The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Assassins Creed Unity Sequence 5 Memory 2

Speedy Stealth Kills

The rules are simple. Spend most of the time from the start of the mission to the end running and killing along your route to the target, using only melee kills and whatever tools are necessary.

This run is started from the haystack in the southwest corner of the area. From a reload, throw a smoke bomb to the upper right (too far left and other guards come to investigate). Kill the guard by the haystack either from the haystack or jump out and stab while he's walking towards the smoke bomb cloud.

The next two guards are still reeling from the smoke bomb, so take them out quickly. A nearby archer can easily spot you if you aren't fast enough.

Next are four other guards. With proper timing (too soon and the smoke bomb doesn't reach them, too late and they see you), another smoke bomb aids in killing unseen. Note that the enemy on the very right is non hostile, and part of a scripted speech.

On the other side of the stone fence is a guard who is usually in range of an air kill and another guard who isn't close enough to detect that kill.

Now we have a a brute under a gazebo and, whoa! I call this kill the "grabbing from above This Person is Really Awesome kill". Actually the ledge kill in Unity has been modified so you can pull guards from the side of a ledge as well as from under, usually from the side of a window. But in this case, Arno performed the assassination from higher and farther away than should be possible.

Now the next part was tricky because it's hard to get closer without being seen by the numerous guards in that immediate vicinity, especially that darn rooftop archer ON THE TOWER RIGHT NEXT TO THE TARGET! For hours I tried taking out the guards by the table, but got seen nearly every time no matter what I did. These are the same guards the target first talks to after his speech.

After a while I settled on another route. This leads me to the target with the stone fence to shield me from enemy eyes. Even so, the aforementioned gunman can still spot Arno. From the fence a simple jump puts you on the object behind the target for a mini air assassination. In this video, Arno gets detected during the drop of the air kill. I threw a smoke bomb right before in the hopes of remaining undetected. A cherry bomb might have done the trick, but in any case the assassination is stealthy.

Speedy Stealth Kills 2.0

This time around I did things a little differently, and also some stuff I was originally going to do. Firstly by starting from the scene instead of a reload.

The guard next to the haystack spawns a mere moment after the cut scene. A hidden kill is the safest bet (although there were just a few times out of dozens of practice runs I got seen).

A smoke bomb usually isn't necessary for the next two guards, unless you want to be as fast as possible. At first I waited a short moment for the patrolling guard to face away and rushed killed him, but late changed tactics and took cover for a corner kill, which was a little faster. It's also more reliable because if you assassinate him while the other guard is close by (even in low profile), he'll detect you.

For the next four guards I start with an air kill from the fence instead of running in there. I was going to use the usual smoke bomb, but decided disguise would work well.

The air kill needs to be done from the left part of the fence so that the other guards don't see you when you lose the disguise. A double kill take out the two side by side guards, and the last one left won't detect you because he's non hostile and part of a scripted dialogue.

The next guard is killed from climbing the fence, but this time instead of an air kill a different way was used. If the guard is on the right a jump + assassination will do, if he happens to be by the haystack perform a quick descent instead so you don't land too far and get seen.

The next guard is killed the same way, but the brute under the gazebo is killed with a simple stab after dropping form the fence, which was the way I had done it before discovering the ledge kill.

Now for the target. This part is really tricky. The gunman on the tower is the biggest threat, but he's not always facing your way. During the practice of this route, he didn't spot me right away half the time, and when he does see Arno you can try losing him by sticking close to the fence, or taking cover, or even disguise if you haven't used it previously (haven't had much time to test these out). Of course making a dash for the target sometimes works.

But even then the target is in the midst of many guards who will see you when you climb the fence, and that's why I threw two smoke bombs. One for the guards close to the target and one for the guards on the other side of the fence.

And finally I finished him off with a quick descent + kill. This is the part I wanted to get right the most in terms of stealth. A few times I almost got it perfectly, but got seen right before the kill. That wouldn't count as a stealth kill in my book, so I had to redo it over and over again. I hope you'll all enjoy the second version as much as the first.