Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice Review

GAME PROCESS

 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood of Venice has a great tutorial mode: through a chain of memories, you gradually get to know the gameplay without having to read the rule book from cover to cover. However, I will describe the gameplay in general so that you don't have to judge the appeal of a game by its franchise alone.

 At the beginning of each turn, you draw an event card that will have some effect on the current turn. Your assassin can then spend one of three action cubes (or four if you stocked up on one from past turns) to move to another map tile, attack, or perform actions necessary to complete the mission objective.

 The mechanics of movement here are simple: with one action you can climb the roof, climb the tower or sneak down the street. And since it's Assassin's Creed in front of you, you can synchronize by climbing to the roof and find out the location of hideouts or scenario objectives. In addition, here, as in Monolith's Conan and Batman Gotham City Chronicles, players can divide the stock of actions between themselves. This is especially important because players can spend Action Cubes completing mission objectives together or attacking enemies. In short, unite and conquer.

 When you find yourself in the same location as a guard (or vice versa), you first have to make a Stealth check. If you fail to roll the dice, you are exposed and alerted. More about anxiety below, but I assure you, it does not bode well.

 In stealth mode, you can use the hidden blade to stealthily eliminate guards. Or, if you're really lacking in thrills, you can wield a sword or other weapon that makes a noise that will expose you and cause you to panic. White combat dice represent a hit, the activation of a weapon's special ability (which also counts as a hit), and the response of surviving enemies.

 As soon as corpses appear, it is wisest to get rid of them before other guards notice their dead comrades. At the same time, you not only remove miniatures from the field, but also draw cards from the deck of equipment: in this way, you can get more simplified equipment and/or troubles like the appearance of new guards.

 In the enemy action phase, you draw a card from the reinforcement deck and then move all the baddies according to the instructions on the card. Reinforcement cards are double-sided: one green side is good, and the other side is red. It applies when alert mode is active, and essentially means that twice as many enemies will spawn.

 Memories (ie the party) ends when you complete all missions, when all assassins are dead, or when all guardian miniatures are on the field and you need to field new ones. Remember double spawn? This is one of the main nuisances that cause anxiety mode. Also, one look at the pile of black dice that enemies drop makes it clear that your three pitiful health cubes won't last long if you're mobbed.

 In full parties (after training) there is also a staff phase. It is played at the beginning and end of each game. You can recruit allies, upgrade your headquarters, heal assassins and craft new equipment.

EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME

 Most likely, your first impression will be a sharp pain in the lower back: lifting this heavy coffin will not be easy. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood of Venice is primarily a campaign mode with legacy elements, boxes with surprises and many envelopes in which the game hides its secrets from you. There are also three sticker sheets and a campaign progress tracking sheet at the end of the campaign book, where you'll mark your experience and completed objectives. You will no longer have to "spoil" any of the components.

 It is difficult to describe the gameplay of the game, in which there are many secrets, no spoilers of anything. Each assassin has his own personal envelope with character cards (new abilities become available at each level), items available for crafting, and skill cards available for selection at levelup. There are 26 flashback missions in the game, including 4 side missions (one for each assassin), so the base boasts a lot of content - and a lot of quality miniatures.

 Although the game scales to 1-4 players (if one player plays as two assassins), 1-2 is optimal.

 An injured Assassin does not automatically heal between missions; Must spend influence on healing at headquarters. Otherwise, your character either becomes weaker at the start of the next mission, or you play an apprentice assassin without special abilities, or you take another assassin.

 What about stealth? Yes, it plays an important role. In the first few missions, you can hack without much consequences, but already in memories #0.4 (either the first or the second mission, which plays according to the full rules), stealth becomes critical for success. It was only here that I realized that the event card most often tells you where the enemies will go, which allows you to plan your actions in advance. In addition, each location has a limit of 4 enemies (or a corpse - the enemies that appear replace the corpses), which allows you to breathe a little (you will not be swarmed by a large crowd) and to effectively eliminate several enemies with one action cube . There are a lot of guards here, especially after they sound the alarm. A lot.

 Scenarios are quite diverse, for example, collecting key items, killing a certain character, escorting and more. However, the games as a whole develop in a similar vein: you stay in stealth mode as long as possible, and when the alarm sounds, you get involved in a mad meat grinder on the streets of Venice.

 I played several hours of the Assassin Creed II. In my opinion, the concepts of timing, leaps of faith, and Templar vs. Assassin fights translate well into the game. There is a feeling that this is exactly Assassin's Creed. Although the core mechanics are taken from V-Commandos, overall the game fits perfectly into the PC franchise. Especially those moments when your plan falls apart and you have to improvise, hacking your way through enemies.

 The gameplay is generally slick and cinematic, reminiscent of Cthulhu: Death May Die. "Extra" hits can spill over to the next opponent - several corpses in one fell swoop. You can walk on the rooftops with the same ease as the streets. There are no tons of little nuances and exceptions to the rules, no mountains of status effects (hello, Blade and Sorcery).

 In terms of replayability, each assassin has 3 skill cards per level to choose from, as well as 2 HQ upgrade options and 2 ally options. In addition, when replaying the scenario, the event cards will appear in a different order, and randomness (manifested in both dice and events) can make the mission easier or more difficult. Although the plot will not impress you, if you like the gameplay, then you probably won't mind going through the campaign a few times.

CONCLUSION

 The slow-moving plot with short plot twists is intriguing, and each envelope is like a mini-addition, teasing with the promise of something new to explore or learn. The plot itself is not bad, but what drew me to the game the most was the gradual disclosure of its secrets. As for the gameplay, the missions are fast-paced, with slick gameplay and constant action that always makes you want to lay out one more batch before folding.