2. Intro
 Assassin's Creed is an award winning historical fiction
action-adventure open world stealth video game series that
as of 2012 consists of five main games and a number of
supporting materials. The games have appeared on the
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
X, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, HP webOS,[1]
Android, Nokia Symbian and Windows Phone
platforms, with a PlayStation Vita on the way, and will be
coming to the Wii U. The main games in the franchise were
developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with the handheld titles
developed by Gameloft and Gryptonite Studios, with
additional development by Ubisoft Montreal. All games in
the franchise are published by Ubisoft.

3. Premise
 All of the Assassin's Creed games take place in 2012, featuring the protagonist Desmond Miles, a bartender who is a descendent
of a line of Assassins; though raised as an Assassin, he fled his nomadic family to seek out a more common lifestyle. He is
initially kidnapped by the megacorporation Abstergo Industries, the modern-day face of the Knights Templar who are aware of
Desmond's lineage. Desmond is forced to use the "Animus", a device that allows him to experience his ancestral memories.
Abstergo is seeking to discover the location of several artifacts, or "Pieces of Eden", that hold great power, to control mankind
and alter its fate, bringing humanity into a single unified group. Desmond is later rescued by a small team of modern-day
Assassins and taken to a secure location; agreeing to work with them, Desmond uses their version of the Animus to continue to
experience the memories of his ancestors to discover the locations of additional Pieces of Eden so they can be recovered before
Abstergo can do so. While experiencing these memories, some of their abilities are genetically leaked into Desmond, known as
the Bleeding Effect, giving him some of the Assassin skills of his predecessors at the cost of living with multiple sets of memories
and personalities in his mind.
 Within the Animus, Desmond experiences the memories of Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, an Assassin during the Crusades, and Ezio
Auditore da Firenze, an Assassin in Italy during the late 15th and early 16th centuries of the Renaissance, both of whom came
into contact with a Piece of Eden known as "The Apple". While following the storyline with Ezio, other Pieces of Eden become
known, such as "The Staff" as well as a second apple. Throughout these events, Desmond learns of allusions to the prophetic
end of the world in 2012 from a former Animus test subject, Subject 16, as well as from holographic figures of a species pre-
dating humanity. These beings, people of "The First Civilization", call themselves Minerva, Juno and Jupiter. They speak directly
to Desmond through Ezio's experiences and in turn Ezio comes to discover that he is merely a conduit for Desmond and that
centuries later, he is the one who will find answers to the questions that Ezio himself is asking in his own time. The three figures
explain that their species created humanity, who then rebelled against them. A massive solar flare nearly wiped both their
species from the planet and destroyed their entire civilization, the three failing to prevent it after having potential solutions
transferred to their central vault, now hidden in modern day New York, from vaults across the planet. Desmond must now use
the Animus to access the memories of Connor/Ratohnhaké:ton, a half-Mohawk, half-English Assassin during the American
Revolution, in order to locate the central vault and find a way to stop the impending disaster.
 With their numbers falling, The First Civilization attempted but ultimately failed to interbreed with humanity, leaving
bloodlines of First Civilization and human hybrids such as Altaïr's and Ezio's, Desmond himself a unification of the two. These
hybrids have access to the 6th sense of knowledge, which presents itself in the games as "Eagle Vision". Through the visions
Ezio sees with the pieces of Eden, Desmond is provided with the locations of the hidden vaults and must use the central vault to
complete their work and prevent this catastrophe again.

4. Gameplay
 While the game is presented through the protagonist Desmond Miles, the bulk of the game is played as Desmond
experiences the memories of either Altaïr or Ezio through the Animus. This provides a means of a diegetic interface for
the player, showing Altaïr or Ezio's health, equipment, goals, and other features as part of the Animus interface. The
Animus is based on the player, as Desmond, controlling the assassin to maintain the synchronization between
Desmond and his ancestor's memories. Performing actions that go against the Assassin's way or dying breaks the
synchronization, effectively requiring the player to restart at a previous checkpoint. Furthermore, the player cannot
explore outside of areas that the assassin has not experienced yet. There are also abnormalities within the Animus from
previous users of the device.
 While playing as the Assassin characters, the games are generally presented as third-person in an open world, focusing
on stealth and parkour. The games use a mission structure to follow the main story, generally assigning the player to
complete an assassination of public figureheads or a covert mission. Alternatively, several side missions are available,
such as mapping out the expansive cities from a high perch followed by performing a "leap of faith" into a haystack
below, collecting treasures hidden across the cities, exploring ruins for relics, building a brotherhood of assassins to
perform other tasks, or funding the rebuilding of a city through purchasing and upgrading of shops and other features.
At times, the player is in direct control of Desmond, who by nature of the Animus use has learned Assassin techniques
through the bleeding effect, as well as their genetic ability of Eagle Vision, which separates friend, foe and
assassination targets by illuminating people in different colors. Through the Animus interface, the player can go back
to retry any past mission already completed; for example, in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the player achieves better
synchronization results by performing the mission in a specific manner such as by only killing the mission's target.
 The games use the concept of "active" versus "passive" moves, with "active" moves, such as running, climbing the sides
of buildings, or jumping between rooftops, more likely to alert the attention of nearby guards. When the guards
become alerted, the player must either fight them or break their line of sight and locate a hiding place, such as a
haystack or a well, and wait until the guards' alert is reduced. The combat system allows for a number of unique
weapons, armor, and moves, including the use of a hidden blade set in a band on the Assassin's arm, and which also
can be used to quietly assassinate targets.

5. End of Presentation