Video Game

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

The parkour was so good. There is a part at the end where you are running through this temple and you have to do things in the right order or you have to go back a section. This and some of the Vatican area are the most fun since you have so many ways of getting around and with a lot of the missions

Garrett

Mar 18, 2026 — 4 min read

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Ezio's efforts from Assassin's Creed II are taken from him with the invasion of the Borgia so he must rebuild the assassin's brotherhood while recovering the Peace of Eden.

The Actual Review

Game time:

PC: 17 hours
Xbox: 38 hours

Gameplay

//NOTE// - I played with the Ezio Trilogy Remaster Mod to help with some known issues and making it look a bit better. Also, the Leonardo missions will piss you off to no end, if you don't do some limitations. This has to be done out of the game with the Nvidia or AMD software to limit the FPS to 60. Anything outside of that and the turning in the vehicles will not work.

Even thought this is technically a DLC for Assassin's Creed II, there is some changes from both a control aspect and from PC port perspective.

From the controls, they for sure have some more fluidity in the movement and the climbing aspect has more of what you would expect from running around a town. I also think them sticking to just one city it made it much more enjoyable than than the previous games. I know that same sentence won't be the same in a couple games, but for this one, Rome was outstanding.

The fighting does get very repetitive with the auto combo kill. I mean, the number of people I kicked and then swam through is crazy. Made for most of the fights to feel more of a chore than actually fun. This became especially true when fighting bosses that had a required fight sequence like the final boss.

The DLC missions are ok. The Leonardo ones are more fun if you understand that those devices are things he actually designed and thought of. Which if we spent time being philosophical, we would ask "Was he predicting the future or did people copy his designs." Basically chicken vs. the egg conversation.

The puzzles for Subject 16 are absolutely annoying. They don't have the same descriptiveness as the previous one to make it more understandable as to what you are supposed to do.

Graphics and Sound

The issues with the frame rate where very annoying. I was stuck in a loop where I couldn't move on since I was stuck in the Leonardo mission. I almost didn't finish the game. With the fix in, the game became fun again. The rest of the graphics are not much better than the Assassin's Creed II, but that is to be expected. Made in the same engine, same studio, like I said it is basically a DLC.

The sound was good. I did have some issues where the conversation would just stop while following someone, but I didn't have any other issues.

Story and Characters

This is the first game where we really get a deeper understanding of the modern day problem and the Isu, or aliens that are there. You learn the the Pieces of Eden were meant for so much more. That the group as a whole was trying to prevent something from happening... again.

The modern day is simple, but I think it plays a major part in this one as there is a lot more of an important part in Rome as the Isu spoke to Ezio to Desmond.

The old time (?), Rome time frame, is outstanding. Even just playing straight storyline you will get so much story about the inspiration of the Lannisters in Game of Thrones, the Borgias. They were a nasty piece of work family, which is why their rise to power and ultimate downfall plays such a large part in Italian history. Even a decent part of the history of the church.

My Rating

I had more issues with this game technically, but I had fun playing it. I can see why a lot of people consider this to be the best in the series. It was fun to play and I like the recruitment of the assassin's and sending them on missions. It was a fun gameplay element. One of the things that I wasn't able to play was the online multiplayer. I loved it back in the day and am excited to hear it might be making a return. The story, while interesting, did feel like it was dragging. I would have put money that I was closer to 30 hours and not 17. This is where you get the maximum towers are all that matter gameplay. I am going to say this is "Worth a Playthrough."

Parental Rating

This again is a game about assassinations. There is a decent amount of blood and some sexual conversation. Not as much as Assassin's Creed II, but he is still flirtatious. They would not be a fan of the game if I were playing it at home.