Sequence 1

Sequence 1: Ignorance is Bliss

Follow Lucy to the Animus and sit inside. You'll sit through a cut scene in the middle of which you'll need to press some buttons to make baby Ezio kick and punch (violent child, tsk, tsk). You won't spend much time in the Animus as quickly Lucy pulls you out and tells you to chase her.

Hold the run button to follow Lucy through the compound. You'll run into some enemies at first, but Lucy takes care of 'em for you. Eventually, you make way to a room with narrow cubicle walkways. Follow closely behind Lucy and stop when she does. You should get through undetected, but if a guard catches up to you, just let Lucy drop 'em. She's rad like that.

After getting through the locked door with your rad eagle vision, you're left in a garage packed with guards. Just mash the punch button—there doesn't seem to be a way to screw this up—to knock out the guards one-by-one.

Another cut scene brings you to Lucy's super secret hideout pad. Follow her upstairs and to a room with a couple other characters. You can walk around and talk to each of them, and even further explore the compound if you're a fan of walking really slowly. Ultimately, though, you just need to walk up to the Animus and sit down to kick off the first mission.

You're dropped into your first mission, which requires you beat up a lot of dudes. Be sure to lock onto an enemy, which allows you to throw up your guard and block incoming attacks. You've got access to a counter move that's incredibly useful if you can get the timing down. Just hold up your guard and press the attack button as an enemy swings on you to put him down instantly.

Talk to Federico and he'll lead you to the doctor. Lock onto Federico and chase after him—he runs fast—while holding the two free-run buttons. Before long, you'll reach the doctor. Approach him (he's the dude in the funny mask) and he'll patch you up, for 200 florins. Fortunately, future doctor visits won't cost as much.

Immediately, Federico challenges you to a race to the top of the church. You can simply run up the face of the building, moving toward hand holds along the way, and easily get to the top before Federico does. Run to the finish line, marked by a white wisp, and as long as you're there first the brief mission is over.

Walk to the glowing view point at the top of the tower and synchronize to fill out part of your map. Afterward, you're left to take a leap of faith off the top of the tower. Leap into the hay stack below and a quick cut scene briefly interrupts your play.

Check your map for an exclamation point that guides you to Ezio's father, Giovanni. He's got a very simple task for you: Deliver a letter. A new target shows up on your radar. Run toward it, but beware the watchful eye of the guards around you. If you take to the rooftops, you won't have to worry about them at all.

Find Petruccio and chat him (her?) up and he'll ask you to grab a feather for him. Truth is, you need to grab three feathers, but they're all marked on your map. The catch here is that you're given a set amount of time. Look for the nearest map marker and run to it.

All three of the feathers are found on rooftops, so you should immediately start climbing. Stay up top and you shouldn't have any problem collecting the three feathers in the given time. Once you've got the third feather, the timer stops and a marker for Petruccio's location shows up. Run to Petruccio's door and knock to end the mission.

Claudia is just chillin' and needs you to exact revenge on her unfaithful man. Talk to her and you'll get the location of Duccio, the cheat. Make your way across down and approach Duccio's location for a quick cut scene. Be ready for a quick time event mid-conversation.

After dispensing with the formalities, you can get to punching the dude. For an easy win, grab Duccio and throw him down, then run to his body and start unloading kicks while he's down. Is that dirty? Maybe, but he deserves nothing better. After beating on Duccio for a while, he'll run off and the mission is over.

Talk to Maria, Ezio's madre, and she'll ask you to follow her for a little errand. She walks slowly, so be patient. You can lock onto her to avoid losing her in the crowd, or just check your map for a moving, blue target to chase. Eventually she'll find her way to Leonardo's place. Yes, that Leonardo. Unless you were thinking the Ninja Turtle.

After the cut scene, pick up the small chest on the ground and start leading Maria and Leonardo to the new target that's on your map. You can do a little healthy job with the chest in your hands, so it shouldn't take long. Reach the end point and drop the chest in the swirl of light to complete the mission.

Giovanni has another couple of tasks for you, so find him and accept his mission. There are two letter deliveries you need to map. Just find the spots on the map, run there, and enter the light wisps to deliver each letter to its target. You're rewarded with a hint of story cut scene.

With the letters dispensed, you need to pick up a carrier pigeon for Giovanni. The pigeon coop's location will show up on your map just like the letter delivery targets. It's on a rooftop, so climb high to find it. Again, just enter the wisp of light to complete the task. You might also have to examine the game's situational camera before the mission completes.

Return to Giovanni's pad and knock on his door. You'll find, through a lengthy cut scene, that he isn't around. Ezio decides to go talk to his father in jail. Make your way toward the marker on your map, but be careful as you get close. The prison has a lot more guards than you'll find elsewhere, and they're looking for you.

Stay on building tops surrounding the prison and approach it from the southern side. As you get higher up the prison, expect to run into an archer or two. If you approach them from behind, you can easily grab an archer and toss him off the top of the prison for an easy kill.

Giovanni is behind held in the highest tower of the prison. Climb up to the white light wisp for a cut scene that sheds a bit more light on the situation. After talking to Giovanni, Ezio falls down into a hay pile. Mission complete.

Go back to Giovanni's room and use eagle vision to locate the hidden door. Okay, it's not really very hidden. Open the door and step into the secret room. Open up the chest inside to get a snazzy new outfit, plus a useful sword.

As you leave the room, you're interrupted by two guards that pull swords on you. Lock onto them and draw your sword. They're not difficult to fight, but we always suggest playing a defensive battle. Wait for the opponent to attack and, while holding the block button, counter attack for an instant kill.

When both guards are dead, a target appears on your map. Make your way there (we suggest the rooftops) and knock on the door encased in a wispy white to complete the mission.

This isn't much of a mission. Once you trigger it, just walk around the corner to the map marker for a cut scene. Afterward, you're left with a whole bunch of guards chasing after you and you need to get away. You can simply run for it, or look for a building you can climb quickly. Ditching your trail is easier from the rooftops, but it's certainly possible to out-hoof the guards on the street level. When the guards are lost, the mission ends.

Sequence 2

Sequence 2: Escape Plans

Find your way to the, uh, video arcade and you'll get a cut scene introducing you to the next mission. You'll be introduced to a number of new, basic gameplay mechanics, so nothing's too difficult. At first, you'll learn to blend. Simply walk into the center of a group of women and you should see a white webbing on the ground that lets you know you've blended.

Paola leaves the building and you need to follow her, using your new blending skill to avoid detection. Paola makes no bones about walking right past guards, so it's important to blend. You won't always be able to remain close to Paola, but that's okay. Just keep her in your sights and follow her general direction.

You eventually circle back to the harem and are introduced to the art of stealing. Practice picking from the pockets of the women (wait, they don't have pockets...) and then you need to try your skill on the unwilling participants of the city. Brush by and steal from at least five people and then walk away before they realize they've been robbed. When you've got the change from five people, the mission ends.

Talk to Paola again and she'll give you the hookup with a cool weapon. Problem is, it doesn't work yet. You need to bring it to Leonardo da Vinci, who's just across town. Make your way to him and knock on his door for a lengthy cut scene.

After giving you the hidden blade, Leonardo is interrupted by a guard at the door. While Leonardo is taking his beating, equip the blade and walk up behind the guard. Press the attack button for an instant assassination. At Leonardo's request, pick up the body and carry it into his workshop. Drop the body in the wisp of white light to complete the mission.

Go back to Paola and she'll tell you that it's time to assassinate Uberto. Make your way to the target that's on the map. The end point is on a rooftop, so don't look for it on street level. When you reach the target, a cut scene shows you Uberto below as he walks into a nearby building.

Drop down from the rooftop and start thinking about how you can get over to Uberto's location without attracting the attention of the myriad guards in the area. Use your blending skills to join a group of people walking in Uberto's direction. There should be plenty of options.

When you get near the building entrance, you'll find that it's guarded by two heavily-armed dudes. Just around the corner of the building, however, you should find a small group of ladies for hire. Target the ladies and hire them, then lead them over to the guards in front of the door. Target the guards and you should be able to give the order to distract them, opening the doorway and letting you waltz right in.

You can dispense with the subtleties once inside the building. Uberto spots you right away, but doesn't do much to avoid you. Equip your hidden blade, run up to him, and assassinate the man. After a cut scene, you'll need to flee the area as guards chase after you. Try to make your way to the rooftops and run until you've lost your tail.

Paola gives you another tutorial mission. This go-round, you need to reduce your notoriety, which is measured by the red ring around the icon in the upper-left corner of the screen. A full ring means your notoriety is at one hundred percent. There are three things that you can do to drop the notoriety, and each reduces your meter by different percents.

The easiest task is removing posters from the walls of the city. The posters appear on your radar and each removes twenty-five percent of your notoriety. Find and remove four posters and you'll have reduced your notoriety to nothing. Note that many of the posters are above street level, sometimes on low platforms and sometimes on high platforms.

