Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2016, Playstation 4) Review

WHEN BASTA ISN'T ENOUGH

Also for: Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, Onlive, Playstation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One

---

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is a direct sequel to the events of Assassin’s Creed II. In the modern-day storyline, Desmond Miles’ hideout is found out by the Templars, forcing him and his fellow Assassins to flee and regroup elsewhere.

Inside the Animus, Desmond continues reliving the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, now in Rome at the turn of the 16th century. Ezio has struck a decisive blow against the Borgias and uncovered something extraordinary beneath the Vatican. The opening hours cleverly mirror events across timelines, with Desmond and Ezio both converging on Monteriggioni, but in different timelines.

Yes, Brotherhood assumes you’ve played its predecessor. You absolutely should have. Assassin’s Creed II was a defining moment for open-world design, cementing many conventions that still shape the genre today.

Brotherhood, however, feels like slightly weaker echo of that achievement. It retraces familiar story beats and expands the formula, but the experience feels rushed, particularly in its final act. The additions are competent, the mechanics improved, and the new playground, Rome, is both impressive and problematic. Its density and clutter frequently clash with the series’ auto-assisted parkour, which struggles to interpret player intent in such a labyrinthine environment.

Still, this is an expansion worth playing. The “Brotherhood” of the title finally gives Ezio a leadership role, allowing him to recruit, train, and command fellow Assassins. This system is one of the game’s strongest additions. Calling in assassinations on the fly and sending recruits out on contracts adds both mechanical depth and a sense of scale to Ezio’s crusade.

The side content is also surprisingly robust. While it largely sticks to familiar activities—tailing, fighting, parkour—it’s carried by strong presentation and historical touch. Leonardo da Vinci returns, this time forced to design war machines for the Borgias, which Ezio must dismantle. Another memorable arc sees you aiding Galileo Galilei, persecuted for his revolutionary ideas.

Unfortunately, the main narrative fails to leave much of an impression. Ezio suffers yet another personal tragedy and sets out on a familiar path of vengeance, now framed as a struggle for Rome and the fate of the world. The plot rarely rises above functional, and the finale in particular feels rushed—mission descriptions blur together, scenes don't make sense, and the emotional payoff simply isn’t there.

From a storytelling perspective, Brotherhood feels largely skippable. And yet, in classic Assassin’s Creed fashion, the cliffhanger ending succeeds in pulling me forward, curious to see how the trilogy concludes.

Gameplay is where my feelings become contradictory. As mentioned, Rome is a fantastic nuisance: vast, alive, and historically evocative, but often hostile to precise control. The parkour system is a double-edged sword. At its best, Ezio flows effortlessly across rooftops, vanishing into crowds or garden sanctuaries when pursued. At its worst, he stumbles into slapstick chaos, leaping off balconies, diving into haystacks unprompted, or colliding with innocent bystanders mid-chase.

Oddly enough, this clumsiness becomes part of the charm. Escaping guards feels thrilling; pursuing targets often feels like an unintentional comedy sketch. Ezio’s antics occasionally resemble that hilarious Heavy Rain chase scene on YouTube where every button prompt fails, and the protagonist manages to wreck an entire grocery shop.

The much-maligned tailing missions fall into the same category. Whenever you risk being detected, you need to hide. The inherent absurdity—imagine feeling stalked, only to turn around and see someone dive into a well—breaks immersion completely, but I found them amusing rather than aggravating.

Combat fares worse. The new chain-kill system aims for the Arkham-style flow but lacks responsiveness. Ezio can feel sluggish, sometimes eating a blow before acknowledging player input. Automatic target switching is particularly infuriating, often sabotaging secondary objectives like remaining undetected or sparing lives. When those fail, the controls make for a convenient scapegoat.

As a setting, 16th-century Rome should be my favorite yet, and in many ways, it is. The codex remains excellent, the choral soundtrack evokes the period beautifully, and the constant chatter of town criers gives the city a vibrant, metropolitan pulse. Visually, the contrast between detailed environments and ugly character models is a match made in heaven.

The city restoration system improves my investment in the city as a location. Rebuilding landmarks, opening shops, and generating income feeds back into gear upgrades and equipment, offering a clever sense of progression in a game otherwise light on RPG systems.

Released just one year after its predecessor, Brotherhood marked the beginning of Ubisoft’s near-decade-long annualization of the franchise. It is uneven, occasionally sloppy, but undeniably confident. The series’ identity—conspiracy-laden science fiction, historical sightseeing, and stylized violence—fully takes shape here.

You fight on the side of ideological extremists in a world ruled by corrupt institutions. The Assassins are terrorists by definition, but in this eternal conflict, their violence is depicted as a necessary response to a greater, more insidious evil. The Templars promise order, but at the cost of free will itself.

Brotherhood may stumble at times, but it also knows exactly what it is—and where the franchise is heading.