At last, the leader of the Byzantine Templars makes himself known. Unfortunately, we need to deal with him before we can enter the vault and claim Altair’s lost knowledge.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
I have to preface everything I’m about to say with this: The ending to Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is some of the best material in the franchise. Because of the history built up with Altair, Ezio, and Desmond over many game, there is gravity to bringing the three characters together, united despite the difference in time. There’s power in seeing Ezio choose to end his adventurers, realizing that he’s done more than enough in his life, passing the torch to Desmond in the modern era. And that power is amplified by the conversation he had with Sofia, where he explains the words he’s chosen to live by and how his life has been impacted by spending three decades as an Assassin.
It is one of the greatest arguments in favor of turning Assassin’s Creed into an annual release, because that pivot is precisely why we spent three games with Ezio, watching him grow from a brash teenager to a wizened mentor of the Assassin Order. The weight of his decision to let go, to willfully surrender the pursuit of the truth, so that the next generation can take up the mantle, is informed by all of that context build up over all this time. You feel the finality. You feel that both Ubisoft and Ezio are finally ready to let go.
And while I don’t wish to take away from that, it is worth pointing out that both this game and Assassin’s Creed 2 end in almost the exact same way. “Guided by Altair (either through his codex or his keys), Ezio discovers a fundamental truth of the world that was not meant for him: One he could never hope to understand. Rather, it was meant for a man named Desmond, who will live hundreds of years after he perishes.”
Perhaps as another byproduct of the annual release cycle, we spend two game, Brotherhood and Revelations, ending right where he began in terms of where the main story of the franchise. The only difference is that Kristen Bell is no longer in the picture, her contract expired.
It doesn’t diminish what makes this ending as heavy at it is. It doesn’t take away from the fact that the finale to Revelations props up what is mostly a fairly middling story. However, that revelation is merely one small black mark on an otherwise near flawless series of scenes.
Leave a Reply