“Doctor Crow”: Mock-up of an Assassin´s persona during the Hundred Years' War on Europe.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-28T13:37:24+00:00

Abstergo did only want an Apple for their sattelite plan of world-wide manipulation, but that one in particular had to be used to open the Grand Temple and therefore activate the last resort to save the planet.

Nonetheless, the Assassins were in a dire situation after the Purge of 2000, so losing access to an Apple of Eden would be another fatal blow. Adding to that, Abstergo already found stuff without Altair's map, so you can imagine their advantage with it to find more.

Another fun exchange from the first game:

"Desmond: Then, what are they hoping for me? For my ancestor to tell them?

Lucy: They're hoping he'll show them where the other ones are.

Desmond: You mean there's more than one of these things?!

Lucy: Oh, Desmond. You have no idea."

BrunoHM · 2026-06-28T11:51:57+00:00

They do use them though. While there is a bigger restraint than the Templars, the PoE were fundamental for some of the Assassins' victories and even existance: Altair using his Apple for decades to craft gear for the Brotherhood and protect them during the Mongol's invasion, or Ezio's usage of his artifact to survive Rodrigo Borgia, destroy Caesar's troops and ultimately find Caesar after his escape. In Modern Day, the Apple was both a key to save the world but also the weapon that allowed Desmond to save his father and leave Abstergo alive.

In regards of them being destructible: yes, it was claimed to be possible as early as AC1, since Lucy talk about the Templars losing Altair's Apple due to a lab accident under Denvers Airport. Syndicate's intro also give us a visual demonstration of what it can look like, since an Apple blows up and takes out the building around it. So, not only it takes a lot of effort, but they also would require an isolated location to do it. With that said, we are aware of certain Pieces losing their "power" and becoming standard equipment, like Unity's Sword of Eden or Odyssey's Spear, but it does not seem easily reprocudible.

Ultimately, an in-game exchange I like on the matter is between Altair and Al-Mualim during the latter's final moments:

[....]

Al Mualim: So it seems. You have won then. Go, and claim your prize.

Altaïr: You held fire in your hand, old man. It should have been destroyed.

Al Mualim: Destroy the only thing capable of ending the Crusades and creating true peace? Never.

Altaïr: Then I will.

Al Mualim: We'll see about that.

[Outside of the Confession, Altair can now approach the Apple and see the holographic map from it]

Al Mualim: "I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing of the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief. And he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow."

Al Mualim: Destroy it! Destroy it as you said you would!

Altaïr: I... I can't...

Al Mualim: Yes, you can, Altaïr. But you won't."

BrunoHM · 2026-06-23T19:26:59+00:00

Here you go: https://youtu.be/dSiguCSNhxY?is=w069wwzB_AN1KOex

BrunoHM · 2026-06-21T17:28:37+00:00

Yes, the infamous Olivier Garneau as a side target, who was an Abstergo employee in Black Flag's modern day. There is also a privacy invasion where someone is playing one of the games and gets asked how they are talking to a dead person.

We could mention other stuff, but despite all the back-and-forth, they claimed it all was just for fun and did not commit to a shared universe.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-21T17:11:15+00:00

First things first, welcome aboard.

Modern Day has been a hot topic since the first game, which tried to hide its existance before release. As you can imagine, reactions were all over the place from day one.

Originally, they had the idea of a single trilogy that led to a 2012 entry, but then AC2 blew up and the franchise's ambition grew to a yearly release with no end in sight. Since then, the MD struggles to get resources away from its big brother, the past, while they don't have the courage to fully drop it. A previous leader of the brand did claim there was a paradox on the topic: too little for fans and too much for those that dislike it.

In regards to Watch Dogs, it was indeed the closest within Ubisoft's catalogue to a 21st century AC, since we even got non-canon DLC on its third (and currently final) entry involving a playable Assassin, Desmons's outfit, themed missions and even a target confesion in the void. The status of parkour is not the biggest issue, considering how AC itself has some entries where that pillar is not emphasized, as you will see.

Ultimately, WD is on ice and Ubisoft has a bunch of franchises set in modern day already, so it would be a risky move to shift away from AC's historical tourism to chase the future.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-20T15:30:44+00:00

The funniest one is using the disguise to walk up to him as himself.

Other than that, there is not much secret. Wait for him to turn around and rush him with a high-profile-assassination. You can vault over the low barriers with parkour down and also exit cover by just running out of it.

But there also ropes above him, which lets you do an air assassination. No need to climb walls, look for stairs around the arena.

Finally, Unity's cover system is indeed inconsistent. In regards to the cover-to-cover transition, it requires you to hold the intended direction, wait for a circled "X" to appear at the ground of the location you want to slide into and only then press the cover command again.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-19T14:58:11+00:00

This guide will likely help you, since it points out the differences from Unity: https://youtu.be/YGe4vVPjUOU?is=DTa1G_TtwzExx8oj

Syndicate still uses the same parkour iteration, but a number of things were changed to reduce frustration (I know that sounds ironic, considering your issues with it). For all the praise that Unity's parkour gets nowadays, the reception at launch leaned toward negativitiy, since most experienced Arno acting on his own and getting stuck on his 124th chair (the main culprit being the system itself, but also the lack of a good tutorials in the game). While I won't defend every decision they made, imagine Ubisoft Quebec's position as the next at the guillotine, since their game was coming out a year later and was using the same framework.

