transferred over to his tutelage after the death of.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: Several of the multiplayer characters.
 * Meaningful Name: Cesare is the Italian variant of "Caesar," and he's planning on taking over Rome and the rest of Italy (and eventually Spain too) by force. Even his father thinks that's pretty hasty of him.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: For.
 * Mind Screw: At this point, required at the end of every Assassin's Creed game. Good luck figuring out what happens at the end and
 * And whether we're actually playing as.
 * The recent DLC mission, The Da Vinci Disappearance, confirms that
 * Monster Clown: The creepy-ass Harlequin in multiplayer.
 * Mook Face Turn: Lucrezia Borgia, albeit due to a bit of er... forceful persuasion.
 * More Dakka: Borgia arquebusiers, cannons, and Leonardo's various inventions, including a prototype machine gun, though its slow (by modern standards) fire rate makes it essentially a large, chariot-mounted repeater.
 * Mugging the Monster: Ezio will be randomly attacked by thugs who are convinced the man in the fine cape and hood is an easy mark. They invariably learn their mistake to their thorough dismay when said hooded man mows them down like wheat. And that's if they're lucky; if they're unlucky, he just waves his hand, keeps walking, and a half-dozen Assassins leap out of the bushes -- or they get "randomly" filled with arrows.
 * This is actually desirable since they all have trade items on their bodies when killed (if the body is lootable of course). Once the player completes a particular Thief Assignment the bandit attacks cease, implying that the thugs were all from the Cento Occhi ("Hundred Eyes") gang targeted in the assignments, so the player will have to replay those memories (particularly the fistfight with eight Cento Occhi thugs) to keep "farming" them for trade items.
 * Necessary Drawback: Sending more than one Assassin on a mission increases the chance of the mission's success but evenly splits the experience point reward among them. If a mission fails then you may lose at least one of the Assassins you've sent out on it. Fortunately, unlike the finite Assassin's Creed II secondary missions you'll always have an available "rescue/recruit citizen" mission whenever you have an unfilled Assassin recruit slot. Finally, for obvious reasons any mission-deployed Assassins are not available to help you in person (either for assassinating targets or to fight in Open Conflict), and Assassins of any rank can be killed when they're around in person.
 * Arrow Storms will kill multiple guards (apparently as many as you have available Assassins) without the Assassin recruits having to appear (so no chance of them dying), but calling one requires that all three Assassin Signals be full (hence six available recruits), depletes all three signals at once, and it may be difficult in call for one while in Open Conflict or having to stay on the move.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In The Da Vinci Disappearance,
 * No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Thoroughly averted. When destroying the War Machines, you need to not only destroy the prototype but also the blueprints, as well as any other prototypes of the same design that may be fighting back.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up:
 * Even though Ezio's sister Claudia should be in her late 30s, she still looks and acts the same as her 15-year-old self from the beginning of Assassin's Creed II.
 * Ezio also suffers from this. He's pushing fifty by the time of the final memory, and yet he stills looks like he's in his late twenties.
 * No Man of Woman Born:.
 * No Sell:
 * Not Worth Killing: Remember when Ezio spared ? That turns out to have been a mistake in hindsight,
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: According to the Heralds, all incidents of petty theft must be reported to the Vatican Office of Complaints, not the Guard. But according to another message from the Heralds, the Vatican Office of complaints has been closed indefinitely due to the death of its only employee.
 * Of Corpse He's Alive: Stealth-killing from a bench causes Ezio to gently prop up the target on the bench he was sitting on, as in the previous game. To fully sync with the memory of 's death, Ezio has to kill him in this way without being detected, though in the cutscene the body is supine instead of seated.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: Your horse when summoned. The Assassin recruits do this as well if there's no obvious hiding spot for them to have emerged from.
 * Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The mid-40's Ezio going up against mid-20's Cesare; by the time of the final battle they're 47-48 and 31 respectively.
