Let me start this off by saying that if you did not play Assassins Creed 2 yet, you might encounter some kind of spoiler in this article. Probably won’t be a big one, but even the smallest spoilers can tick people off these days. So don’t say you haven’t been warned. AC2 has some hints in it as to what the future holds and you might have noticed this post was categorized as “ramblings”. Once again, you’ve been warned…

A dark summer night in 1499. Ezio Auditore di Firenze has just learned of strange things happening in the world. Wondering what all these strange ramblings of this woman calling herself Minerva mean, he sits down in his condo in Firenze. He calls in his best friend Leonardo da Vinci to help him unravel some more mysteries that he has come across, such as the strange signs Ezio has found and the different locations on the map of the world he unveiled in the codex pages.

Time warp to 20 years later. 1519. Ezio is now married to a lovely woman (by the name of Lisa Gherardini) and the proud father of 2 (Elena and younger brother Ciro). In his library hangs a portrait of his wife, painted by Leonardo. A lot has changed in those twenty years. Boatloads of de Medicis came and died. The son of good friend Lorenzo de Medici was even elected pope in 1513. A papal reign characterized by parties and extravagent displays of eating and drinking. Cardinals have tried killing poor Giovanni de’ Medici, but Ezio has always managed to stop them. It’s the least he could do for one of his closest friends. (Eventually Giovanni would indeed die and was buried in the Basilica Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Does that last name ring a bell?)

At some point, while sitting in his library with all of his books, Ezio hears the sad news of a dear friend’s passing. Leonardo da Vinci dies, May 2nd. Now, all alone in his quest against the Templars and finding the remaining temples Minerva talked about, Ezio turns to his son and daughter. Both being athletically gifted, they learn the ancient craft of being an assassin from their father. On yet another day of hiding behind his history books Ezio comes across a book by Fernando de Encisco, Summe de Geographia. The book describes a mountain formed by three volcanos. Mount Kilimanjaro. Ezio strongly believes that this is where the Gods must have lived. On top of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. A perfect place to wine and dine.

Ezio soon finds out that this trip is not something he can physically handle anymore. His old body is letting him down, so he sends his son and daughter. They are at the age that he started being an assassin himself and if they have any kind of genes in common with him it should be the assassin ones. The kids travel to Africa to find a temple and a brave new world opens itself up to them. I cannot spoil how the story unfolds further, because that would mean nobody would ever buy the game to see for himself. I will however leave you with some nice new gameplay elements:

• You will encounter tribes that live in the area, you can hire their warriors.
• New weaponry includes spears, rockslingers, pointy sticks and other stabbing weaponry made of bones or ivory.
• You can ride giraffes, lions, elephants, rhinos and more, upgrade them with toxins brewn by the tribe medicine man.
• Swinging from tree to tree on the Savannah has never been so cool!
• Hidden blade? Uhm, no. It’s in plain sight.
• Poison blades? Nope again, you throw cobras and rattlers at people from a basket on your back.
• Get your attire painted at the local muddy stream, your koteka has never looked so fancy.

Disclaimer: I absolutely love the Assassins Creed game series and this is in no way meant to be a snide article towards the series, African tribes, giraffes, lions, elephants, rhinos and other African animals…