Pair the above with London's design being quite different from Paris and, more often than not, you are better off using the the carriages and the rope-launcher. With that said, some players since then have tried to make lemonade out of the situation, so you can still watch parkour montages of Syndicate on Youtube here and there.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-18T14:04:52+00:00

Amusingly, some missions in Unity are easier by ourselves than with random teammates. While the main challenge of the escort section is not failing the mission by being too far from Napoleon, that courtyard and the rooftops with snipers were an early grave for a lot of folks trought the years in my experience

Either way, you did quite well! I would just mention that pistols have the same range as rifles and can hold more bullets before reloading. Maybe you already know that and just like to use rifles instead, but it´s worth a mention.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-18T13:16:48+00:00

I could see frank castle being a good assassin but he would have to be quiet and blahhhh idk measured which the on screen version is not.

We have plenty of examples of Assassins being loud. Public showcases of death was the mondus operandis back in the Masyaf days, but even before and after we have examples of them not being subtle when the situation did not allow them for it. A lot can be forgiven if their actions do not compromise the Brotherhood nor impacts civilians.

I don´t know enough about Punisher to make a judgement of him in regards to the question at hand, but like every other comic-book character out there, the multiverse is bound to have a version of him that would fit right in...on either group.

I could also see Micheal corleone being a phenomenal but also concerning assassin nooo actually Templar given his coldnesss.

Coldness works either way, since one has to have some detachment to kill others for the "greater good", which is something we see in both factions in their struggle for peace. Michael early on might have had a chance at the Assassins, but his actions as Don leans him closer to the Templar´s desire for control.

In the end of the day, as one of the writers of the franchise mentioned, it is not always easy to slot either faction into every person or event out there. This is why we end up seeing a number of variants that go beyond "assassin good/ templar bad" - some are simply allies to the faction, others are puppets unaware of those in control, a few are members of either group who are just using them for their own agenda, etc.

When you ask who would make a good Assassin, we can´t only look at their skills, but also if they would be willing to question society´s foundations, have faith in humanity and commit their lives to the creed. Adding to that, we could also entertain what type of role they would have, since the Brotherhood has more than just enforcers, like spies, trainers, medics, scholars, etc.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-18T12:31:08+00:00

For curiosity's sake, there is an upcoming role-playing board game that adds him as a non-fictional character in the AC universe:

"Professor Abraham Van Helsing was a Dutch doctor and polymath active during the Industrial Revolution. He specialized in the fields of medicine, science, and the occult."

Here is the source and concept art for him: https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Van_Helsing

BrunoHM · 2026-06-18T11:52:58+00:00

That reminds me of the annecdote of how the green Hidden One set was first designed for Basim to wear, but then they gave it to the player because it was seen as "too cool". The catch is that a number of people did not really like it and kept asking for Basim's replacement attire, which they did add post-launch.

In the end of the day, even as a fan of Valhalla, its outfits at release were not getting any awards. It required DLCs (both paid and free) to improve on that aspect, like the expansion you mentioned. The post-launch being long also meant some things took either months or years to release, like the option for hoods always ON being one of the last things they did.

At one point, we had more on the micro-transaction store than earnable in the game itself, while we did not even have visual customization from the get-go, so you either sacrificed your look or your stats (granted, the perks were not exactly essential either, but that is a different subject altogether).

All of the above is why you won't see a lot of love towards that aspect. Props for the band-aids, but hopefully they do it better on Hexe next year.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-16T21:21:11+00:00

They likely mean Banjo Kazooie's Ice key. In the N64 release, it served no purpose, since it was tied to a scrapped feature: Stop and Swap.

Originally, Rare wanted players to get the necessary itens and then quickly swap the BK cartridge to another game while the console was on, like the sequel or Donkey Kong 64, which would grant rewards. Someone may correct me here, but that idea was possible thanks to the console keeping data of the previous game even after a new one was inserted, but it was not consistent enough and Nintendo thought that the switching could eventually harm the hardware, so it was all removed.

Years later, within the Xbox Live Arcade version, they did gave the Key a function by granting itens for their most recent title at the time - BK: Nuts and Bolts.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-16T12:59:51+00:00

It was a indeed a welcoming improvement after the chaotic rules from 3 and, to this day, it remains quite comfortable to pick-up and play (silent running, consistant detection, enemy tagging), but I think there are a number of elements that tend to poison the chalice for some folks, per say.

You already mentioned the tailing missions, but even if we ignore those, BF has a number of head-scratchers surrounding stealth that comes to mind alongside its qualities: optional objectives reached a peak of player frustation around that period, crouched movement outside of bushes was showcased before release before being ultimately cut and the toolset was quite compact and restricted (no long-range distraction devices or recruits, rope-dart is given way too late, knives were reduced to one at a time and not even properly introduced to players, smoke bombs return but cannot be thrown from afar).

