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Ianara Natividad

Dr. Joseph November

HIST493

March 6, 2015

From Climbing to Context: How Assassins Creed II Turns Players to Readers

The plot of Assassins Creed II hinges on the exploration mechanic provided by the

Animus, a fictional machine that reads the ancestral memories imprinted on the users genetic

code. In the game, Desmond Miles, a man caught in the crossfire of a modern day war between

the games two main factions, the Templars and the Assassins, uses the Animus to experience the

life his ancestor, Ezio Auditore, a Florentine nobleman and Assassin during the Renaissance Era.1

Using this virtual reality within the actual game, players attain the ability to explore real

locations in a reconstructed Renaissance Florence, such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del

Fiore, the main focus of Ross Kings Brunelleschis Dome, while also immersing their selves in

the city. Furthermore, the game itself incorporates real life historical figures or notable locations

as part of the narrative, thus providing context which may motivate the player to remember or

even further learn about these people and places. Brunelleschis Dome also presents details that,

though not directly significant to the story of Assassins Creed II, enrich a readers knowledge of

the iconic landmark in Florence and introduce broader perspectives in how it came to be and of

those who made its construction possible.

One of the advantages Assassins Creed II has over traditional books lies in the games capability

to immerse the player in the setting. For example, King describes the location and surroundings

of Il Duomo with varying degrees of detail throughout the book. In the first chapter, King gives a

1 Andy Gilleand. Assassins Creed II (The Movie), YouTube video, 0:00:15-0:00:40, March 14, 2013,
http://youtu.be/JqbD1lpXJCA.
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rough estimate of its location by stating the proximity of the Baptistery without explicitly saying

it is approximately at the center of the city.2 Another section, which focuses more on Filippo

Brunelleschis background, describes that Brunelleschis home in Florences San Giovanni

district was just west of the cathedral, allowing King to make the assumption that a young

Brunelleschi probably did see the cathedral on a daily basis.3 These descriptions are not

erroneous, but to actually visualize Il Duomo and its surroundings, a reader may have to refer to

pictures or maps. On the other hand, as Ezio, a player can walk through the streets around Santa

Maria del Fiore, scale surrounding buildings, and even climb the actual dome. Also, beyond what

a reader can wean from the pages of a book, a player can actually attain a sense of, and

participate in, the liveliness of Florences streets, enriched by the sounds and actions of the citys

seemingly numerous inhabitants, though AI limitations apply. However, the game does not leave

the player to wander aimlessly either at the expense of immersion. The game interface aids in

navigation while the Animus contains a database that provides histories and descriptions of

people and places within the game. Regardless, whether the player arrives at a prominent

landmark through mere exploration or climbs a tower for an elevated view of Florence, the game

simulates a feeling of presence and engagement in the city, which a book like Brunelleschis

Dome cannot imitate without going through painstaking details and pages after pages of

imagery.4

Furthermore, Assassins Creed II pulls in well-known historical locations and figures into the

2 Ross King. Brunelleschis Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture (Great Britain: Pimlico,
2001), 1-7. King also provides several illustrations and photographs of Santa Maria del Fiore. As the developers of

Assassins Creed II had to downsize the city for the game, the illustrated panorama would probably be closer in scale

to the games city than an actual photograph.

3 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 12-16.

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narrative through their relations with the Assassins, the Templars, or even just Ezio himself. The

player, as Ezio, may encounter the Palazzo della Signoria in passing, either through the streets or

on surrounding rooftops, but the building appears heavily in the first sequence of the games

storyline. A mission objective has the player scale the tower of the Palazzo della Signoria, and

the end of the first sequence brings the player back to the plaza to witness the execution of Ezios

father and two brothers.5 In comparison, Brunelleschis Dome also mentions the Pallazo della

Signoria in respect to its facilities as a prison, where both Cosimo de Medici (whose descendant,

Lorenzo de Medici, Ezio meets in Assassins Creed II) and Brunelleschi had been incarcerated in

1433 and 1434, respectively.6 The player also encounters Leonardo da Vinci in the first sequence,

and the famous Renaissance man becomes both a friend and ally of Ezio, to whom the latter will

continuously visit as part of missions and to decode pages of the Codex. King also mentions da

Vinci in various chapters of his books, citing da Vincis usage of reverse handwriting to ward off

plagiarism as well as his penchant for procrastinating on projects.7 Both examples even have

4 Andy Gilleand, Assassins Creed II (The Movie), 00:16:50-00:17:20. The games soundtrack

also aids heavily in developing the atmosphere, making prominent use of strings (as one may

think of with Renaissance era music) and a womans voice. Some of the specific background

track were probably not the true sounds of Florence but aided in invoking certain feelings, such

as of awe, sadness, and even panic, at the appropriate times.