Less common throughout the city are heralds, which are dudes with big mouths. They stand on the streets and yell all kinds of propaganda. Pay them 500 florins and they'll spout enough junk about you to reduce your notoriety by fifty percent. We think the price is too high for what you get—it's easier to find four posters.

Officials show up quasi-randomly on your map. Their icon resembles the poster icon, but watch for one that moves on your radar and chase after it. If you can score a quick assassination on one of these officials, you'll deduct seventy-five percent from your notoriety total. When you've reduced your notoriety to nothing, the mission ends.

As long as your notoriety is at zero (and it has to be), this mission is a piece of cake. You have to escort Ezio's mother and sister across town to the city's exit. The city is temporarily packed with guards, but they'll pay you no mind, even if you run. Just avoid bumping into guards and you'll be a-okay.

Chase after each checkpoint that appears on your map en route to the exit. When you reach the exit, you'll find that it's blocked by a row of guards. Try to slip by them and they'll get all huffy, so you've got to play it a bit more creative-like. Fortunately, there's a nearby group of call-girls that you can hire. Target the guards and instruct the women to distract the guards.

The line of defense will drop as the men circle around the women, letting you lead your more precious ladies out of town. Make your way to the last checkpoint just outside of the city walls to complete the mission.

Sequence 3

Start leading Claudia and Maria through the canyon and you'll soon be interrupted with a cut scene. After the scene plays out, turn around and fight off the baddies that are attacking your female family members. The other enemies standing by your nemesis won't attack you, and you can't attack them anyway.

When you've defeated the baddies picking on your sister and mother, another cut scene takes over and leaves you with yet more enemies to cut down. Again, focus on defending your ladies as they're basically defenseless. Fight off the enemies and the mission ends.

Follow Mario into the villa and up the stairs that lead to the doorstop of his considerably-sized home. Here Mario stops and talks for a bit before sending you off to do some errands.

Run back into town and follow the map marker to the blacksmith. Open up the shop and use your money to buy a pair of greaves (armor) and a dagger (weapon). Just a bit further down the street is the doctor from whom you need to buy five medicine items. When all items are bought, the mission is ended.

Talk to Claudia inside the mansion and she'll walk off. Now find Mario further inside and talk to him. He'll demand you train yourself in the art of combat, and warps you to a fighting pit in front of his pad. You'll go through a number of training exercises, each of which needs to be completed at least three times before you can move on to the next.

The final challenge is to defeat Mario in a fight. Fortunately, this isn't difficult. For all his trash talk, Mario isn't especially strong or anything. Defeat him and Mario will run off. Follow the marker on your map to Mario's back room and talk to the man there to end the mission.

You can talk to Claudia in her room on the second floor of the mansion for a bit of dialog, but no mission. Next, go to the south end of town and exit the gate to find a stable of horses just outside. Hop aboard one of the horses and ride it southeast toward the map marker. Time to go to Tuscany.

You'll find Mario in Tuscany. Hop off the horse and talk to him to accept a mission against the troublesome Vieri. Follow Mario up the hill to the wall surrounding the city. You can climb up the broken portion of the wall to the parapet walk.

There are three archers up high that you can silently take out using your new throwing daggers, two on rooftops and one at the highest part of the parapet. When you've killed the three archers, drop down on the inside of the wall and look for the crank that'll open up the gate.

You can help your crew finish off the last of the enemies just outside Tuscany's gate. Follow the group inside the town and Mario will stop to tell you something about distracting guards. What he means is, you need to kill some folks. Start tearing your way through the city, killing the guards in your way. There's a marker on your map to follow.

The marker eventually leads you to a downed soldier who tells you that Mario's in need of help just ahead. Continue just a bit further and you'll fall into Mario's melee. Help Mario and the gang dispatch all of the guards and Mario will give you another target to run after.

The target leads you to the rooftops at the north end of the city. A cut scene shows Vieri enter the town and send his men into a battle with Mario's. You're then instructed to assassinate Vieri, but you don't have to get into the thick of it. Vieri secretly retreats to the top of the parapet overlooking the battle. From the rooftop, you can jump to the stairs that run up the right side of the parapet.

Make your way to the highest part of the parapet and you'll find Vieri there, along with a number of other guards. You need only kill Vieri, though he's undoubtedly the toughest enemy here. He'll block your counter kill attempts, so the easiest way to get him good and dead is to grab Vieri, toss him on the ground, and then execute a killing blow while he's on the ground. With Vieri dead, the mission ends.

Talk to Mario just outside his home and follow him indoors. He'll part ways soon, leaving you to read a letter that you've got (just press the button indicated by the on-screen pop-up). After reading the letter, you can find Mario in his back room. Talk to him again for another cut scene.

Mario then sends you to collect four codex pages scattered about the villa. To find them easily, climb to the top of Mario's estate and move to the view point to synchronize. All four codex pages will appear on your map, making the collection very easy. Just go to the four locations on your map and you'll find the codex boxes in plain view on the lowest ground level. When all four are collected, the mission ends.

Find Claudia on the lower floor of Mario's palace and talk to her. She'll complain about her duties, which don't involve death-defying platform jumps and bloody sword melees, before leaving you to talk to the local architect, who's in the same room. Chat him up and he'll explain how you can invest money into the town to, eventually, make more money. Make whichever investments you'd like—it's your choice.

Exit the architect's screen and find Mario in his room to the north. Chat him up and he'll open up a secret doorway. Follow him downstairs and he'll show you something that you can't have, at least for now. There are hidden assassin's tombs scattered throughout the world that you need to complete in order to unlock the sweet Altair outfit.

Sequence 4

Return to Leonardo in Florence and he'll use your collected codices to give you some new skills. After the cut scene, look for the marker on your map that points you to a courtyard behind Leonardo's pad. There are three new stealth kills you've learned, and you need to practice each.

To perform the hiding spot kill, hop into the pile of hay and press the assassinate button. The air assassinate move must be executed from a platform directly above the dummy that's on the ground. Just lock onto the dummy and press the assassinate button an Ezio will do the hard work. The assassination from the ledge works by climbing onto the ledge just below the railing of the upper balcony. Press the button and Ezio makes the kill look easy.

When all kills are completed, the mission is over.

When you trigger this mission, you're asked to find a particular man among the crowd in the village square that's marked in green on your map. Use your eagle vision and only the guy you're looking for will glow gold (guards glow red, everyone else is darkened out). When you find the man, approach him for a quick, puzzling cut scene.

The man takes off with your pouch of cash in hand. Chase after him, quick! We suggest using the lock-on feature once you're close enough to more easily keep track of the runner. If he leaves your screen, just look for a blue arrow icon that marks his location. Once you're within range, press the grab button while running hard to perform a dive tackle and bring down the thief. A cut scene plays out the mission.

Initiate this mission with La Volpe and he'll start by immediately running. Don't worry about losing him, as he'll move to a spot above you and wait for you to meet him. After another brief cut scene, he runs off yet again, leaving you in the dust.

Again, don't worry about keeping up with him. An icon will appear on your map that guides you to his ultimate destination, so just make for that target. You have a time limit, so stick to the rooftops. You've got plenty of time, though dropping down to the street level by accident may ruin your chances. Watch your step. When you reach the end point, a cut scene closes the mission.

The map marker should lead you to the entrance of this underground tomb. Just activate the skull carving on the wall and Ezio will drop down to the mission. There's a lever to the north that opens up a gate and lets you climb to the next room just ahead.

Continue to the map marker and the camera will pull out to show you the collapsed stairwell and the target you have to reach next. Start by leaping off the platform, jumping left to grab a pole and swing to the next solid platform along the wall. From there, use the series of wooden beams ahead to leap step-by-step to the next platform.

There's a craggy rock wall that Ezio can climb to the next platform, and on this platform a lever on the back wall that opens up a metal gate in the center of the stairwell. Jump through the opened passage in the center column and out to another platform along the outer wall. Turn right and swing across a couple of wooden beams to reach another platform.

There's another switch here. Take a leap of faith off the edge of the platform to drop into the hole opened by the lever you just pulled. Once at the base of the stairwell, approach the nearby opening for a quick cut scene that shows some enemy guards moving into the next area.

Move into the next room and you'll have a new platforming challenge. There are two guards to watch for on the upper levels of the room, so be mindful of their movement patterns. To the west is a series of rocks that you can vault across to reach a climbable portion of the western wall. From there, shimmy left, but make sure the guard to your left is facing away.

When you reach the ledge just under the guard, you can execute a ledge assassination to drop the guard silently. Pull up to the platform and look north for the second guard, who paces back and forth. Wait for him to turn away and you can run up for a simple, straight-forward silent kill.

