The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

[ACII] Flow and Kill | Assassinating Carlo Grimaldi

The goal of this video is to eliminate every guard inside the palazzo while remaining undetected. My playstyle for this mission doesn't focus on completing it as fast as possible. I take out everyone in a different way while prioritising variety, roleplaying, style and the showcase of advanced mechanics and lesser known features.

The video also includes a few seconds of real life footage of Venice which was recorded by myself a few months ago, showcasing "real" history merging with animus sequences.

After Ezio lands on the rooftop I start by taking out the archer furthest away at the opposite end of the palazzo by using two unlocked throwing knives. Instead of relying on the lock on feature which is unavailable at that distance I use the 1st person camera to aim. AC2 doesn't have a cross hair but whatever is in the middle of the screen during the 1st person perspective will get hit. This is a useful trick to prevent auto-detection when using throwing knives and drastically increases the range but requires precise aiming. I move on and kill the next guard by starting a wallrun and immediately cancelling it with an air assassination which is a cool way to quickly expand the range of assassinations (especially useful for archers who have better hearing and detect you more easily). Another option to move faster without making any noise is to use manual jumps. I do this to approach the third archer from behind and eliminate him with a dagger.

After the cutscenes I use a back eject to quickly descend and catch a railing below to perform a low profile ledge assassination. Then I jump down into the courtyard and immediately low profile assassinate the guard who starts investigating the corpse that just dropped to the ground. After eliminating the next guard with a sword I hide behind a pillar and wait for the two patrolling guards to get close enough to a third guard in the left corner. Once they are in reach I stun all of them with a smoke bomb. This allows me to grab someone without being detected so I quickly kill both with a sword, followed by a high profile assassination on the last one. I decide to pickpocket a corpse to steal money that I use as a distraction for the next guard. Looting the body is not necessary but a nice roleplaying moment. The guard is lured behind a corner by coins without knowing that only a few moments ago these coins belonged to his colleague. The distraction effects of throwing money actually have a pretty far reach and are useful to keep in mind for manipulating guard positions. After that I assassinate the last two guards with poison and a high profile assassination after a quick drop from a beam. I like the thought that the guard closest to the Doge who's supposed to protect his life has been poisoned just like the Doge himself, but by a different kind of assassin. It's ironic. The doge only realises too late, maybe he should've listened when he had the chance.

For the assassination of Carlo I chose to showcase a very rare glitch, something that I've only seen in 3 other situations during 750 hours of playtime: triggering a hidden blade combat finisher outside of combat. In this case it seems to be connected to a railing blocking the direct path between Ezio and his target. However, he is still in assassination range so pressing armed hand consistently triggers combat finishers instead of regular assassination animations. Not necessarily useful but still a very stylish trick, probably one of my favourites. To be able to grab Carlo you first need to make sure he's not at full health anymore, a throwing knife tends to work best here.