Should you try out Assassin's Creed Revelations in 2025?

Assassin's Creed Revelations is set directly after the events of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and is the final part of the Ezio trilogy. Ubisoft released three great games in a row, which is an impressive task to complete without running into major issues, and each title was launched in a polished state.

The developer made a few creative choices about this entry, such as removing certain features the Assassin's Creed franchise is renowned for. Nevertheless, the Ezio trilogy still holds up well and is worth revisiting by hardcore or newer fans through remasters and ports for current-gen systems.

Disclaimer: Some aspects of this article contain the personal and subjective opinions of the writer.

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Assassin's Creed Revelations was a great conclusion to the Ezio trilogy

This Assassin's Creed entry made a few bold decisions that made it memorable (Image via Ubisoft)

After spending an entire game in Rome, Ubisoft decided to take Ezio and the gaming community to Constantinople for a change of scenery. The map of Assassin's Creed Revelations is as large in scale as Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, with some open-world mechanics, such as acquiring property, shops, territory, and more, retained with significant improvements.

While in Constantinople, Ezio can explore all the districts and do whatever an assassin does at the time. Recruiting new assassins was a feature originally introduced in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Unlike its predecessor, the recruitment has more weight and depth in Assassin's Creed Revelations.

Each assassin deployed to a specific region decreases the presence of hostile forces, meaning players can enter certain areas without much fuss because of their assets deployed. This is a much-needed improvement that Assassin's Creed Brotherhood failed to capitalize on.

Ubisoft wanted this part of the Ezio trilogy to stand out and changed a few things; some were for the best, while others didn't resonate well with the player base. Certain traversal methods, like horseback riding, were completely removed and replaced with a new device called the Hookblade, which Ezio can use to swing, grapple, and scale tall walls.

The city is full of zip lines that assassins can use to navigate around Constantinople and quick assassinations overhead. The usual Assassin's Creed norm is that players can climb a tall tower to survey the map leap off stylishly and then land on a convenient haystack or soft bush to break their fall.

Other gameplay improvements include the ability to collect resources to craft bombs. This opens plenty of creative opportunities for players to assassinate their targets, especially in a large, crowded area full of eyewitnesses. The iconic parkour system is brought back with improved animations, making stealth sections much more bearable and forgiving.

The developer also managed to squeeze all three major protagonists into Assassin's Creed Revelations. However, Desmond Miles got the short end of the stick regarding interesting gameplay.

This entry features a first-person building section where Desmond can use platforms to reach different areas, which breaks the pacing and ruins the fast-paced immersion that Altaïr and Ezio are renowned for.

The combat is familiar, but Ubisoft added a few more gruesome animations for chain executions. While assassins can attack and kill their targets from behind, fighting enemies up front is a different challenge. Ezio can deflect incoming melee attacks and counter them with a brutal execution.

Ubisoft included a new game mechanic that involves placing defenses and other barricades to keep hostile forces out of their territory. Players can assign and control NPC allies on rooftops to fire rifles and crossbow bolts. This new addition is a bold choice for an Assassin's Creed game.

The multiplayer made a comeback, and the title got a few more game modes that weren't available in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood; however, it suffered the same fate of being discontinued.

Assassin's Creed Revelations essentially borrowed everything that worked from previous entries and improved upon them for a different setting.

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Conclusion

Assassin's Creed Revelations is a satisfying end to Ezio's story (Image via Ubisoft)

Ubisoft worked on the Ezio trilogy with great care and attention to detail while managing to release each entry three years in a row. Assassin's Creed Revelations was released in 2011 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, which looked amazing during the time, and the remasters gave it the treatment it deserved.

Through backward compatibility, the remastered versions of Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed Revelations are playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

While there are better entries in the franchise, Assassin's Creed Revelations is the culmination of the Ezio storyline, and Ubisoft wanted to close this series with a bang. Longtime fans should consider revisiting this classic on newer consoles to get the best experience or let new fans into this iconic masterpiece.