Look east from the northern wall and you can jump across a series of beams and swing from a rope to reach a platform to the east with a large lever. Pull the lever and the camera swings up to show you another lever high above. To get to it, jump south across the hole in the platform and look left. You can wall-run after crossing the narrow beam to reach a platform overhead.

From here you can jump north to another platform that'll let you leap out to the wooden block suspended in the air by a rope. Once on the wooden block, turn south and you can jump to grab a wooden pole that'll let Ezio swing to another solid platform that was previously highlighted by the pull-away camera.

Pull the lever on the platform and the big double-doors below will open up, triggering the curiosity of three of the guards in the next room. They take to patrolling the room you're in. Move to the ledge overhanging the stack of hay below. One of the guards will patrol near it and stop just next to the hay pile. Lock onto him and drop down for a silent kill.

Immediately hop into the hay pile for cover and another guard will eventually see the dead body and come nearby. He should get close enough that you can perform an assassination from the hay pile (just lock on). From the cover of the hay pile, wait for the third guard to inspect the dead body and show him the same fate.

Move toward the open door to the north and a cut scene will show the last remaining guard run away from you. Chase after him, but don't worry if you can't catch him & dash;it's scripted that you can't. While you're chasing him, a gate will close behind the guard and ahead of you, forcing you to look for an alternate route to the right to circumvent the gate.

You'll catch back up with the runaway guard for more chasing and he'll lead you to the upper level of a large hall. Run up a stack of boxes on the right and from there you can leap out into the open area of the hall and swing across a couple of beams to continue the chase. Another gate ahead locks in front of you. Look to the right and you can climb to a handrail and jump across a series of wooden beams.

The rest of the chase is pretty simple. He'll close another gate in your face, but just turn left to continue following him. When he finally closes a large, stone door behind him, climb up a scaffolding to the right and you can finally confront him (among others).

Don't bother being stealthy here, you'll just have to fight the group of baddies in the large, round room. Play defensively, at least at first, countering incoming attacks with your full-sized sword. When you've whittled down the enemy's numbers, you can start fighting more aggressively to finish them off. After the fight, move down a nearby hall to trigger a cut scene.

As the scene closes, continue down the hall to a room that's loaded with treasure chests. Collect the goods and then open the coffin. There's a door to the right of the coffin that you can open to return to the streets of Florence.

Hit the map marker and this mission will immediately kick off. You need to check the nearby street in front of a large, regal building to find a certain somebody. The area is marked green on your map, so don't waste time anywhere else. Just turn on eagle vision and, once you've spotted the target, a cut scene will take over.

After the cut scene, you need to defend Lorenzo de'Medici, who's marked with a blue arrow. Move near him before readying your sword. If you see an enemy attack Lorenzo, you can frequently score instant kills with a stab to the enemy's back. Otherwise, just stay near Lorenzo and catch enemy attacks with counters for quick kills.

When the enemies are dead, you need to escort Lorenzo across town. The escort is pretty straight-forward, just run toward the map target with Lorenzo in two. He'll keep up with you in you run, so book it, doing your best to ignore the men fighting around you. If you do get confronted, be ready to defend Lorenzo as you did before, putting yourself next to him so that you can counter incoming attacks. When you bring Lorenzo to the end point, the mission is complete.

Talk to the indicated man and he'll tell you that Francesco is mounting an attack at some tower across town. Take to the rooftops and start heading for the tower. There's a waypoint on top of a building overlooking the courtyard outside the tower—hit it and you'll see a cut scene in which Francesco sics his men on you.

Well, not really—no one advances on you. You need to get to Francesco, who's standing atop the prison tower. The northeastern corner of the building is probably the easiest to climb, and you can get a boost from the adjacent building. As you ascend the tower, you'll run into enemy guards. Do your best to ignore them. While you can certainly stop and fight if that sorta thing suits you, it's not necessary.

You want to get to the top level and approach the northwestern corner to trigger a cut scene with Francesco. He'll immediately dive off the corner of the building, prompting you to take a leap of faith off the same corner. Don't worry, you'll survive. When you land, lock onto Francesco and chase after him. Equip your hidden blade and, when you get close enough, launch an assassination attack to end the mission.

Sequence 5

Talk to Lorenzo and he'll hand you another codex. Take it to Leonardo da Vinci across town and he'll translate it for you.

Go back to the Villa Monteriggioni and talk to Mario in his quarters. He'll bring you out to the training grounds in the villa and challenge you to learn a couple of new things. The first is the dodge, which we swear he taught us before. After that, you need to catch incoming attacks with your bare hands. The move is executed just like a normal counter attack. Perform it three times to complete the mission.

When you make your way to Tuscany, you'll find that you've got a number of missions to choose from. Trigger this one by talking to the man in the town square at the center of Tuscany. He asks you to assassinate a town crier that's at the top of a very, very tall tower. Accept the mission make your way toward the tower. As you get near, you'll start hearing the cries of the loud man you're to kill.

Start climbing the tower from the eastern face and make your way upward. You'll have to move around to every other face of the tower on your way up. When you reach the top, cling to the platform and hang there. There are two guards protecting the crier, and you can avoid them entirely if you're smart about it.

Shimmy over to the eastern face of the tower and you'll spot a ladder that leads to the uppermost platform where the crier is standing. Wait for the guards to move away and then quickly run up to the top platform and assassinate the crier. He's got a sword of his own so he may resist, but he's not above a quick counter attack, or even a toss off the roof.

The second assassination mission can be got from a dude to the south of the city. A map marker guides you to the general location of the target, but it doesn't point him out exactly. Climb to the rooftops and use eagle vision to pick out the target (highlighted in gold) that's pacing around the market with a pair of guards in tow.

The target repeats the same route pattern over and over, so you can set yourself up for a simple and easy kill. There's a well in the center of the market that you can wait in. Face south while you cling to the inside of the well. When Bernardo's route pattern brings him to the edge of the well, lock onto him and you can get a quick assassination kill.

After the cut scene plays out, you still have to deal with Bernardo's guards. Be ready to defend yourself, though there's nothing difficult about fighting them. There are nearby mercenaries if you need to enlist their help, but honestly you should be a-okay on your own. Clear the guards and the mission ends.

You'll pick up this assassination mission just outside of town, in a villa to the southeast. The target is inside an abbey to the southeast, and the whole area is restricted so that no matter what your infamy level (even zero), you'll be called out for being in the area.

When you reach the abbey, climb to the top of the building from the western side, which is furthest from the restricted zone. Once up top, you can see inside the abbey to spy on its inhabitants and look for the target. Use eagle vision and the target will glow gold, though he's constantly under the cover of the halls around the southern perimeter of the abbey.

Also along the southern perimeter is a carriage filled with leaves that you can leap into without being seen. From here, wait for Stefano to reach the southeast corner of the building. He'll stop momentarily, letting you quickly and quietly jump out of the leaves and assassinate the target from behind. After the kill, you'll have to leave the area and ditch the guards, but with such a wide open area around you it shouldn't be a problem.

You can pick this mission up from a man in a small village northeast of the main city. The target, the Archbishop Salviati, is in a compound very nearby. Your contact gives you the details and then tells you that you've got a small army at your fingertips, but truth be told they're not that useful. Just make your way to the gate on the southern wall of the compound.

There's a small group of enemy soldiers outside the front gate, as well as a few archers on top of the walls. Take out the archers from afar using throwing knives before siccing your men on the guards to engage them.

When the coast is clear, you can climb up the face of the wall just left or right of the gate. Ezio says something about wanting to open the gate, and if you really want to you can drop down and try to open the gate via the draw handle just inside the compound. But as soon as you drop down, you'll likely come under attack. Stand your ground and counter attack the many enemies that surround you. So long as you're patient and don't get too aggressive, you should tear through their numbers quickly.

And if you're lucky like us, the Archbishop will join the fray and attack you. He's dressed in a unique attire that resembles pajamas. If you counter attack him, he'll die and complete the task for you. After the Archbishop is dead, your crew will flood into the compound and help you finish killing the enemies around you, completing the mission.

The start point for this mission is on a rooftop overlooking an open square in the city. As people spill out of the main building in the square, use eagle vision to pick out the target, Torri del Salvucci. The goal for now is not to kill him but to let him lead you to the meeting spot for all the bad dudes. So drop down to street level and trail him, keeping your distance so that you don't give yourself away.

It helps if you start the mission with zero notoriety, as you'll be waltzing past myriad guards as you trail del Salvucci. You can hire a group of ladies to offer cover if you need. Following del Salvucci on the rooftops is a bit difficult just because of the places he goes, but you can get by okay on the ground. Eventually, he'll exit the city limits through a line of guards.

You can't just walk past the wall of guards, so climb the wall via the ladder to the right. You may attract the attention of some parapet guards, but you can actually fight 'em off while moving down the parapet path without rousing the suspicion of the target.