 * Older Than They Look: Ezio's mother and sister appear and largely act the same as they did at the beginning of Assassin's Creed II, even though in their first appearance in Brotherhood -- 23 years later, at the beginning of the new century -- Maria should be about 67 and Claudia about 38.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: A soundtrack Leitmotif for Cesare Borgia. Also, some of the other missions taking place inside churches have background Latin chanting.
 * One-Hit Kill: The advertised "offensive" combat gameplay has been explained as essentially meaning that after a counter kill (or a "special" melee kill), as long as Ezio is able to successfully hit opponents in melee without taking damage or missing attacks, he'll be able to chain one-hit regular kills ("executions") together in a "kill streak," intended to encourage players to attack more aggressively than in the extremely counter-oriented AC2 -- not least because this is one of the few ways to quickly kill enemies with a lot of Health (specifically Borgia Captains, Brutes, Papal Guards, and certain targets) during Open Conflict. However, the execution animations can be interrupted (sometimes before the fatal blow and therefore negating the kill) by an untimely enemy attack, grab or sand toss, any of which will abruptly end the kill streak.
 * While equipped Throwing Knives are only a one-hit kill against the weakest enemies, when using the special attack to throw two or three Throwing Knives at once, each "charged" Throwing Knife will result in a one-hit kill. Throwing a Heavy Weapon or a Polearm (out of Open Conflict only) results in a one-hit kill, and the Crossbow and Pistol cause one-hit kills against almost all enemies.
 * One-Hit-Point Wonder: Everyone in Wanted mode.
 * One-Man Army: Ezio can easily fell a platoon of soldiers if the player has good enough reflexes to counter and dodge when the situation calls for it. On top of his kill streaks, Ezio has a sub-weapon for his main weapons (gun for the one-handed sword/blunt weapon and throwing knives for the Short Blade) which he can utilize by holding and then releasing the Attack button during a kill streak with those weapons, acting as his special attack for those weapons (if he runs out of ammo he instead will toss sand, which is also his special attack when using his Fists, and if wielding a Polearm during Open Conflict he'll perform a spinning slash that cuts the throats of most enemies in close range).
 * When a recruit reaches level 10 and is promoted to the rank of Assassino, he or she becomes perfectly capable of taking down almost any NPC group single-handedly without losing even one Health square in the process... on top of that, he or she has as many Health squares as the final boss, and those Health squares deplete almost as slowly as his do. Short of falling off of a high-enough rooftop or into water, even a lone Assassino is de facto invincible against almost all enemies.
 * Fully realized in the final Sequence, as, disabling your ability to call Assassins in the process.
 * Lampshaded at the beginning:
 * Fully realized in the final Sequence, as, disabling your ability to call Assassins in the process.
 * Lampshaded at the beginning:

"Ezio: Addio, amico mio."
 * One-Woman Wail: Present in a lot of the soundtrack, most notably in the title sequence.
 * Only Smart People May Pass: Subject 16's puzzles, especially the last few.
 * Orcus On His Throne: Rodrigo Borgia is largely absent from the game; when Ezio first goes back to check on him all he finds are the papal robes.
 * Older Is Better: Brutus' Armor and Dagger are, despite being supposedly over 1500 years old during Ezio's time, better than any other armor available during that time. Sword of Altaïr and Armor of Altaïr are also better than Renaissance equipment despite centuries old as well - although their superiority is explained by.
 * The lōrīca segmentāta was incredibly well made and would have been useful well into medieval times.
 * Hell, Ezio himself!
 * Overlord, Jr.: Cesare Borgia, though.
 * Pet the Dog: Lucrezia in Project Legacy, as.
 * In return,.
 * Pieta Plagiarism: Ezio's carrying out of the Colosseum.
 * Playing the Player: Used to set up the Cliff Hanger ending. When Desmond is after picking up the Apple of Eden, the game stops before the crucial moment and tells you to "press any button". So not only does Desmond, so do you.
 * Plot Armor: Desmond is unable to damage himself during the platforming sessions, specifically because he doesn't have a health meter and has no way of restoring it even if he did.
