Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, and Mac OS X. It is the second video game installment of the series and is a direct sequel to the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed. The game was released on video game consoles in November 2009, and was released on Windows in February 2010 in Europe and in March 2010 in North America with a Mac OS X version following in March 2011. Later, Assassin's Creed II was remastered along with its sequels Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations in the compilation Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection, released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2016 (the 7th anniversary of Assassin's Creed II) and on Nintendo Switch in February 2022.

On December 1, 2009, Ubisoft announced its first two downloadable content releases for Assassin's Creed II for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The first one, entitled Battle for Forlì, continues the story of Caterina Sforza and was released on January 28, 2010. It also includes a special memory that allows you to pilot Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine over Forlì. The second one, entitled Bonfire of the Vanities, concerns the mass burning of sinful objects in Florence and was released on February 18, 2010. Content for both of the DLC packs were initially planned to be included as part of the main game, but were later cut due to time constraints. The DLC is part of the main game in the Windows version and in the Ezio Collection.

Limited editions
There are several different limited editions of Assassin's Creed II. The "Black Edition" contains an Ezio figurine garbed in a black Master Assassin's outfit with the Auditore cape and was released in Europe and Australia. Included also are three bonus areas and missions, an art book, and a DVD with the soundtrack but not with all the tracks as it was made before the official release, one premium PS3 theme, behind the scenes videos and two desktop wallpapers. The "White Edition" contains one bonus area/mission and an Ezio figurine in his standard white outfit. The "Master Assassin's Edition" is the North American limited edition, which contains an Ezio figurine, two bonus areas, an art book and a Blu-ray with music and behind the scenes videos.

Story
The game is set in 2012, with player-controlled protagonist Desmond Miles escaping from Abstergo Industries with an employee, Lucy Stillman, after being forced to relive the genetic memories of ancestral assassin Altaïr ibn La-Ahad through a machine known as the "Animus". After escaping from Abstergo, Desmond enters another, newer version of the Animus and relives the genetic memories of ancestral nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who lived during the Renaissance period of the late fifteenth century in Italy. The player controls Ezio, who becomes an Assassin after his father and brothers are murdered by a traitor to the Auditore family. While controlling Ezio, the player can explore game renditions of Italian cities, regions and landmarks in open world gameplay. The gameplay is a mixture of action, stealth and platforming.