Del Salvucci eventually heads away from the city wall to an outdoor amphitheater. The main path has guards nearby and it's a restricted area, so you'll need to avoid the guards completely. Just jump over the walls to the left or right of the main entrance and get in close enough to del Salvucci to trigger a cut scene.

After the scene plays out, you're left to fight off a bunch of guards, including some powerful brutes that you won't be able to counter. However, these powerful dudes are vulnerable to the disarm maneuver, which is just as good for killing. When you've cleared the area, approach the downed Jacopo and finish him off.

Sequence 6

Talk to Lorenzo and he'll hook you up with a totally radical Medici cape which makes you anonymous to Medici guards—permanently. A marker appears on your map that leads you to Leonardo da Vinci's pad. Knock on the door and the mission ends.

You'll need to travel to the mountains to pick up this mission. Talk to Leonardo, who's stuck trying to fix his wagon. The cut scene that follows leaves you in control of a horse-drawn wagon that's being chased by an endless supply of enemies that attempt to leap onto the back.

As enemy soldiers jump onto the carriage, you need to rock it back and forth to toss 'em off. You don't have to worry about a throttle or any sort of "gas button" as the horses will do all that work. Just focus on steering and rocking the carriage. You can rock too much (Billy Idol may disagree) and flip the wagon, but it's pretty hard to do so don't take it easy. Also be sure to watch the health meter of the carriage—running into things damages it.

After a mid-ride cut scene, you'll start taking fire from archers with flaming, explosive arrows that hit the ground ahead of you. Do your best to weave a path between these spots of fire as they'll further damage your ride. Eventually, Ezio lets Leonardo continue and hops off the wagon.

You've now got to kill off a fair-sized group of enemies, including a brute with a nasty axe. Simple counters may not work against all of these guys, so throw in some disarm attempts, as well as grabs to throw 'em on the ground. When you've killed off the lot, move to the waypoint just down the road a bit to complete the mission.

You get transported to Forli, a new city. To the far, far northeast corner you'll find Leonardo, who's ready to board a ship with you. But before you can join, you get interrupted with this mission to save a woman who got herself into trouble.

A map marker points you to a nearby oar boat. Hop aboard and approach the oar at the back of the boat to start steering it. Row south and around the corner of land to reach the woman. Ride into the wisp of light in front of her, then deliver her to another wisp of light near the dock. Mission complete.

Sequence 7

Hop aboard the ship after Leonardo and hit the waypoint to be whisked away back to present (future?) time. Follow Lucy to the downstairs warehouse where she's set up a challenge for you.

There are four switches on the surrounding walls that you need to hit. Just activate eagle vision and they'll glow red—two on walls at the upper catwalk level and two on the lower ground level. When you've hit all four switches, look for Lucy and she'll lead you back up to the Animus room.

After a cut scene, you're left in Acre with control of Altair, which should all be familiar if you played the first Creed game. Move straight down the road and don't worry about the guards surrounding you. As you enter the castle gate, you'll catch sight of a figure running away from you.

Do your best to lock onto the figure and chase after, but don't get too worried if you fall behind. If the figure gets away, just reach a high spot and use eagle vision to spot the glowing gold so you can continue the chase. You'll be lead across building tops and eventually onto a parapet walk.

Climb the tower at the end of the parapet. You get a cut scene as you reach the end and are left sitting atop the tower. Perform a leap of faith off the tower and you'll be brought back to the present-future time. Move into the Animus to return to ancient Italy.

When you reach the small balcony midway up the tower, climb on top of the balcony railing and stand directly beneath the beam above. Leaving the analog stick in neutral, hold the high profile button and tap jump. Altair should hop up to grab the beam. If you have trouble grabbing the beam, just keep trying—we promise it works, but lots of readers have told us it's not always easy.

This mission is really hard. Talk to Leonardo. A man will come by and escort you and Leo around the town of Venice, showing off some of the attractions. Cut scenes interrupt you. In the final cut scene, be ready to press a button to hug da Vinci. The end. Did we mention that this is a really tough mission?

The start point for this mission is near a heavily-guarded area, and if you approach from the wrong angle you'll have to fight all sorts of baddies. Not that we're discouraging that. When the mission starts, follow Rosa around as she runs in circles looking for her destination. Guards will show up that need killing. Do your best to protect Rosa.

Rosa doesn't seem to know where she's going, so expect to run around a lot and get interrupted by a number of groups of guards. Eventually, Rosa drops to her knees, unable to walk any further. Get near her and you can pick Rosa up to carry her. A final waypoint marker appears on your map, so run her to it quickly. If you get chased, hire a group of mercenaries to distract the guards for you.

At the waypoint, Rosa and a buddy take off in a gondola while you're tasked with defending them against archers on the buildings surrounding the river. Immediately cross the river by skipping over the poles to the southwest and assassinate the nearest archer. For a quick kill, you can simply toss him into the water—unlike you, the guards can't swim.

Keep moving up the river, staying ahead of the gondola so that you can intercept the archers before they get a chance to shoot at your weak friends. Look for red dots on your map that appear on either side of the river so that you know where to look for guards.

The gondola ride ends eventually. As Rosa's buddy takes off, pick up Rosa again and bring her to a table in the crew's little hideout area. Mission completed.

Talk to Antonio, the head of the thieves guild and you'll at first get a cut scene and a memory sync, without having to do anything. Talk to him again, however, and you'll get a mission to identify and kill some traitors. The nearest traitor is in an area just north of you, so head toward the green area on your map.

You can use eagle vision to spot the traitor glowing gold in the area. He's on one of the largest boats in the water, just off the docks to the north. If you just swim right up to his boat, his alert guards will spot you and make a stealthy kill impossible. But if you swim underwater, you can get up along the southern side of the boat and cling to the side, a position from which you won't be spotted.

Climb your way to the outside rear-left edge of the boat, just above the anchor hanging from the side. The target will patrol around the ship's deck and periodically stop right at that position. Lock onto to the traitor and execute a stealth kill to quickly and silently pull him over the edge of the boat, to his death in the water below. One traitor down, two to go.

The next nearest target is to the east and south a bit. Make your way in that direction and use your eagle vision on the rooftops to spot him out—the traitor is also on the rooftops, pacing in circles. When the traitor isn't looking at you, position yourself along the ledge of the building and wait for him to walk near you. You can bust out another simple, stealthy kill without any drama.

The third and final target is found along the northeast boundary of the city. He has a fairly long and complicated patrol route that always takes him by the water's edge. When he's not nearby, jump from the rooftops and into the water so that you can cling to the ledge just below street level. Wait for the traitor to circle back around (we promise he will) and nail him with a stealthy assassination while locked onto him.

The guy with this mission, Ugo, is standing on a rooftop in the center of the city. He asks you to free some prisoners held captive in three different locations in the city. The nearest group is just north of you. Make your way there, but beware the guards standing in the alleyways that surround the makeshift prison cells.

You can infiltrate the area by the rooftops without getting any unwanted attention. As you get near the little holding cell, a dialog between the guards triggers. Wait around and most of the guards will eventually walk away, leaving you waiting over just a single guard. You can drop down and assassinate him and then open the door of the holding cell, but expect other nearby guards to attack as you do.

Fight off the enemies and then make your way back to the rooftops with the freed prisoners in two. They're thieves so they can keep up with you as you hop around rooftops. Make your way back to Ugo, who should be just south of you. As long as you can escort at least one of the prisoners there, you can move onto the next set of captives.

The set of captives to the south are under even less strict supervision. Again, use the rooftops to get close and clear a path (by killing roof archers) that you can use on the return trip. The prisoners are at the bottom of a courtyard, with just one guard in front of their cell.

Drop down (quietly) on top of their cell, lock onto the guard, and perform a quick assassination. You should go unheard, letting you release the prisoners and take back to the rooftops for a simple jaunt back to Ugo.

We weren't able to rescue the last group, located to the west, without triggering alarms, though you can perform a double assassination on the two guards directly in front of the holding cell. Expect to have to fight off other guards that hear the event. When they're dead, escort the four prisoners back to Ugo. Do your best to avoid the water, as the prisoners will die if they fall in. And there's not much you can do about it.

Talk to Rosa and she'll have her buddy show you a new move that'll help you be a better climber. Cling to the wall under the scaffolding and perform a big jump upward. At the peak of your jump, press the grab button to get hold of a ledge, securing the height of your jump. Perform this move a few times to reach the top of the scaffolding and end the mission.

Meet Rosa in front of the Frari, the tall tower at the center of town. She challenges you to use your new climbing skill to reach the top of the tower. To make things interesting, she also gives you a time limit. Fortunately, there's more than enough time to reach the top.