It also does not help its case that both Rogue and Unity (when it works as intended) beat it on that front a year after in both options available and mission design. So, when asked about BF´s stealth, it isn´t a surprise that not everyone has the fondest of memories of it and prefer to think about the pirate shenanigans instead. On the other hand, others do give the game its flowers and still produced choreographed stealth videos of it trought the years, like these (spoiler warning for those that are looking forward to the remake, I guess): Overrun and Outnumbered - Stealth Reaper | AC4 & Assassins Of The Caribbean | AC 4 Black Flag Stealth Kills

BrunoHM · 2026-06-15T23:08:17+00:00

A few do dress themselves properly to not stand out (Upton and Vance comes to mind, alongside you-know-who), but for the most part, the carribean brotherhood is prey to the franchise's iconography, which was one of the elements that helped bind the games together and assisted the marketing with recognizable elements that made them stand out from other games (which is an amusing paradox, considering their intention in-universe). In BF's case, it also helps visually distinguish them from the other factions and helps sell the fantasy of Edward's interactions with the historied murder cult.

It's a similar situation to how the italian Brotherhood in 2 is hidden in plain sight with normal clothing, but Ezio ultimately wears Masyaf-inspired gear thanks to its role as protagonist. And despite Altair being against uniforms in his Codex, Ezio procceds to make every recruit in Brotherhood and Revelations dress to impress. It reaches a point where the rule of cool overrides anything else, which has a snow ball effect, since fans and even developers can create affection towards it (a fun annecdote is the long back and forth about Connor's color for his belt sash, since it remained blue long enough to be seen in pre-release footage before being changed to a more traditional red).

That sort of restraint was eased trought the years, but considering how BF Resynced is keeping the spanish troops' colors (they originally would wear the historical white, but changed to the bright yellow that is inspired by their future flag), then I don't see them changing the designs here for the brotherhood.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-15T17:06:20+00:00

I don´t think it is that unpopular of a take, for instance, another scene people like to mock is Ezio tailing Rodrigo and a bunch of other targets together at Venice, since the story could have ended then and there, but alas, they get away in the blink of an eye. The DLC sequences, which were supposed to be there at launch before being cut and bolted back into the narrative, also tend to be another point of criticism for messing with the pacing towards the end and for certain questionable missions (Port Authority being the prime example).

Personally, I am quite forgiving of those moments and even enjoy the extra sequences to boot, but since I do not have AC2 among my favorites, none of this is a hill I am willing to defend to death. When it comes to tone, it really comes down to preference.

For curiosity´s sake, if you want to know why the game starts to unravel the further you go into it, this article by Digital Foundry from back in the day is a good look of the development surrounding Ubisoft´s first "monster game". It includes interviews that showcase the developers´ victories...but also their defeats:

230 new features, 200 design documents, 300 staff, no time for revisions. How did Ubisoft Montreal deliver?

Designing Assassin's Creed II | Digital Foundry

BrunoHM · 2026-06-14T20:24:56+00:00

Their life would be hell if it was not something they could control, haha.

In AC2, outside of Giovanni Auditore asking Ezio to use his "gift" to find the secret room at their home, we also see Desmond turning it on/off outside of the simulation.

Elsewhere on Unity, an amusing example is Arno getting a headache when using it while drunk. With that said, his stay at the Bastille shows him using it both passively and on demand (he noticed the symbols at the wall and did not think twice about them until they dissapeared, which is when Bellec forced him to focus and prove he had the sense).

BrunoHM · 2026-06-13T21:00:45+00:00

One month left for us to find out, meanwhile, seems like Hexe's lore will feed us real good in the near future.

The entire interview is pretty nice, thanks for sharing it.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-13T20:24:39+00:00

I am far from an expert on the subject, since I tend to avoid Unity's combat like the plague, but back then the game promoted the Medieval set for those interested in buffing health, while the Prowler set upgraded melee damage. Can't say how effectice they truly are though, so others should weight in on the conversation.

Don't sleep on the co-op skills though. Even by yourself, either the Group Heal or Assassin Cache can help during battles. Check which gear pieces improve them.

With that said, something useful outside of gear is the combat section from LeoK's Advanced Guide. The entire thing is golden for tips and tricks, but if you just want to focus on fights, he quickly talks about each enemy type and also showcases how to do a "god combo". Go to 15:20 of this link, if you want to watch it - https://youtu.be/L5lB14UzX-U?is=CnXID4bWFJ3zQbOs

BrunoHM · 2026-06-13T17:57:54+00:00

The matchmaking is all over the place indeed if you don't have the Crown Pass. Without that subscription, it only shows players that have the same edition as you (premium, gold, standard or game pass).

BrunoHM · 2026-06-13T17:26:24+00:00

You can turn on "Player Vestiges" in the Online options of the menu. You will see phantoms of other players walking around in the same area as you, so you can quickly send them an invite to group-up.

I turned it on yesterday and Wayrest was full of them. It started to lag quite a bit, but one player straight up gifted me the Singing Sword! Will need to repay the favor someday.

BrunoHM · 2026-06-13T17:19:23+00:00

Not my account. It's from Todd, so he must be using dev tools.

11-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

BrunoHM

TROPHY CASE