The Brotherhood of Venice

Being something of a fan of historic fiction, the Assassin’s Creed video games had me hooked from the moment I saw the first trailer for the original game. It would be fair to say that it wasn’t entirely what I expected, with all the modern day science fiction about genetic memories but even that captured my imagination. As a genre of science fiction I had never encountered anything like it – the idea of tapping into genetic memories of ancient and long dead ancestors seemed both unique and , while perhaps a little far fetched definitely very interesting. And it was also a great excuse to then get to play through numerous historical periods in rich and immersive worlds, uncovering plots, conspiracies and stories that span millennia. I have been like a kid in a sweet shop with the Assassin’s Creed games, probably up to the one set in Victorian London, which didn’t really do anything for me if I am honest. Since then they have been a little bit hit or miss (mostly miss), with Origins, set in Ptolemaic Egypt being a stand out but everything else sort of just not raising my interest.

But of all of the games released to date, Assassin’s Creed II was by far my favourite. I think Ubisoft knew they were onto something special because they actually released a short film in the run up to its release. I have linked it below, it’s definitely worth the 35 minutes it takes to watch.

I thought the story and the development of main character, Ezio, was excellent, the way it wove historical characters into the story was very clever and the attention to detail put into the cities of Renaissance Italy, notably Florence and Venice, was absolutely breathtaking – and having played it again recently they still look absolutely beautiful. I think it shows just how well received it was that they released a further two titles charting the course of Ezio’s career as an Assassin. Starting with his twenties in Assassin’s Creed II, moving to Rome and his forties in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and finally finishing off in Byzantium during his fifties with Assassin’s Creed Revelations. The collectors edition of Revelations also came with a DVD which had a short animated film called Embers, which showed Ezio at the end of his life.

All in all, it just felt like the game (or games) was created with passion and that the developers and writers cared about the characters. That, coupled with being set in a period in history that fascinates me has placed this as probably my favourite video game of all time. And off the back of that I have developed a bit of a love affair with Italy – I now speak the language, have visited Venice (one of the primary locations) and I am hoping to get to Florence as well.

So it was highly improbable that when Triton Noir released their boardgame, with miniatures, of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood of Venice that I wouldn’t back it. I absolutely love the renaissance aesthetic of the game; much like the other project I am working in right now for Anno Domini 1666 (please feel free to check that project out too), the setting has notes of the Old World about it, albeit without the grimness and darkness, but it also has some fantastic elements to it, generally in the borderline super human abilities of the assassins and some of the technologies within the game.