Begin climbing upward. You won't actually need to use the new climb leap for most of the ascension, but it certainly doesn't hurt. When you reach the first level of the rooftop, start clinging to the main tower. This is where you can't progress further upward without the use of the climb leap. Make your way to the top, synchronize, and then perform a leap of faith to return to street level. Talk to Rosa to end the mission.

Talk to some dude on the docks and he'll ask you to loot three chests for some very authentic Halloween costumes. All three chests appear on your map and they're all pretty close. First, head for the nearest chest to the south. The guards are all busy staring to the east, but you can drop down into the river to the west and come up behind them to secretly steal the loot. The chest looks like a normal treasure chest and is in a small alcove accessible from both the street and the river.

To the east, the second group of guards surrounding the next chest are not as easy to circumvent. The chest is against the outside wall of the Frari and the guards surround it tightly, giving you no space to sneak in. But there's a group of thieves just north of the chest's location that you can hire and use to distract the guards. When the guards run after the thieves, loot the chest.

The final chest is located at the very edge of a restricted area, which means that if you get close you'll automatically be a target for surrounding guards, no matter how suspicious or ordinary your actions. Thankfully, the chest is actually located just outside of this zone, but you'll need to distract the guards surrounding the chest before you can get at it. Hire another group of thieves and sic 'em on the guards, then swoop in to loot the chest, being mindful of the restricted zone's boundaries.

As the last part of the mission, you need to hijack a small oar boat nearby. It's just off the dock on the other side of the restricted area. We suggest climbing to the rooftops so you can get around the restricted area without alarm, and then jump onto the boat. Man the oar and row to the waypoint across the water to end the mission.

See Antonio again and be ready for a quick time event during the cut scene after you accept the mission. The first order of business is to kill five archers surrounding the building in which Emilio is camping. Take to the rooftops and locate the guards. Once you've gotten near them, you can't let them get too far away from you. Kill all of 'em, being as stealthy or as brazen as you like. Personally, we like brazen.

When all five archers are killed, a yellow marker appears on your map and guides you to Antonio. Talk to him and he'll give you the last objective for the mission, which is to kill Emilio. Go east toward the building in which Emilio is stationed and hire a group of thieves along the way. You can use 'em to distract the guards just outside the compound.

 Once you're inside the gates of the compound, start climbing your way to the top of the building. You'll have to make use of your climb leap ability frequently, so look for opportunities to jump high and grab the next ledge. When you reach the top of the building, you trigger a cut scene that shows Emelio on one of the lower floors.

Take out any nearby archers on the roof and then drop down to one of the upper levels of the building on the south side. There's a guard there you'll need to take out, so be quick about it.

From the southern platform, move east and you can look down a hall of stairs, up which walks Emelio. Wait for him to get nearby and then quickly run out and assassinate him. A cut scene takes over, after which you need only to talk over to Rosa to end the mission.

Sequence 8

Trigger this mission in the center of town. A couple of conspirators meet up and begin walking away from you. You need to trail them, but obviously you don't want to rouse their suspicion. Stay close enough that they never leave your line of sight, but try not to run or do anything else high profile. If a nearby guard bumps into you and gives you crap, turn the other cheek. If you get into a fight, you stand a good chance of blowing the mission.

Occasionally, the pair you're trailing will stop and look around. Do your best to blend, or simply increase your distance to keep them from suspecting you. If there's a nearby group of courtesans, you can hire them and have them surround you for instant cover. The courtesans will also be useful when the conspirators move past a line of guards blocking your path. Send the ladies to distract the guards so you can continue past 'em.

The pair move to a large open area and meet up with more conspirators. After the cut scene, the same rules apply—follow 'em, but don't get spotted. You should probably be hiring every group of courtesans you pass, as they'll get lost in the shuffle and you'll lose your cover as you progress. They don't cost much, and you shouldn't be sweating that kind of money at this point in the game. Eventually, you'll make your way to a dock where a cut scene closes out the mission.

Find Rosa and Antonio and you'll have to wander around the Palazzo Ducale to scout out a way to infiltrate the building. Lead Antonio to the first map marker for a quick bit of dialog. Another map marker appears.

Run to the second marker to scout and a third marker appears to the southeast. Beware that the building is surrounded by a restricted zone, so do your best to skirt around it. The third marker is at the top of a tall tower that you must climb. It's not a tough climb, but the way back down can be tricky unless you use the leap of faith off the north ledge.

After the leap of faith, wait around for Antonio to catch up—he's afraid of heights and won't leap after you. You need to now make your way to the north end of the Palazzo to hit a fourth map marker. Again, be careful to avoid the restricted zone's boundaries as you go around the western side of the Palazzo. When you hit the map marker, Antonio suggests that you've found a suitable route to the top of the building.

A fifth map marker guides you onto the top of the Palazzo. Climb the northern face of the building, using the scaffolding to bridge the gap between hand holds. When you reach the top, make your way to the map marker. There are no archers to worry about, so just hit the last waypoint to end the mission.

Find Leonardo's new shop in Venice and pay him a visit. He and Ezio move to a rooftop to test out Leo's rad flying machine. As the cut scene ends, you get to play with the flight controls a bit. You don't really have to do anything—in fact, we crashed into the first building we came to (...the controls are inverted...). After you've landed or crashed, the mission is over.

There are four areas of the city, all east of your current location, that require "clearing." Which is to say, you need to go to these four locations and kill the brute guards, the heavily-armored guys that show up in gold with your eagle vision. Each of these areas has standard guards nearby as well, but you don't need to kill them. Move to the nearest area and you'll find two of these brute guards standing on a bridge. Approach them subtly and you can assassinate both without a fuss.

The next area that needs clearing is a ship in the river that runs through the city. The ship is considered a restricted zone, so you can't just waltz onto it. But you can board the ship from the water, climbing onto the side of it to peek above and make sure no one on the deck is watching you. There are two more brutes patrolling the ship's deck and you can easily slip behind them for another double assassination.

The last two areas are pretty close by, and each is marked by multiple targets. To the south are two brute guards on opposite ends of a walkway by the river. You can chill in the water, cling to the ledge of the walkway, and wait for each guard to get near you for a quick assassination from the ledge. Beware that there are small restricted areas marked on the map, and if you swim through their edges the lesser guards on the walkway will spot you.

To the north, the group you have to kill is actually made of three archers on the rooftops. Getting to them stealthily isn't easy because of their formation, but since they're just archers there's no real reason to play it so safe. Just rush the clowns. When all three are dead, the mission is ended.

As you take flight, immediately pause the game and check out your map. You can see the locations of all of the fires in the city, as well as the target to the far, far southeast. If you make a simple beeline for the target, the Palazzo Ducale, you won't get the updrafts you need to maintain your height and infiltrate the fortress. Instead, you need follow the trail of fires that lead you east and then north before finally turning south toward the Palazzo.

The game gives you instructions for kicking archers, but we suggest you ignore them completely to make completing this part easier. (Note: This is the only point in the game where you can earn the "Fly Swatter" Achievement / Trophy. If you don't kick a guard here, you won't be able to unless you start a new game.) There's no reason to confront the archers. At the start of the flight, there are two diverging trails of fires. Keep to the northernmost trail of fires and you'll be out of the archers' ranges. Try to get within the range of each updraft you pass—you may have enough height to completely fly over a fire without getting the updraft effect, but it's important that you get close enough to each fire to move higher.

There's a longish gap between fires at the northernmost portion of the trail and you'll lose a lot of altitude. The next set of fires is on the deck of a boat far, far below. Make sure you catch the updraft from the boats, otherwise you won't be able to continue. From here on, it's smooth sailing (or smooth gliding?). Just keep an eye on the map to make sure you find your way to the waypoint destination on the top of the Palazzo.

Now that you've made it onto the roof of the Palazzo, you've got to get inside and assassinate the target. From your landing spot, you can use eagle vision and spot the target to the north, on an open level just a couple of floors under you. To get to him, you'll want to actually run around the top of the building, going south before turning east to follow the roof closer to the target's location. But there are three archers to watch out for as you move around the rooftop. You can kill them all silently with a bit of patience.

Once you reach the northeast corner of the rooftop, start climbing along the white northern wall. You can completely avoid detection by climbing the wall, eventually bringing yourself down on the white wisp waypoint below. Hit the waypoint and a cut scene takes over.

After the cut scene, run out of the room through the doorway to the east and exit to a hall. From here you can safely jump over the ledge to reach the ground level of the Palazzo. Here you'll find the assassination target running around like a chicken sans head. Assassinate him quickly.

Your final task is to exit the Palazzo and ditch the guards chasing you. Run out of the building through the southern exit and jump into the river. You can dive underwater to escape the guards' watch and quickly lose 'em to complete the mission.

Sequence 9

Pay a visit to Leonardo and he'll cook up a new weapon for you based on a mystery codex. After the cut scene, move out to the yellow map marker and you'll get some directions on how to use your new pistol. Lock onto the three dummies across the river and shoot 'em. Holding down the fire button builds up your accuracy, making it possible to hit the distant targets. When all three targets are shot, return to Leonardo to complete the mission.

