BBFC: 15
ESRB: M
OFLC: MA15+
PEGI: 18
USK: 16
Plot/Synopsis:
Assassin's Creed II begins immediately after the events of
the first game in 2012; Desmond Miles is still trapped by Abstergo Industries
(the modern-day face of the Knights Templar) after being forced to use the
Animus device to revisit genetic memories of the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad,
and has discovered prophetic warnings from Subject 16 (a previous captive)
describing the end of the world. He is soon rescued by Lucy Stillman, a mole
for the Assassins within Abstergo, who takes him to meet two other Assassins,
historian Shaun Hastings and computer expert Rebecca Crane. They request that
Desmond use their version of the Animus, dubbed the Animus 2.0, to relive
memories of another Assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, to train Desmond in the
ways of the Assassins through the "Bleeding Effect" of the Animus.
During his exposure, Desmond finds himself briefly struck by a puzzling memory
of Altaïr and his lover, a former Templar named Maria Thorpe, who became
pregnant with his child. It is also revealed that apart from training Desmond
as an Assassin, the Assassins also wish to find out more information about the
foretold "Vault". Desmond also finds various glyphs left by Subject
16 in the Animus, which, when decoded and assembled, form a brief video of a
man and woman, "Adam" and "Eve", running through a
futuristic setting called "Eden". The video ends with the binary for
"EDEN" (00100101 00100100 00100101 00101110).
Assassin's Creed II's plot includes the fictional depictions
of historical characters including Niccolò Machiavelli and Rodrigo Borgia, later
known as Pope Alexander VI.
Ezio's memories begin during the Renaissance in the 15th
century, where his family is ensnared in a political plot, and his father and
brothers are hanged. Ezio, following his father Giovanni's last advice, finds
his father's Assassin tools, and flees the city with his mother and sister to
the safety of his uncle Mario's villa in the countryside. Mario assists Ezio in
discovering the people behind the conspiracy, the search leading Ezio from
Florence, to San Gimignano, Forlì, Venice and eventually to Rome. As he
identifies and assassinates more and more political figures, Ezio also gains
several allies, including Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci, the latter
of whom helps Ezio improve his equipment using schematics found in Altaïr's
Codex pages. Eventually, Ezio identifies the mastermind of the plot: the
Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia, who ultimately sought to bring down the Medici family
in Florence with the help of the Pazzi family and the Doge of Venice. Ezio
finds Borgia in possession of the Apple—a similar Piece of Eden that Altaïr had
recovered centuries ago—and learns that Borgia believes himself to be "the
Prophet" that will lead the Templars to a fabled "Vault". Ezio
is able to confront Borgia with the help of his allies and recover the Apple,
but Borgia flees before he can be killed. Ezio's allies reveal they are all
Assassins, and see Ezio as their Prophet, allowing him to join their ranks.
After this memory, the modern Assassins discover that
several years of Ezio's memories are inaccessible from the Animus. Desmond can
only revisit those starting in 1499, where Ezio and the Assassins plan to attack
Borgia (now Pope Alexander VI) at Vatican City. Ezio corners Borgia and strikes
him down, but refuses to kill him, as he knows that it will not bring back his
family. Ezio uses the Apple and the
Papal cross (which is also a Piece of Eden called the Staff), and discovers the
entrance to the Vault. Inside, he is astounded when a holographic figure,
calling herself Minerva, appears. Speaking directly to Desmond and those
monitoring him in 2012, she explains that she was part of a far more advanced
society that initially co-existed along with the early humans on Earth before
they faced each other in war. A global catastrophe occurred that nearly wiped
out both sides, and the survivors joined together to construct
"temples" across the Earth to allow humans to prevent a similar
catastrophe in the future. Before the hologram disappears, she warns Desmond—by
name—that "the rest is up to you".
Shortly after recovering this memory, Desmond and the others
are forced to flee with the Animus 2.0 from their location as Abstergo troops
surround it. There, they encounter Warren Vidic, who flees when Desmond and
Lucy deal with the troops. As the team heads towards a new safehouse, Lucy
explains that there are newly-discovered weaknesses in the Earth's magnetic
field; a solar flare striking this weakness would cause a similar level of
global destruction as described by Minerva. Desmond resolves to help the
Assassins find these temples, and prepares to re-enter the Animus, knowing that
Ezio may hold the answers they seek.
