While the game is presented through protagonist Desmond Miles, the bulk of the game is played as Desmond experiences the memories of either Altaïr, Ezio, or Connor through the Animus. This provides a means of a diegetic interface for the player, showing Altaïr, Ezio, or Connor's health, equipment, goals, and other features as part of the Animus interface. The Animus is based on the player 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 Free-running. 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 bracer on the Assassin's arm, and which also can be used to quietly assassinate targets.
Desmond is captured by Abstergo and forced to use a machine called the Animus to explore Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad's memories during the time of the Third Crusade. Desmond begins to witness events after Altaïr breaks all three tenets of the Assassin Brotherhood while attempting to stop Robert de Sablé from taking a Piece of Eden. Al Mualim, the Brotherhood's leader, demotes Altaïr to Novice and tasks him with assassinating the nine Knights Templars, including de Sablé, to regain his former status. Altaïr's quest eventually leads him to face de Sablé in the presence of King Richard I of England warning the King of de Sablé plot to kill him. Altaïr defeats de Sablé, but with his last words, de Sablé reveals that there were ten Templars, the last being Al Mualim, who now holds the Piece of Eden. Altaïr returns to face Al Mualim, struggling to fight through the illusions created by the Piece, but eventually kills Al Mualim. When Altaïr recovers the piece, he – and those watching the Animus – witness a holographic map showing locations across the globe where other artifacts are located. Desmond is pulled from the Animus, and was going to be killed, but his life is spared by Lucy Stillman, an Assassin working as a mole within Abstergo, as she claims they might need to further examine his memories later. He comes to learn that a former test subject had left messages only Desmond can see, foretelling of the end of the world in 2012.
The first Assassin's Creed introduced elements that would remain cornerstones of the rest of the series. The game attempts to create historical versions of Masyaf (the Brotherhood's location), Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus, and incorporates a number of documented historical figures into the story. The virtualized Animus system, free running, climbing, stealth, and parkour elements were all present in this title, as well as the initial formulation of the combat system. The player would have to complete a number of side quests before they would be able to obtain an assassin quest from a local Brotherhood guidemaster in each city, though future games would abandon this prerequisite
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