You'll find Antonio and, er, company in the Dorsoduro district to the south. Talk to him and your conversation is interrupted by a murder—that's right, murder! After the cut scene, you need to kill the murderer, who's marked on your map and doesn't move. Make your way toward the murderer and you'll be stopped as he threatens to kill another courtesan. Lock onto him and equip your pistol. Charge the shot fully and blast the murderer from afar to end the mission.

Go back to the bordello and speak to Antonio and the sister. Follow them to the carnival. Mission complete (seriously).

This is the closest of the three carnival games you've got to complete in order to earn the golden mask. Talk to the game master and he'll challenge you to round up a bunch of ribbons from women in the area. Various groups of women are marked on your map. Move to them and pick-pocket the ribbons from 'em. You can usually get two or four ribbons per group if you bump into all of the women. Go around the area quickly to pick up at least 25 ribbons. It shouldn't take long.

The carnival game to the north challenges you to a quick game of Capture the Flag. You start out on a rooftop, pointed toward a yellow waypoint on the map. Start running toward it as quickly as possible, ignoring the red marker that appears on your map. The red marker is your competitor, who tries to get to the flag before you. As long as you start running right away and jump down to the street level (don't sweat your health), you should always beat him. Grab the flag and immediately start climbing to a rooftop to prevent the competitor from tackling you. Bring the flag to the start point to score a point. Earn three points to win.

You've got a limited amount of time to complete this fairly challenging obstacle course. A series of waypoint show up one after the other, and you've got to run through all sixteen of them, quickly. The first four are on ground level, so you don't waste time climbing any buildings. The fifth waypoint will start you on an ascent up the side of a building, and from then on you can expect next bunch to require some careful platforming as you skirt the side of the building.

After hitting the seventh marker, turn left and jump off the ledge of the platform. Ezio will grab onto something hanging just off screen and swing around to the next series of stepping spots and their waypoints. You'll eventually have to climb up to the rooftops for a couple of waypoints.

On your way to the thirteenth waypoint, you need to take a big dive off the west end of a building and fall into the river below. Continue up the ramp to the street level and you can continue collecting the last few waypoints on street level. The final marker is on a boat.

This is a simple mission. You need to just fight off the opponents that come at you using your bare hands. Even though you've no weapon equipped, you can still use the typical counter ability. Though you won't always KO an opponent with the first counter, repeatedly make use of the technique and you'll eventually drop the opponent.

Eventually, some sleaze will send in dudes with swords. At this point, it's a-okay to break out your own weapon and fight back, though it's certainly not necessary. Defeat all of the opponents and the challenge ends. That should be the last of the carnival games!

You've got to get the golden mask back from the bad dude who stole it. His location is marked on the map, but only with a large, vague green area. Move into the green area and climb a building so that you can use eagle vision to scout the area. He's located at the intersection of two major roads, and once you spot him he'll start wandering off.

Drop back down to street level, hire a group of courtesans, and start following the dude. If you lock onto him, you can use the courtesans to distract the target, causing him to stop in his tracks. Walk up behind the target and pick-pocket him to steal back your mask. With the mask in hand, you can now make your way toward the fancy party.

Ezio equips the mask as you near the party and a man in front of the party entrance will step aside to let you in. The sister greets you as you enter and suggests you use her courtesans to help stay incognito. After waiting around for a bit, a cut scene shows the big bad thief walk into the party and charge his guards with finding you.

The guards will slowly patrol the party, and if you get spotted the mission instantly ends. Do your best to blend. Find a group of partiers and stand in the middle of them, but don't expect the cover to last forever. As the guards move through, they bust up the groups and threaten to expose you. So as you wait in a crowd, be sure you look for an alternative hiding spot. Look around for a group of courtesans and lock onto them, ready to hire 'em and blend with them at a moment's notice.

Keep moving between blending spots until the timer runs down, at which point a cut scene shows the arrival of the Doge. The Doge stays on a boat just off the water. Hire a fresh group of courtesans and meander toward the boat, waiting at the short fence. The sister gives you the suggestion to use your pistol to take out the Doge from afar—sounds good to us!

Blast the Doge and then make a hasty retreat from the area. You need to become anonymous to complete the mission, so just jump into a river and swim under a bridge.

Sequence 10

Find Antonio in the north of Venice and he'll tell you about your next assassination target, Silvio. When the cut scene ends, so does the mission.

Make your way across town and you'll find an injured soldier on the rooftops that gives you some new information on finding Bartolomeo, who should in turn help you with Silvio. You get a large green area added to your map, but note that it's overlapped by a restricted area. Expect trouble.

Take to the rooftops and make your way toward the target. It'll be hard to spot Bartolomeo from the rooftops since he's caged inside, but you can easily spot the semi-circle of guards surrounding him. From the rooftops, target the guards and you can take out two of them with an assassination, leaving just two more to kill. Fight 'em off, and then unlock Bartolomeo.

As Bart breaks out, more enemy guards appear. Fight 'em off, and then start making your way toward the new target to the south. Unfortunately, Bart isn't a climber, so you'll have to stick to the streets. Do your best to avoid guards along the way. While they won't necessarily bother you if you've got a low level of notoriety, Bartolomeo will pick fights with every guard he sees. And he sucks at fighting. Ol' Bart will end up getting the short end of the stick in every fight, so you have to save him. Thankfully, since he's picking the fights the guards won't notice you, and you can just walk up behind them for easy assassinations.

But again, it's best to try and avoid guards altogether. When you reach the waypoint, a cut scene quickly interrupts you and leaves you with a couple of guards that you must fight. Kill 'em off and then open a nearby gate to close the mission.

Move to the first target and climb to the top of the building in the center of the restricted area. From the rooftop you can spot three guards outside the gate holding the prisoners. Assassinate two of 'em in one move and then kill off the other so that you can open the gate and free the prisoners. They'll follow you, but like Bartolomeo they have no idea how to climb.

Another map marker appears to the east, marking another group of soldiers to free. You can try to be stealthy or just charge in with your crew to wreck the place. Normally you need to be out of combat in order to open the gate holding in the prisoners, but if your crew is fighting the guards you should actually be able to unlock the gate. When the gate is unlocked, a quick cut scene interrupts the battle and essentially completes the fight for you. Score!

A third map marker leads you to the last batch of prisoners, and again you can just charge the gate, let your crew pick a fight, and then release the prisoners to end the mission without actually having to fight.

You're given command of a group of soldiers and tasked with bringing them to three different locations. Like Bartolomeo, they can't climb and they'll also pick fights with any guards with whom you cross paths. Watch your map as you run toward the target and do your best to avoid red dots that mark guards. When you reach the target, you'll find a few guards standing inside a small yard. Take 'em out, then step inside the yard to hit a glowing waypoint.

A second marker appears on your map when you've killed the first batch of guards. Again, make your way there while doing your best to avoid guards along the way—it's just easier that way. There are more guards at the map marker location, and another waypoint appears when you've cleared 'em out. A third marker leads you to the last group of enemy guards. When you've killed them, hit the waypoint for a final cut scene to close out the mission. Note, however, that on this final waypoint, the cut scene froze on us twice, leaving Ezio stuck in the gated yard. If this happens, just quit the memory and restart the mission.

Knock on Bartolomeo's door again for the last mission in the memory sequence. The first step is to climb the tallest tower in the area so that Ezio can set off a firework. Thankfully, the tallest tower is marked on the map for you. The west side of the tower provides the best climbing surface, letting you easily ascend to the top. Reach the very tip of the cross and you'll trigger a fresh cut scene.

You need to quickly get back down to street level to help Bartolomeo, who's not doing a great job of defending himself against Dante. Perform a leap of faith in the northeast direction and then quickly make your way to the new map marker. When you find Bartolomeo and his crew in a fight, try to spot out Dante (he's got a long robe and an axe) and focus your fighting on him. His axe is heavy and powerful, so you'll need to use disarms and sidesteps to defeat him. Damage Dante enough and another cut scene will interrupt the action.

Now Dante starts running away from the melee, leading you to Silvio Barbarigo. Run after him, and fast. Lock on for easy tracking and Dante will lead you through a line of enemy soldiers before he stops right next to Silvio. Break through the line of soldiers and you can perform a double assassination on the two targets. Mission complete.

Sequence11

After parting ways with Leonardo, break into the walled-off area to the northeast and trigger this mission via a waypoint on the parapet walk. After the cut scene, you need to trail a courier that zigs a zagging path through the city. Stay far enough behind him that he doesn't get curious, but also be sure to keep him in your sights. If he gets separated from you by a wall, a countdown timer hurries you to catch back up.

