Assassin’s Creed 2 - On this day

The first Assassin’s Creed was a big project, but Ubisoft only released the brake with the sequel. Three times more people worked on the development of Assassin’s Creed 2 than in the first part. The result was ultimately impressive, but we didn’t know that until we played the game on this day 12 years ago, when it appeared for the then PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

The excitement around Assassin’s Creed 2 was great for several reasons. First, the game was set in Italy during the Renaissance - a place and period that was rarely used in games. Another thing, the promotional campaign for the game was great and can be easily reduced to one of the best "movie" trailers ever made.

In early June 2009, Ubisoft thus released a video that demonstrated the visual splendor of the attractive location, as well as some new gameplay mechanics that were prepared for the sequel. We first saw the new protagonist, Ezio Auditore, and we were shocked when he used a firearm to eliminate an opponent. No such weapons were still in use at the time, but the explanation was that Ezio got hold of a prototype developed by the genius Leonardo da Vinci.

An equal surprise ensued when we learned that Ezio used two hidden blades, unlike Altair who used only one. The excitement did not end there, because before the game came out, we also saw the mission of flying over Venice. In addition to Venice, we also visited Florence, Forlì, and San Gimignano in the game.

Among the new mechanics in AC2 was the ability to swim and use boats/gondolas, steal weapons from an opponent, and hire helpers in the form of mercenaries, prostitutes, or thieves. The change of day and night in this part was dynamic, and the player could have a warrant issued, so he had to remove posters around the city to reduce the suspicion of the guards. A novelty was also the system of buying medicines and ammunition from traders.

Assassin’s Creed 2 was a huge game with a bunch of main and secondary content. It has made a huge shift over the previous game, we would dare say the biggest leap in the history of the old Assassin’s Creed games before they switched to the RPG system. Ezio was a very well-received character because of his charisma and arrogance, and the story was extremely good with its focus on the motive of family and growing up. If we add that great music and acting, practically everything coincided in this sequel, and Assassin’s Creed 2 was considered one of the best games on the seventh generation of consoles.

The PC version came four months after those for consoles and was remembered for its infamous anti-piracy protection which then required a permanent internet connection to play this single-player game. This protection was later removed from the game after negative user reactions.

Ezio’s story continued through Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Revelations. Although later sequels were even more successful in sales, the deuce remained the best-rated part in the entire series to this day. In 2016, Ezio’s adventure was transferred to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms through a kind of remaster. Although in some parts this collection has been embellished, elsewhere it has lost some of its visual charms.