Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Multiplayer Intro

I've mentioned Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood here before. I just sort of dove right in to my experiences, and didn't give much of a preface as to what the game was about. Even here, I'm not going to explain the single player story; I'll let that speak for itself. But I do want to give a more in-depth introduction into the multiplayer, since I especially like it. I also just began playing the new Da Vinci Disappearance add-ons, and I'd love to talk about those, but they really require a good background.

Without further ado, here's a brief overview of AC:B multiplayer.

Story
In the near future, a war is brewing. Your side (the Templars) have tons of money and tech, and have assembled what amounts to a giant virtual reality simulation. To prepare you for the real war at hand, you and all of the other Templars are going to use this VR simulation as combat training. You assume the identity of some of the most skilled Templars in history, in scenic historic locations, and are given other Templar targets to find and stealthily kill. This should be done while taking special care to avoid your pursuers who are out to stealthily kill you.

Environments
There are wonderfully detailed maps of Renaissance-period parts of Italy and (in some maps) Spain. There are plenty of hiding spots to escape pursuers or wait for suspecting prey. There are also Chase Breakers -- doors or lifts that close quickly after you run through them and take a few seconds to reset. This is to give you some time to escape your pursuer if they're actively chasing you.

But the interesting part of these environments isn't the static fixtures. It's the other people.

There are some street vendors and messengers, but most of the world is filled with clones. There are hundreds of clones who look just like you. There are hundreds of clones that look just like the person you're trying to kill. There are hundreds of each player in the match, all standing around chatting, sitting in benches, and walking in groups. These provide the best ways to remain hidden while in plain sight and to move around the maps without attracting attention.

Contracts & the Compass
Most game types have the idea of a Contract, like the kind you'd sign with a hitman to take out your target. You can only kill the player you've been contracted to kill. And you only get one shot at killing them; If you kill the wrong player, if your target finds you and knocks you out, or if you kill a clone that looks like your target, you lose the Contract.

For each contract you have, a compass appears on the screen indicating the general direction of your target. The accuracy of the compass substantially decreases the closer you get to your target. From across the map, you know exactly which way to head towards your target. But when you're right next to 5 clones that all look like your target, you have no way to be sure which of them is your target unless they run, use a Templar ability, or otherwise disclose the fact that they're not a clone.

Game Types
There are a number of different ways to play in this environment:

• Wanted - You get one Contract at a time. Kill your target to get a new Contract. Avoid being killed by your pursuers. This game lasts 10 minutes.
• Manhunt - You're placed on 1 of 2 teams. There are 2 rounds that last 5 minutes each. For one round, you're exclusively on offense: You have up to 4 Contracts to kill any of the members of the opposing team. Nobody will be pursuing you. For the other round, you will have no Contracts: you must simply hide from all the pursuers on the other team.
• Alliance - You're on a team of 2. You have 2 concurrent Contracts; you're hunting another team of 2. You're also being hunted by a pair of Templars. 
• Chest Capture - You're placed on 1 of 2 teams, again with 2 rounds that last 5 minutes each. There are treasure chests placed throughout the map. When you're on offense, your goal is to stand near enough to a chest to steal it for about 5s. When you're on defense, your job is to spot the folks going after the chests and kill them before they get the chance to steal them.

There are also Advanced versions of some of these game types. As best I can tell (I've only played them once) the Advanced mode just makes the compass even more inaccurate, so you must further rely on your observation skills to identify & assassinate your targets.

Point System
The lure of this game is really the environment and gameplay. But for those who want to know if they were the best at the end of the match, there is a point system.

This isn't like your classic multiplayer deathmatch. Not all kills are the same. If you run at your target like a madman and shoot them in the face, not only will the person pursuing you know *exactly* who you are, but you'll get a measly 100 points. However, if you're walking in a crowd, prick your target with the end of a poisoned pin, casually sit down at a bench a few feet away and watch as your target realizes they've been poisoned and desperately gasps for breath, you can get around 600 points. Stealth kills, acrobatic kills, stunning your pursuers, staying alive for a long stretch of time, and varying how you kill your targets all give you big point bonuses. Quality kills are heavily favored over quantity of kills.

The exact nitty-gritty of how the points are tallied is better explained here. The important part is to act like a real assassin to get the most points.



That's the general world of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Hopefully this will make my other posts about this subject more easy to understand. I have deliberately avoided discussing Templar Abilities. I'm saving them for my next post. I want to not only explain what they are, but how I use them & which ones work best together.