Occasionally the target will stop and look behind him to make sure no one's following. Don't worry too much about getting spotted as he doesn't become suspicious instantly. If he does see you, just turn away and walk further from him until the courier gets back to walking. After hitting a checkpoint, the courier crosses through a line of soldiers and if you try the same you'll be instantly spotted. From here, you need to take to the rooftops.

The target eventually goes through another line of soldiers, at which point you get a quick break by way of a cut scene. After the scene plays out, you need to secretly infiltrate the building and kill the courier to steal his outfit. Climb the face of the building and, once you reach the top, look to the right. There's a pile of hay you can dive into on the ground level. Jump in!

Hop out of the hay just long enough to get the attention of the guard on the ground level before hopping back into the hay stack. The guard will wander over to inspect, which lets you get a silent assassination from your hiding spot. With that guard taken care of, you can waltz behind the target ahead and assassinate him to steal his rad outfit and end the mission.

At the start of the mission, you simply need to follow the leader through the city. Do your best not to bump into anyone, as Ezio will drop the chest if you do. Eventually, you read the end of the trail and a cut scene takes over.

Now the mission gets serious. You've got to defeat Rodrigo Borgia, a feat easier said than done. In the first stage of the fight, you're best off using a sword and aggressively throwing strikes at Rodrigo. He'll naturally block most everything, and you can't get a quick kill, but you'll whittle away at his health, slowly but surely. Be ready to counter his attacks when he throws them, but if you're aggressive enough you can back Rodrigo into a corner and he won't be able to do much.

Eventually, Rodrigo calls in some backup. At this point, we suggest ditching your sword for your bare hands and using disarm techniques to defeat the opponents around you. Don't worry about attack Rodrigo—you just need to kill all of his backup to progress to the next stage of the fight. The dudes with spears are by far the most dangerous and, unless you've got a spear of your own to counter them, a disarm is the best way to take them out.

When you've defeated all of Rodrigo's men, you get some help while even more of Rodrigo's dudes show up. Again, we suggest sticking to disarms to clear the enemies, ignoring Rodrigo until all of the lesser baddies are killed. When it's just Rodrigo left, equip a sword and go back to your aggressive offense. When he's worn down, a cut scene closes out the mission.

Sequence 14

Before you can really start this memory sequence, you need to first collect and have deciphered all thirty of the game's codex pages. They're scattered throughout the many maps of the game, and if you haven't been collecting them you'll need to do a lot of traveling. Though there are thirty codex pages in total, you should already have 14 of them just by playing through the game. The other 16 are distributed between the other cities as follows: Venice - 6, Florence - 5, Tuscany - 2, Forli - 3.

Each codex is in a room guarded by a row of enemies. You have a lot of options when it comes to breaking in past them, including simply killing the guards. If you want to be more subtle, you can hire courtesans, mercenaries or thieves to distract the guards while you waltz in. Alternatively, you can drop a dead body near the guards and they'll move over to inspect it, letting you roll right in behind them.

When you've collected all of the codices, you'll need to have them translated by Leonardo. The game doesn't really tell you so, but Leo's moved into the Villa Monteriggioni, in the same downstairs room as Claudia and the architect. Bring Leonardo the codices and you can then talk to Mario in the adjacent room for the next mission.

Activate the odd glowing thing and then walk up to the wall of codex pages to bring up a puzzle. Use eagle vision and you can spot the faint red outlines of a picture. You need to rotate all of the pieces around into their correct positions in order to complete the picture. Start by going around the perimeter of the puzzle and arranging the border—it's the easiest. Once you've got the border in place, go for the inner pieces.

The pieces should eventually form a familiar map of the world, with the continent arrangements you should know. When the puzzle is complete, so is the mission.

Here are a couple of close-ups to show what the finished map should look like, both with and without eagle vision.

Talk to Mario and he'll send you on your final mission, to assassinate Rodrigo Boriga in the Vatican in Rome. The mission is more linear than any other you've done up to this point, and it requires much stealthiness. But at first, it requires you break into the Vatican. Climb the wall to the west and use the beams sticking out from the wall to jump to a hanging platform to the south.

From the platform, you can jump north onto the wall of the compound and make a straight-forward climb to the top. But beware, as there are guards waiting at the top of the tower. You can stealth assassinate one of them from the far side of the wall, but you'll get their attention with that attack. Quickly hop over the wall and fight the guards.

With the guards dead, locate a lever on the northern wall and pull it to open a gate to the next area. There are two guards at the far end of the next yard. If you're quick, you can run across the yard and execute a double assassination while they try to figure out what you're doing. The gate ahead is closed, but you can climb to a level above (on the right) to find a lever that opens the gate. Just watch out for the lone guard up top.

You'll have to fight a host of guards in the next area, so be ready for a brawl. You can get the jump on a couple with a double assassination. When the guards are killed, climb to the top of a tower to the west to hit the glowing waypoint. A cut scene leaves Ezio on a horse.

Very early in your horse ride, you'll likely get knocked off the steed by enemy guards ahead. After getting knocked off, you can stand and fight or simply hop back on the horse and take off again. There's a large jump you've got to hit at full gallop to get over. Once over, expect to get knocked off the horse again. This time, you'll want to kill the attackers.

With the enemies dead, climb the tower ahead and take out the two guards at the top. From the top of the tower, you can make a leap of faith into a hay stack below.

There are more enemies on the next stretch of parapet, so expect a fight before you can climb up the next tower. And again, at the top of the second tower are more enemies to kill, and another leap of faith to make into a pile of hay at the bottom. When you land in the hay here, however, don't get out. There's a series of guards patrolling the parapet walk and you can take 'em all out with stealth if you're careful. Wait in the first pile of hay as one guard patrols by and assassinate him silently. Then, when the coast is clear, move out to the second pile of hay for another assassination.

Climb to the next tower and hang on the ledge, waiting for a patrolling guard to come near so you can pull him over the edge. Two other guards are facing the opposite direction and you can double assassinate the pair by running up behind them. Jump off the other end of the tower and you can get the jump on another guard that's standing by his lonesome.

There's one more massive batch of guards to fight off in the next area. Be prepared for a grueling melee and use all of your skills to fight off the attackers. When you've cleared the yard, climb a nearby scaffolding to a level up above where you'll find a switch that opens a gate into the Vatican.

From this point on, you can't be spotted or it'll be an automatic game over for you. Fortunately, the only folks around that know you're not supposed to be there are the guards. The priests, dressed in their dark robes, have no problem with you walking in the middle of their circles to hide. In the first hall, skip between circles of priests to get down the hall. There's one group of priests that patrols around the hall. Jump in their group and tag along to reach the far end of the hall.

You can silently assassinate the guard at the south end of the hall and pull a switch to open a door to the next hall. To the left is a guard that patrols in a circle pattern, moving between the northern and southern halves of the hall. When he's behind the wall to the left, move forward and take cover in the next group of priests. The second section of the hall is a bit tougher, as the guards at the far end will spot you if you repeat the last move. When the second patrolling guard goes behind the wall to the left, follow him slowly. You can slip behind him and behind the other guards staring down the hallway to open the next gate.

Finally, you reach the massive hall where Rodrigo Boriga is speaking. Move along the high platforms to cross to the far side of the room and position yourself directly above Rodrigo. Lock onto him and execute an assassination. Ezio jumps down and a cut scene shows Rodrigo's death.

Sort of. Borigo won't be so easily killed, so you've got to fight him straight up. You start with a bit of an advantage, as you've got clones of Ezio fighting with you. They won't really do any damage, but they will distract Rodrigo for you. Be aggressive in your attack, constantly throwing sword strikes. Don't bother trying to counter at this point—if you're too cautious, Rodrigo will kill all of your clones and nullify the advantage.

Rodrigo eventually retreats. Use eagle vision to spot a couple of spots on the wall that you can activate to open the secret passage Rodrigo escaped into. Run down the secret hall and Ezio will confront the enemy for the last time, mano a mano.

Don't give Rodrigo a chance. Grab the old man and throw him against a wall. As he tries to get up, you can hit Rodrigo Boriga with two kicks and then immediately grab him again. Repeatedly throw him against a wall, kick him, and pick him back up. This is the easiest part of the fight, and also the last. When you defeat Rodrigo, the game is over.

Sequence 12 DLC

Wait, you don't have Sequence 12 or 13 in your game!? Neither did we at first. Ubisoft released the two missing sequences as downloadable content months after the game's release. If you want to play them, you'll have to download them.

Talk to Caterina in Forli and you'll begin escorting her to the city entrance. En route, expect to be intercepted by a small contingent of enemy guards. Fight 'em off with the help of Caterina's men and continue to the city's northeast entrance.