 * Point of No Return: Sequence Eight. To make things worse, it's not immediately obvious until the second Memory starts with no way to decline. Furthermore, ... though it beats every story Memory being a point of no return (for the previous Memories) in AC2.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Ezio is never fully informed of Lanz's history beyond the fact that he lost his child, his wife is suicidal, and that he is a Templar agent who murders people. Thus Ezio hunts Lanz down and kills him.
 * Praetorian Guard: The Papal Guards, of course. There are however several enemy leaders, i.e. Overseers for the War Machines, a trio accompanying the Baron de Valois, and the boss in the "Liquid Gold" mission (a capable free-runner at that), plus a few scattered around Centro District, who wear the Papal Guard armor and have their abilities despite not being on bodyguard duty.
 * Subtly reinforced when.
 * Primal Stance: The Followers of Romulus.
 * Put On a Bus: Several key characters from the second game are neither mentioned nor appear at all.
 * Quicksand Box: Not a serious example since the game does have a fairly well-established goal, but the fact that it has more side quests than a JRPG does give some players a sense of not knowing what to do next, although throughout the story the "next" memory has a specific icon.
 * Rain of Arrows: Ezio can call an Arrow Storm down if he has at least six Assassin recruits at the ready. It kills virtually all the guards near you (up to a number equal to your available Assassins), effectively functioning as a Smart Bomb and extremely useful for later missions where the full sync condition requires that multiple enemies die without Ezio taking any damage.
 * It's also a great way to take out Borgia Captains, even those who are aware of Ezio and therefore either in Open Conflict (thus taking more than one hit from Ezio's weapons to kill) or fleeing.
 * Red Herring: Several things seem to suggest that . Nope.
 * Red Herring Mole:
 * Red Sky Take Warning: Sequence 9.
 * Relationship Voice Actor: In Japanese, alongside Tomokazu Seki returning as Ezio, we have Junichi Suwabe as Cesare and Ayako Kawasumi as Lucrezia. Now where else have we heard that combination?
 * Right Through His Pants: Inverted. Ezio is naked from the bath, but Katerina Sforza seems to have her undergarments on the entire time until the two of them wake up in the morning.
 * Sanity Slippage: Desmond mostly acts stable but there are signs that his continued use of the Animus is taking its toll on him, such as increasing hallucinations -- of and  (which according to the Ubisoft community manager may or may not have actually happened) -- and inadvertent references to when "he" had done things that Ezio had done. Being physically in the same place one of his ancestors lived probably isn't helping.
 * More subtly, when Desmond first speaks to Shaun after, asking him about Monteriggioni, Desmond pronounces it with a slightly more Italian accent...
 * Through reading Lucy and Rebecca's emails you learn that Desmond has been screaming in his sleep.
 * In Project Legacy, Giovanni Borgia, has not only voices in his head thanks to  which he refers to as "Consus" (possibly referring to "consciousness"), but also sometimes experiences his father 's and his implied ancestor  memories. The implications of the former are kind of squicky...
 * According to The Other Wiki, Consus
 * Self-Deprecation: The depiction of the French soldiers in this game is less than flattering. Ubisoft, the company that publishes the game, is based in France. In addition, the game itself was developed by a Quebecois studio, Ubisoft Montreal.
 * Sequence Breaking: Unlike the Assassin's Tombs in AC2, the Lairs of Romulus have a persistent plotline and are intended to be played in a certain order, but there's nothing actually stopping you from playing them out of order once you've unlocked them all.
 * Sherlock Scan: Senator Troche assumes that this is how Ezio knew that he had been whoring. The truth is much simpler: Ezio owns the Senator's favorite brothel.
 * Shout Out: Metal Gear Solid has made at least two major shout-outs to Assassin's Creed (such as Big Boss' ability to perform the Leap of Faith in Peace Walker and Altaïr's robe MGS4), it's only fair for this game to return the favor. Firstly:  becomes a possible costume for Ezio -- albeit with Ezio wearing it -- if you happen to complete all the Virtual Training missions, which themselves could be construed as a shout-out to the many VR Mission modes for MGS games. Secondly, when you first meet back up with.
