News content from the official Ubisoft Assassin's Creed website.

News update 11/19 through 11/26/2010:

-Character information and insight-Jeff Yohalem, Scriptwriter:

We last saw Leonardo da Vinci in the Villa Auditore before Ezio left for Rome. Leonardo never stays unemployed for long, and this time he has found quite a powerful patron. You’ll have to play the game to see where he’s ended up. I think it will come as a surprise.

Leonardo has always been defined by two things: endless invention/delight with the world, and thriftiness. He keeps his money very close and hates to part with it.

I’ve heard comments from players who are surprised by our light-hearted treatment of Leonardo. The Leonardo illustrated by his self-portraits and the popular consciousness has always been so grave, when, in fact, he is described much more like our characterization in first-hand accounts from the day.

Leonardo is such a great character to write, because so little is known about his actual temperament. Scenes with him offer a great opportunity to surprise players and challenge their preconceived ideas of how a genius is supposed to behave.

In Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Desmond has begun to come into his own. When we first met him, he couldn’t have cared less about the conflict between the Assassins and the Templars, but by Assassin’s Creed 2 his friendship with Lucy has deepened. He decides to stand up for the Assassin cause. Escaping from Abstergo, Desmond joins the Assassins, learning the skills necessary to fight the Templars through the Bleeding Effect. By Brotherhood, he has become a real member of the team, not an outsider. His pessimism has gradually given way and you’re going to see scenes in which he drives the team forward.

If you explore all the optional content in 2012, you’ll see how Shaun, Rebecca and Lucy have become a sort of family for him. However, Desmond has always been slow to act, a skeptic. He’s not really in a position to take the lead yet. it’s going to take a major event to really force him to grab the reins.

I think players will be pleased with Desmond in Brotherhood. He really begins to have some fun and it’s contagious

New Enemies for a New Challenge – Alex Pedneault, Game Designer

In previous entries, we briefly mentioned some of the new enemy NPCs that were added to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. We’ll go over them in more detail today.

First, let’s go over how the archetypes were created. In Assassin’s Creed 2, we wanted enemy types that really challenged the player in each of the three game-play pillars: social stealth, fighting and free running. This is how we came up with the three basic archetypes: the Seeker, the Brute and the Agile. For example, the Seeker will challenge the player by searching hiding spots at all times, the Agile can follow and catch up to the player, and the Brute is, well, a Brute.

For Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood we kept these three enemy types but decided to give them specific fight abilities based on their appearance. The Seekers can now throw sand to blind you and use their long weapons to their advantage. The Agiles keep dodging to avoid most of your attacks. The Brutes can’t be countered or disarmed, and can use their heavy weapons to do slam attacks. Of course, we still have the Militia and the Leader, which are the "basic" fighters.

We then asked ourselves what we could add or improve upon for the archetypes so we looked at what was added in the game: improved horse navigation, crossbows and firearms, and the new Wolfmen lairs. We decided to create new archetypes that fit these new features:

• The Horsemen: These are the best horse riders in the Borgia armies. They are harder to take down from their mount. They will resist hijack attempts, and can receive more damage. In fights they will attack you while mounted. If you try to flee from them, they can use a crossbow to shoot bolts at you. You better have a good strategy when you meet them; they’re probably the ones you want to take down first.

• The Crossbowmen/Riflemen: They are the new "archers" in our game. They can now move and chase after you while shooting at you and can even join fights on the ground (but they tend to stay back). Don’t think you can trick them like the old AC2 archers, these guys will really investigate if they see you on roofs and change their position to get a better line of fire!

• The Wolfmen: These are enemies specifically created for the LGS(Linear game-play sequence) They are a mix between Militia and Archers. They can throw knives when they are pursuing you, but can also fight Ezio with daggers in melee combat. They move in a different way from other enemies, so reading their attack patterns is not as easy as it seems!

• The Swiss Guards: They are the ultimate archetypes. They challenge the player in all of the three Assassin’s Creed pillars (free running, social stealth and fighting). They run like Agiles, they can detect the Assassin on sight and they fight with a sword in one hand, and a matchlock gun in the other. To make matters worse, they can resist most of Ezio’s standard moves, such as counter-kills, disarms, and grabs. These guys are a real threat to Ezio and one of the reasons he now needs a Brotherhood to help him on his missions.

A new system that we introduced also allows us to modify groups of soldiers that patrol Rome based on the sequence the player is currently in. For example, if you go to a Borgia tower at the beginning of the game, you’ll see that Leaders and Militia guard it. If you go back to a later sequence in the game, you will see that Brutes and Leaders now guard the tower. That’s the way we raise the difficulty throughout the game. We’re confident these newcomers prove to be an interesting challenge!

Animus Project Update 1.0 DLC Available Next Month For Free

London, UK - November 24, 2010 – Ubisoft announced today that the Animus Project Update 1.0 downloadable content (DLC) for Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system will be available for download on December 14^th, 2010 on XBOX LIVE® and PlayStation®Network. The DLC will be made available for free.

The Animus Project Update 1.0 will include a brand-new game mode and brand new map for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Multiplayer. The game mode, Advanced Alliance, will make the original Alliance Mode with target identification and engagement more difficult than in original Alliance Mode, thus providing a more challenging experience for players. With three teams of two players each, Advanced Alliance is a tougher test for players and rewards teams that use stealth techniques to hunt their targets.

Located on a rocky tidal island of Normandy in France, the new map, Mont Saint-Michel, offers breathtaking scenery sure to enchant all. Its particular topography of narrow streets, high-perched bell tower and multi-leveled architecture is perfect for hunters and predators alike to surge from out of nowhere to execute their prey. To survive, recruits will need to use free-running and narrow roads to their advantage.

"We are very thrilled to be able to offer the first Multiplayer DLC for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood for absolutely free," said Sebastien Puel, executive producer, Ubisoft Montreal. "We wanted to say thank you to our fans for making Brotherhood such a huge success its opening week. We are very proud of the unique and innovative Multiplayer mode it offers, and hope the fans enjoy the new content."