5 Andy Gilleand, Assassins Creed II (The Movie), 00:24:27-00:26:47, 00:28:53-00:30:00.

6 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 131-134.

7 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 25, 124. The usage of code to protect ones work from

plagiarism was not exclusive to da Vinci, as King states. However, I think the invention of

Brunelleschis castello being attributed to da Vinci because of his sketches of the machine is a bit

ironic in that regard.

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entries in the Animus database, with the entry on the Palazzo della Signoria also mentioning

Cosimo de Medicis imprisonment. More importantly, their involvement in Ezios, the players,

story allows the player to attach a more personal significance, whether positive or negative, with

them. The player creates a personal connection to these subjects of history and thereby can act on

an interest to further his or her knowledge on the context of Assassins Creed II, including,

though not limited to, the Renaissance, Florence, or even Italy as a whole during that period.

Whereas Assassins Creed II integrates Renaissance Florence into a plot that transcends,

Brunelleschis Dome possesses the intent to directly inform the reader about the history of the

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, its contributors, and even Florence in general. The Animus

database only contains entries on people, real and fictional, who interact with Ezio. However,

Brunelleschis Dome, and books like it, provides the details which Assassins Creed II leaves out

and that are necessary for a greater understanding of the time period. For example, the Animus

database entry for Santa Maria del Fiore mentions Arnollo di Cambio as its original designer, the

competition for who would build the dome, Brunelleschis triumph over Lorenzo Ghiberti for the

honor, and a summary of the domes construction. As shown by the entry, developers chose to

focus on a particular time range and a specific set of actors and places because the goal of

Assassins Creed II is still to provide a gameplay experience tied with the narrative, therefore the

player, in this regard, does not need information not directly related to the games story.

Unfortunately, this approach leaves a narrow, watered-down version of the citys history.

For players who wish to delve deeper into Florences true history, such as the subject of Il

Duomos construction, they must look beyond Assassins Creed II. In Brunelleschis Dome, the

reader learns about the political, social, and economical circumstances of Florence that causes

the construction of the cathedral, from the designs to the finishing of the dome, to span
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approximately a hundred and fifty years. Where Brunelleschi does not even receive an entry in

the Animus database, understandable since he had long since died when Ezios story begins,

King supplies a concise biography which focuses on the famed architects work on the dome.

The reader learns that Brunelleschis plan to build the dome without centering had actually

caused a stir and instilled doubts in the judges of the competition until he could better make his

case, a contrast to Animus databases simplification.8 The database also leaves out the fact that

Brunelleschi actually had to share the position of capomaestro with Ghiberti for most of the

domes construction.9 Moreover, Brunelleschi had to face and create solutions for problems

which arose during construction, resulting in the successful employment of the ox-hoist and

castello as well as the disastrous disembarking of the Il Badalone.10 Books like Brunelleschis

Dome provide the specific details and varied histories which Assassins Creed II does not include

for practical purposes. Books still serve as a direct conduit for learning, presenting information in

a form that, ideally, allows the reader to understand the topic at hand.

Immersion serves as Assassins Creed IIs prime method to teach history, albeit indirectly,

with a story revolving on Ezio, Desmond, and the war between the Assassins and the Templars.

Through a constructed Renaissance Florence, the player gains a general appreciation and

understanding for the famous landmarks and historical figures featured by the game. However,

even if Assassins Creed II possesses the tools and environment to teach Florentine history, its

main focus still lies in how it plays as a marketable game, resulting in substantial chunks of the

8 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 12-21.

9 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 44-48.

10 Ross King, Brunelleschis Dome, 58-65, 68-71, 114-119. These were not the only problems

which arose while Brunelleschi served as capomaestro, but I think they were among the most

notable in his direct involvement in trying to solve the problem, with varying success.
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citys history to remain untouched. The games narrative does not revolve around Florences

history, but the history included does add substance to the game and through gameplay, a player

ideally garners an appreciation for Florence, its marvels, and its people. The player then becomes

a reader when sufficiently piqued interest leads him or her to the Animus database, and when the

player exhausts those entries, books like Brunelleschis Dome fills in the gaps. Despite the

different approaches to teaching history presented by Assassins Creed II and Brunelleschis

Dome, they complement one another to provide a more wholesome learning experience of

Renaissance Florence.
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Bibliography

Gilleand, Andy. Assassins Creed II (The Movie). YouTube video, 3:09:03. March 14, 2013.

http://youtu.be/JqbD1lpXJCA.

King, Ross. Brunelleschis Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. Great

Britain: Pimlico, 2001.