 * The mission where Ezio saves Caterina is called "Castello Crasher".
 * When Ezio and Bartolomeo's mercenaries disguised as French troops arrive at the French camp, he attempts to converse with the guard manning the outermost gate in French. The guard, finding the accent off, asks, "Which part of France are you from?" Ezio responds, "Montreal." Ubisoft Montreal is the company's primary studio for all Assassin's Creed development.
 * And there is the matter of speaking to a Frenchman on a wall trying to gain access to a castle.
 * On its own, having to impersonate a guard named Luigi doesn't mean too much, considering where you are after all, but Ezio also having an Uncle Mario makes it more suspicious. In addition, the achievement for completing that memory sequence is named "Principessa in Another Castello".
 * In the Japanese version, it's somewhat more explicit: "Thank you EZIO! But princess is in another castle"
 * They aren't even trying to hide it by the time you get the "Plumber" Achievement.
 * The trophy for completing Subject 16's Maze is called ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." Which is morse code for "I AM ALIVE" which could be interpreted in two different ways one being a possible reference to subject 16 and the other being a Shout Out to the game I Am Alive which is also being developed by Ubisoft.
 * One of the first few achievements is "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"
 * The achievement for destroying all the Borgia Towers is "Tower Offense"
 * The title for one of the Assassination Contracts "Brutes and Brutality" seems to be a Shout Out to the episode naming conventions for Blackadder the Third, which in turn is a Shout Out to Jane Austen.
 * One memory in The Da Vinci Disappearance, involving an artwork heist, is titled "The Ezio Auditore Affair".
 * Sibling Team: The Harlequin and the Hellequin are brother and sister, Cahin and Caha. They are not seen in Brotherhood, as.
 * The Thief's profile implied that she (Faustina Collari) and her brother were one, though his fate is unknown.
 * Single Stroke Battle: Ezio does this in the E3 reveal trailer against two horsemen.
 * Sinister Shades: The Doctor multiplayer character has these over a White Mask of Doom. The Engineer also has these.
 * Sinister Surveillance: We are told that Abstergo is using cell towers to keep tabs on people and that satellite surveillance was phased out for being inferior at this. This is the given reason why Desmond's not supposed to be out of the Sanctuary for more than ten minutes at a time, though fortunately if a player does let the timer expire Desmond is simply returned into the Sanctuary.
 * If you think that's bad, listen to one Mr. Jameson's call to his TV service's tech support line...
 * Smug Snake: Ye gods, Cesare. He wants to be an amazing Magnificent Bastard but in reality he's a cowardly, hysterical, spoiled brat.
 * This is very much highlighted when, and then when . Maybe that's why he wanted so badly?
 * He also completely underwhelms during the final boss fight, bragging that he's "the best fighter who ever lived" and still having delusions (four years later) of being able to retake Rome, then to resume his failed conquest of Italy, and even to go on to conquer Spain, when he can't even best.
 * Simply put, his problem was that he was very deluded about the real source of his power up until his forced return to Rome, thanks to the Assassins having ripped the real power out from under him.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Initially, the Courtesan was the only female PC in multiplayer. Then the Smuggler, Thief and the Hellequin were introduced, subverting this.
 * Upheld in single-player, as is the only explicitly-canon female Assassin in the game, but Project Legacy both subverts it and plays it straight with : the second canonical female Assassin during the events of Brotherhood but the only one shown in Project Legacy or amongst Ezio's canonical apprentices.
 * You will most likely start implementing this rule yourself when you begin recruiting apprentices. Since male apprentices seems to be far more common than female ones.
 * Spotting the Thread: Set up and subsequently subverted . A guard at the main gate asks their business in French and Ezio is able to hold a conversation in it. The guard then asks where in France he's from (possibly due to a curious accent?), Ezio is able to provide an acceptable answer. Apparently, his womanizing days paid major dividends almost a quarter-century later.
 * Unsurprinsigly, this conversation couldn't work in the french version of the game. As a result, it's much shorter and Ezio only needs to shoot a "Vive la France" to convince the guard he's legit. His words about how being a womanizer back in the day don't make sense anymore but this leads to some Unfortunate Implications about how mentally damaged french guards are.
