This November, Ubisoft will release Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Back in 2009, Assassin’s Creed’s success wasn’t yet so certain, and its developers decided the series needed to undergo an unexpected shift. Its Third Crusade-era Middle Eastern setting was swapped out for the 15th-century Italian Renaissance, and the redemptive struggle of Altaïr Ibn La’Ahad made way for the cocky charm of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Fans were surprised, and the developers knew they were taking a gamble.
“We were all thinking, ‘what is wrong with us!?’”
says Aymar Azaizia, head of content for the Assassin’s Creed brand.
“We’d just created an amazing hero, Altaïr, that everyone loved, and we are taking the risk to get rid of him for a new guy.”
In the end, the gamble paid off in a big way: Not only is Assassin’s Creed II one of the series’ most beloved games, but it spawned a trilogy that told Ezio’s life story and, for many, remains the definitive Assassin’s Creed experience. You’ll be able to relive it all on November 18th – Assassin’s Creed :The Ezio Collection includes Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, as well as all of their single-player expansions.
The Ezio Collection puts the single-player experiences of its three games front and center, focusing entirely on Ezio’s journey. While that means the innovative hide-and-hunt multiplayer of Brotherhood and Revelations won’t be included, Azaizia is quick to point out that the most polished and fully featured version of that multiplayer is still playable in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
In addition to featuring the three games and their expansions with enhanced graphics, the collection also comes with Assassin’s Creed: Embers and the three-part Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, short films that dig into Ezio’s backstory and add an action-packed epilogue to the trilogy.
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection will be available on November 18th on Xbox One and PS4, giving fans a chance to catch up before the Assassin’s Creed movie – which unfolds in a different part of the world in roughly the same era – hits theaters on December 21st.
Source: Ubiblog
