Memories

As with previous episodes in the series, Assassin’s Creed Revelations begins with a linear collection of missions that gradually introduce gameplay concepts, abilities and different styles of challenges. For newcomers, the low difficulty of these opening tutorials offers a great opportunity to experiment and get a good feel for the game. More experienced players can treat these sections as a quick refresher course, and speed through them with commensurate haste and confidence.

Once you complete the first Sequence (story chapter), the Revelations sandbox begins to open up. In addition to main story missions (“Core Memories”), you will encounter a vast wealth of side quests, minigames and incidental challenges. The majority of these are purely optional, and are not necessary to complete the central storyline. However, these “Secondary Memories” can enable you to make Ezio wealthier – and, as a consequence, stronger and better equipped.

As with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, progress in the main story eventually unlocks a management metagame where you can invest Ezio’s money in restoring aspects of Constantinople’s business infrastructure, for which he receives a dividend at regular intervals. Though the initial costs may seem high, the ultimate rewards are far greater. Completing side quests and pouring the profits from Ezio’s labors back into...