 * Every game of (Advanced) Wanted requires this. The newbies who run on rooftops openly aren't even trying -- despite the Compass not showing the target's elevation -- but to spot more skilled players demands that you know what NPCs will and will not do. Then again that might not save you...
 * The Squadette: You can recruit females into your guild, and a cheat allows you to have all of your recruits appear to be female when replaying Memories.
 * Stealth Hi Bye: You don't meet La Volpe. La Volpe meets you.
 * Stealth Pun: The heralds have several of these. "Reminder! Do not drink the waters of the Chevre south of the Campo Marzio. The recent outbreak of syphilis has been linked to this ill-advised practice."
 * Stock Sound Effects: Ezio's taunts from Assassin's Creed II, in which he has a higher voice, are mixed in with his new taunts.
 * Stop Helping Me: The Vigilantes in certain situations: they can't be beaten, moved, will never oppose you and are one of the few immortal NPCs in the game (though since they always come in three, this would result in desynchronization anyway); anytime a battle takes place involving Borgia soldiers, they'll always take the side of whoever's fighting them. This happens to be incredibly potent for mucking up a long kill-streak (getting more than five is one of the Mercenaries Guild Challenges).
 * Funnily enough, they'll even take your side if you attempted to kill them and the Borgia soldiers come to their aid (like they will with any citizen).
 * Stopped Numbering Sequels: There's a reason why this is "Brotherhood" and not "Assassin's Creed 3". It's largely Assassin's Creed 2-and-a-half, a direct continuation of where Assassin's Creed II left off without being a major paradigm shift like 2 was over 1. It's far more than a Gaiden Game, though.
 * According to Ubisoft Montreal, it's also because according to their numbering scheme, 3 would be reserved for a different Assassin in a different era.
 * Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: is killed by Cesare early on.
 * Super Drowning Skills: "Guards are lousy swimmers! And their armour is really heavy. So they stay out of the water."
 * Sadly, this applies to NPCs equally -- including your Assassin apprentices. Oddly enough, for some reason Ezio's armor isn't as heavy as the guards, even when he appears to be wearing more (and heavier robes at that).
 * Sword and Gun: Ezio can now use both a longsword or bludgeon and the Hidden Gun together in combat; a variant option is his ability to use a short blade in conjunction with throwing knives. The Papal Guards will also pack a pistol and sword.
 * Tank Goodness: One part of the story requires Ezio to retrieve a tank built from Leonardo's plans, as well as burn the stolen plans to prevent the Borgias from building more. Fortunately he did that in the opposite order, since.
 * Tap On the Head: After Ezio rescues Caterina Sforza from the clutches of the Borgia's, Caterina orders Lucrezia into a cell. Lucrezia screams for her guards, but Caterina slams her head into the cell bars, knocking her out.
 * Technical Pacifist:
 * There's an unarmed finisher that involves Ezio stepping on his opponents foot (causing them to hop on one leg), before stomping on the knee they're balancing on, snapping it at a near 90 degree angle.
 * Most of Ezio's new unarmed finishers seem to be attempting to outdo Altaïr. Of note is the one where Ezio approaches a guard from behind, punches him in the kidneys, then turns around and breaks the guard's neck over his shoulder. It has to be seen to be believed.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: One of the move involves stabbing a guard in the underside of the head, then firing the Hidden Gun at point-blank. Consider how powerful the Hidden Gun is even from afar...
 * That's not to overkill the guard, but rather to get his sword out faster. Blown Across the Room applies, and it doesn't use a bullet.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Ezio's "charged-up" special attack for Heavy Weapons (axes and two-handed swords) is overhanding that sucker right into whoever is unlucky enough to be targeted or in front of him. He then has to go over and pick it back up -- though if you're actually equipped with one (by using the Heavy Sheath), this attack empties your Medium/Heavy Weapon slot, which can actually be exploited to be able to semi-permanently keep an enemy's Medium/Heavy Weapon; it's the only way to be able to keep the Scimitar, for one.
