Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [Special Edition]

The plot follows the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire the same but through control. The framing story is set in the 21st century and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who, with the aid of a machine known as the Animus, relives the memories of his ancestors to find a way to avert the 2012 apocalypse. The main story takes place immediately after the plot of Assassin's Creed II, featuring Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze in 16th century Italy and his quest to restore the Assassin order, and destroy his enemies: the Borgia family.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is set in an open world and presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on using Desmond and Ezio's combat, climbing and stealth abilities to eliminate targets and explore the environment. Ezio can freely explore 16th-century Rome to complete side missions away from the primary storyline. The game introduced a multiplayer component to the series, portrayed as a Templar training program.

The game received critical acclaim, with critics praising its setting of Rome, content, gameplay improvements over its predecessor and the addition of a multiplayer mode; the story received a mostly positive response, although several critics found it to be inferior to Assassin's Creed II's. It also won multiple awards including a BAFTA award for Best Action Game. It was followed in November 2011 by Assassin's Creed: Revelations, a direct sequel that served as a conclusion to Ezio's story and continued the story of Desmond Miles.