Can a digital reconstruction of Renaissance Rome reveal the secrets of a lost brotherhood?

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, players navigate a sprawling, ruined Rome to rebuild a clandestine order. By liberating districts from the corrupt Borgia papacy, you transform the city's landscape, invest in its restoration, and command a network of recruits to strike against the Templars in a high-stakes struggle for free will.

Released in 2010 by Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood serves as the direct sequel to Assassin's Creed II. The narrative follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze as he moves his fight against the Templars to Rome, the center of their power. Unlike the previous game, which featured travel between multiple cities, Brotherhood focuses almost entirely on Rome, a map roughly three times the size of Florence. The city is divided into five distinct districts—Vaticano, Centro, Trastevere, Campagna, and Antico—which players navigate using a network of tunnels.

The core gameplay loop involves dismantling the Borgia family's control by destroying twelve towers stationed throughout the city. Once a tower is destroyed, the player can invest in the local economy, unlocking new missions and opportunities. This system of urban renovation mirrors the mechanics seen in Monteriggioni from the previous title. Beyond city management, the game introduces the titular Brotherhood system, allowing Ezio to recruit and train local citizens as assassins. These recruits can be sent on missions across Europe or summoned for support during combat, gaining experience and skills as they serve the order.

Combat in Brotherhood saw significant modifications to increase pace and lethality. Enemies are more aggressive, often attacking simultaneously, which forced developers to move away from the counter-attack-heavy style of earlier games. Ezio can now execute multiple foes in a single streak and utilize new tools like poison darts, a crossbow, and Leonardo da Vinci's parachute. The game also marked a major shift for the series by introducing a multiplayer mode, where players train as Templars at an Abstergo facility, using the 'bleeding effect' to access the memories of historical figures. By May 2011, the title had achieved significant commercial success, shipping 7.2 million units worldwide.

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