 * Alternately he can throw a Polearm, though those can not be kept like Heavy Weapons can. This is one of the only ways to "elevate" a Polearm, by throwing it at a rooftop guard while Ezio is not in Open Conflict, though finding a well-placed "free-run" to a roof or using a merchandise or ladder will work as well.
 * Too Dumb to Live: In the DLC, the returning publicly insults Ezio's sister as the "whore of Rome" and picks a fight with Ezio thirty years after their last meeting, all because he's got a few unarmed henchmen on hand. This works out for him about as well as you'd expect. Worse yet, the games assume that Ezio was wearing the Assassin Robes at the time.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Ezio has learned even more killing moves, along with the kill streak techniques/strategy to put them all together, making him able to take out practically any melee group in the game.
 * The Hidden Gun is also far more useful than it used to be due to his having had over a decade to practice with it, and somehow modifying it (before going to infiltrate the Vatican at the end of 1499 in AC2, since he himself didn't probably have time to do so between his return to Monteriggioni and the next morning's siege) to be able to fire using his left wrist alone.
 * Also, Claudia has gone from villa bookkeeper, to head of the Courtesans as brothel madam of the Rosa in Fiore ("Blooming Rose"), and
 * Trash the Set: Ezio's town gets sacked by invading Roman troops not long into the game.
 * Tyke Bomb: Il Lupo (The Prowler) from Multiplayer.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change: Stealing culminates in the game's only flight-action sequence.
 * Unexpected Shmup Level: When.
 * Unflinching Leap of Faith: Whenever you destroy a Borgia Tower after the first.
 * Unflinching Walk: Ezio pulls one off following the explosion that occurs after, and when he destroyed his first Borgia Tower,.
 * Unexpected Shmup Level: When.
 * Unflinching Leap of Faith: Whenever you destroy a Borgia Tower after the first.
 * Unflinching Walk: Ezio pulls one off following the explosion that occurs after, and when he destroyed his first Borgia Tower,.

"The Harlequin went into town, a deadly man in tights,
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: Lucrezia keeps the key to Caterina's cell here. When Ezio manages to capture her, Caterina retrieves and remarks on it ("Classy.")
 * Video Game Caring Potential: Destroying the Borgia oppression leads to the revitalization of Rome, and eventually the Renaissance. As you progress through the game, the background chatter of NPCs will include statements like "Things are really getting better," and "There will be a special throne in Hell for Cesare Borgia when this is all over."
 * In liberated zones you will also have Vigilantes appear, usually near certain guard locations, who will jeer at the guards and grab any guards that try to fight near them, just like in AC1.
 * And of course, who could forget about your recruits... especially since once a recruit hits max EXP, you're notified to return to the Hideout to attend AND officiate their graduation/promotion. They grow up so fast...! *sniffle*
 * If you think that's nice, pay attention to how the couples act before and after your liberation has progressed... from tears and consoling hugs, to watching constellations from rocky outcroppings and proposing...
 * Villainous Breakdown: Cesare's mood starts to fall rapidly when he learns that . In the entire scene after that, he loses his shit completely.
 * Villainous Incest: Cesare Borgia has this with his sister Lucrezia, which may or may not have been Truth in Television.
 * Villain Song: For the Harlequin in the Gamestop commercial, sung to the tune of "Yankee Doodle".

Went medieval on some dudes and laughed until they died!

The Harlequin tears it up, the Harlequin is sneaky,

Fills his victims up with fear because he looks so freaky!

The Harlequin jumped off a roof and landed in a crowd,

Before they had a chance to laugh, he took those suckers out!"


 * Warp Whistle: In the form of tunnel entrances around Rome that Ezio must renovate to use.
 * Was It All a Lie:.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Hermeticists are looking for a magic number that will grant them the power they need to banish ignorance from the world forever. A very noble goal, indeed; too bad they're so fanatic about it they think it's okay to go around stabbing people in their way. Their leader is shocked that Ezio is fighting them.
