Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, A Decade Later

I just wrapped up my playthrough of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in my revisit of series as it exists right now.  This was an interesting one.  I almost didn't stick with it.  I'm still giving myself that out for other games in this series revisit but I ended up sticking it out and finishing Brotherhood.

It's the middle game in the five game Desmond meta arc of Assassin's Creed and, in some ways, it feels like an awkward in-between game (since it kinda is).  Brotherhood picks up right where Assassin's Creed 2 leaves off and ends on a cliffhanger that Assassin's Creed: Revelations picks up.  Not only is it the mid-point of the Desmond saga, but it's also the mid-point of Ezio's story and his time as the main character.

In terms of gameplay, Brotherhood leans hard into the open world.  The critical path in this one is much faster than any other Assassin's Creed game but the open world gives tons of optional things to do.  You spend the entire time in Rome but you truly get to rebuild and reclaim the city as you spend time in it.

Ezio gets some new tricks like a crossbow, but the main draw is being able to recruit initiates to the Assassin's Brotherhood as you rebuild the Assassin's order.  This is the story of Ezio becoming the leader of the Assassin's while he's rebuilding the order in Rome.  It works as a story.

Ultimately, I think I like the open world of Brotherhood better than the open world of Assassin's Creed 2, but I enjoyed the story of Assassin's Creed 2 more than Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

This is definitely a decent entry in the series and is an easy recommendation if you're looking for a solid open world Assassin's Creed game.

Now I'm really curious to see how Assassin's Creed: Revelations holds up.  I only have vague memories of it but I remember thinking it was a good way to end Ezio's story.  Time to find out!