Caterina tells you of a secret entrance on the other side of the city. Head west, through the water, and ignore the battle that's unfolding on the northern docks. You can skirt the fight and still gain access to the row of free-run-friendly poles that run around to the west side. There's a gate that'll stop you from rowing a boat into Forli, but you can duck underwater to break in.

Start running back toward the east end of the city, doing your best to ignore the ongoing battles and avoid gaining any unwanted attention. If you get spotted, you'll likely have to fight, so be ready for it. When you reach the next target marker, look for a ladder to the right of the main gate and follow it to the parapet walk.

From here you can climb over the rooftops to reach the lever that opens the gate. But before you drop down to pull the lever, position yourself on the wires directly above the two guards that are overlooking Caterina and her posse below. You can perform a double assassination to take them both out, allowing you to unlock the gate in peace.

This is a pretty straight-forward memory. You've just got to run from one end of the city to the other, making sure Caterina (or that other dude) don't fall victim to the many ambushes you run into along the way.

Expect to be stopped a number of times by ambushes. Do your best to keep track of the two main allies and watch their health meters on the screen. If they get into trouble, help 'em out. You'll find they get into most trouble when you're attacked in tight spaces. When you finally reach the end point, you'll have to fend off one last ambush before running into the citadel for cover and the next mission.

The citadel is infiltrated with myriad guards and you've got to fight them off, while keeping the same allies alive. The first batch of baddies will appear on ground level. Fight them off, then chase Caterina up to the parapet walk and onto the rooftops.

You'll start getting a count of how many enemies are left. If they're engaged in combat with your allies, you can quickly kill off the enemies with hidden blade assassinations from behind. Alternately, just toss 'em off the rooftops. When all enemies are dead, the mission ends.

Your time is limited for this mission, so don't waste it. Start making your way toward the eastern exit from Forli, using the rooftops to avoid unnecessary confrontations with the guards that are all on high alert. When you reach the outdoors, notice that the target area is a large green circle.

Use eagle vision to locate the first child who should be found at the base of one of the short buildings. You'll likely need to fight your way to her, but you can simply free her to gain another objective point that guides you to the south.

If you're short on time you can hop on a horse to quickly make your way south. Again, you'll be lead to a large red, restricted area, but don't bother with the eagle vision. The second child is at the top of the large tower nearby. Climb the tower, expecting guards along the way. When you near the top, don't immediately hop onto the roof. Make sure that you come up behind the kidnapper and assassinate him. Free the child to end the mission.

Accept the mission and start heading for the city's exit to the south. Take the rooftops if you don't want to get bothered by guards, 'cause you're currently very notorious. If you climb onto the parapet wall, you can take a leap of faith into a stack of hay on the ground outside the city. Activate eagle vision and you should be able to spot Checco Orsi nearby.

Run after Checco and expect him to flee. You won't really be able to catch him—he's a quick bugger—but keep your sights focused on him. Checco will lead you through blockades of guards that you'll have to get through. Look for the guards that aren't armed with weapons and tap the jump button to leap through them, avoiding a nasty takedown.

If you do get stopped by the guards, do not try to fight them. Just run. If you get followed by the fast guards that run faster than you, wait until they get within striking distance and tap the jump button. The little leap will stutter the guards long enough to create space that'll let you run.

Eventually, Checco stops to fight you. You'll likely also be surrounded by many guards, but do your best to focus on Checco, the dude without a helmet. Kill him and the mission will end.

Leave the walls of Forli and head for the wetlands to the northwest to accept the mission. You're then guided toward an abbey that's under a restricted zone. Wait for the guards to look the other way and then run toward the small courtyard on the north end of the abbey.

There you'll find the target, a black-robed monk that's currently getting picked on by two guards. Walk up behind the guards and assassinate each to help the monk, who in turn helps you. He gives you the location of the guy you're looking for.

Make your way back into the city of Forli. The marker will lead you to a zone in which you'll find the next target via eagle vision. Approach him and you'll enter a conversation just before the three monks scatter. You've got to chase down one of them—use eagle vision to find him out (he's bald)—and tackle him to end the mission.

Sequence 13 DLC

Wait, you don't have Sequence 12 or 13 in your game!? Neither did we at first. Ubisoft released the two missing sequences as downloadable content months after the game's release. If you want to play them, you'll have to download them.

After triggering the mission, you've got to walk through a wall of guards to, uhh, trigger it again (?). We're not quite sure why, but you'll likely have to fight the guards before you can hit the next waypoint that gives you, uhh, another waypoint. Anyway, you'll be lead to the far south end of Florence.

Make sure way south and speak to the man on the bridge and then start following him through the city. You'll have a couple of mercenaries behind you, but they're on your side. Worry about the guards. If you get into a brawl, make sure Machiavelli stays safe. Fortunately, he's a decent fighter on his own.

Walk to the waypoint ahead for a quick cut scene. You'll then have to escort Machiavelli to the next waypoint. Bring him there safely (you can use the rooftops if you want) and the mission ends.

At this point, you've got lots of repaired memory markers scattered across the map. There seems to be no particular order in which you need to complete these, so we'll just go for the closest one, the repaired memory directly southeast of Ezio.

You start the mission on the rooftop where you triggered the mission. There's a target wandering the courtyard below, blabbering about something while people burn books, and you need to kill him. Use eagle vision to pick him out of the crowd.

We tried all sorts of sneaky maneuvering to get close to the target, but found it was easiest just to wait on the rooftop until his wandering route gets near you. When he does get near(ish), jump down and chase him. Be sure to follow the marker that appears on your radar, as we had zero luck trying to lock the camera onto him (it'd just get us into fights with guards). Ignore all guards, chase down the target, assassinate him, and then flee the guards to end the mission.

The next southmost repaired memory will bring you to the assassination of a preacher. You're automatically made notorious for no reason, so there's not much chance in being sneaky about this. We suggest just running toward the preacher, following him when he runs away, and assassinating him from behind. As before, you'll need to loose the guards before the mission ends.

Some dude won't let people pass through an archway, so you've got to kill him. Fortunately for you, he's stuck on a rooftop landing and won't leave. Move across the rooftops to reach the small platform directly above him (yes, you'll need to fight your way to the platform). Target the man and drop down to kill him. To lose the guards, just jump into the water to the west and swim to freedom.

Next up, just northwest of the last asssassination, is a bad merchant man. We trust that he's bad, though he seems to just be grumpy. Whatever. For this mission, you are forced to be stealthy. Dive into the water and swim up to the bow of the boat. Start climbing up the southern side of the boat, but don't hop over the railing onto the deck. Just hang out at the ledge and wait for a patrolling guard to get nearby so you can assassinate him from over the ledge.

Wait for the second patrolling guard to leave the bow deck and then hop up onto the boat. Approach a pair of guards to the left from behind and perform a double assassination on them. Quickly hop onto the railing just in front of them, look down at the merchant below, and target him. Press the attack button to execute the assassination. Jump into the water and swim away to lose the guards.

As soon as the mission starts, turn right and run up some boxes to reach the rooftop behind you. The nobleman will run to the rooftop as well, letting you quite easily assassinate him. Evade the guards to complete the mission.

Climb the building from the east end. Midway up the building, you'll reach a walkway that's patrolled by a number of guards. Assassinate one from over the railing to give you a clear run up the rest of the building.

The climb isn't too difficult. When you reach the top dome, look for small handholds that are only on a couple of the sides. When you reach the top, quickly pop up and assassinate the target to complete the mission.

Turn right and go to the very tip of the restricted area to find a hay stack you can hide in. Camp out there and watch for the farmer to patrol by you. When he gets near, pop out of the hay and assassinate him. Ditch the guards to end the mission.

You're lured into a trap in which you'll first have to fight off two separate waves of soldiers. Nothing tough, just focus on counters. When the two waves of baddies are dead, pick out the target from the crowd overhead and start climbing after him.

The target runs away as you near him, but chasing him down shouldn't be a problem. Quickly assassinate him and then ditch the guards to complete the mission.

The doctor that you need to assassinate is behind a row of guards, across a courtyard that is littered with...more guards. Use blending to inch your way closer and closer to the doctor's crowd. The southern end of the courtyard seems easier to traverse than the north.

When you get near the stairs, look for a band of roaming monks that you can blend with. As they move around, they'll lead you to the top of the stairs, to the walkway directly behind the doctor. Wait for the roaming guard on the walkway to stand facing the courtyard and you can slip behind him to assassinate the doctor. Flee the area to end the mission.

After you hit the memory marker, be ready to press a button to throw a knife at the target during the cut scene. Afterward, a guard will run up and grab the dropped apple.

Make a hard turn right and leap over the railing to try and cut off the guard at the pass. You simply need to catch up to him and assassinate the guard in order to retrieve the apple and complete the mission.

Just walk forward. It's not easy 'cause you're surrounded by a lot of people, but just wiggle your way toward the bonfire. Escape the crowd and the mission ends, and with it Sequence 13.