 * Wham Line:
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: Teodor Viscardi, "The Officer" in multiplayer, is an agent of Cesare's whose fate hasn't never revealed, as he isn't a target in either Project Legacy or Brotherhood. His sole appearance is a quick cameo in one Legacy memory.
 * The same deals with Faustina Collari, the Thief. She is not mentioned to be in service to the Borgia, in either medium. Oddly enough, however, she is the one with the most backstory, concerning her lost brother.
 * Likewise with Paola, Antonio, and Teodora from Assassin's Creed II. The end of that game implies they traveled to Rome with the rest of the Assassins to make trouble in the city to divert the guard's attention from Ezio infiltrating the Vatican, they are not seen or mentioned at all in Brotherhood. The most likely explanation is they simply returned to Florence and Venice respectively after causing the distraction in Rome, but the game never comments one way or the other.
 * What Kept You?:
 * Wife Basher Basher: Ezio in the Blacksmith's Templar Agent mission. Though, he goes a little farther than just beating him...
 * The World's Expert On Getting Killed: Tommaso di Viterbo, the closest Borgia Captain northeast of the Thieves Guild, claims to know how Assassins operate when addressing troops, but is no harder to kill for all his bluster. Many players time their assassinations perfectly to milk the speech he gives to provide the most dramatic irony possible.
 * Then again, he says that the key is vigilance -- upon detecting you the Borgia Captains either fight or flee, and he's one of the latter. The only advantage he has over any of them is that he's already on horseback.
 * He's arguably the most frustrating of the Captains thanks to this. The easiest ways to kill him are either to find a hiding spot near him and snipe him with your gun or call on your assassin recruits to do it for you.
 * Wide Open Sandbox: Unlike previous Assassin's Creed games, this one (mostly) takes place in a single large city rather than bouncing around between different cities.
 * Would Hit a Girl: When holding Lucrezia hostage during a mission (as she has the key to ), Ezio has no problem tackling her to the ground if she tries to escape, putting the left Hidden Blade to her throat to keep her in place (though she inevitably breaks out after several seconds), and even.
 * Lia de Russo, the multiplayer Smuggler, is the target of a Templar Agent mission, and full synchronization requires that Ezio finish her with his Hidden Blade. Oddly enough, she's not sure why Ezio is hunting her.
 * Micheletto Corella, in the course of "instructing" his lord Cesare's son Giovanni, claims to have kicked many women in "a better place that hurts more, even for a woman."
 * Wrestler in All of Us: In addition to Ezio still using a chokeslam, Il Carnefice/The Executioner can kill his target from behind by using a standing version of an Inverted Death Valley Driver/Burning Hammer, and the Blacksmith uses a backbreaker.
 * Wretched Hive: Rome under Borgia rule. It's up to Ezio to clean it up.
 * Yandere: Cesare and Lucrezia, for each other.
 * You All Look Familiar: Purposely invoked in multiplayer for the purpose of Paranoia Fuel. To maintain this, if a player equips their character with visible customizations, all of that character's NPC counterparts will match the player's look. Somewhat mitigated in Alliance, Chest Capture and Manhunt modes as the pursuers and targets are clearly defined -- thus narrowing down who is your target but also who your pursuer could be, unless a Disguise is used -- but in full force during Wanted and Advanced Wanted.
 * Further invoked for any ability which affects characters' appearances, i.e. Disguise ("reskins" the player character into a different character for at least ten seconds), Morph (up to four or six NPCs near the player character suddenly "transform" to match the player character's appearance), or Blender (changes a NPC in a crowd into the same skin as that of the player for as long as the player character stays in that crowd, and as long as there isn't an actual NPC that already has the same skin).
 * You Killed My Father: Part of Ezio's conflict with the younger Cesare, is because Cesare.
 * Zerg Rush: This is the strategy the Cult of Romulus uses against you. Although they are burly men in wolf pelts, they have little armor and only wield daggers and rocks. There are usually lots of them and they will attack more readily than the regular guards.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: On the multiplayer Courtesan.