With a wide range of new features, functions and destinations, the Assassin’s Creed Revelations multiplayer suite may seem a little daunting to a first-time player. In this chapter, we provide a wealth of tips, tricks and tables that will help you to play at a competitive level from your very first foray into this engrossing play mode.

Game Principles

First things first: it is points, not kills, that are used to determine winners in Assassin’s Creed Revelations multiplayer. While a high kill count is certainly an accomplishment, performing well in each match is a matter of how you perform your assassinations – not your final body count. With special bonuses acknowledging noteworthy feats, particularly those that involve stealth and subtlety, there is a definite onus on playing the mode in the way its creators intended.

While time spent inside the Animus completing the single-player adventure will certainly help to familiarize you with certain multiplayer concepts, it is important to recognize that this is a very different experience. The focus here is on free running, social stealth and assassinations, with a greatly simplified combat engine. Instead of open brawls, you will use a range of unlockable skills known as Abilities to hunt and kill targets, or evade aggressors.

Once a multiplayer session has been launched, your character will appear somewhere on the chosen map. You will notice that all citizens around you resemble one of the many playable characters, or “skins” (referred to as Persona in the game). In most Game Modes, some will look identical to you. All you know at first is that other human players are out there, hiding among the crowds, and you will be assigned a contract to kill one of them.

However, you will regularly find yourself cast in the dual role of hunter and prey. As you walk the streets in search of your contract, other Agents are likely to be tracking you. Naturally, stealth is of paramount importance. The new Approach Meter (situated in the upper right corner of the screen) starts at Discreet and can fluctuate between Incognito and Reckless in accordance with your actions. The former is always the most desirable state to operate in. A covert approach can be employed to evade the attention of your victims and potential executors, but you must always be ready to adapt your tactics and flee or hide if a rival assigned to kill you is closing in fast.

Another factor that you must take into account is that you may not be the only assassin hunting your prey. Multiple contracts can be awarded on the same target, so you will lose out if a rival beats you to the kill. This also means that you can be stalked by more than one competitor at once.

Finally, try to plan your assassination to get the best bonuses but always be ready for improvisation, and it is imperative that you keep moving at all times. Never linger in one place for too long, or think that you can lurk in wait for your target. Somebody, somewhere, is moving towards your location, and drawing closer by the second…

Onscreen Display

Please click to enlarge

Player Data: 1

The number shows your current scoring position. Victory is handed to the player with the most points at the end of the round.

The number of red markers indicates how many Agents are stalking you.

An Escape sequence begins when your pursuer reveals themselves.

Target Data:2

This portrait shows the skin (referred to as Persona in the game) of the Agent you have been contracted to find and kill. Beware of lookalikes and disguises. It will take a little while to become acquainted with all characters, but you’ll soon gain the ability to recognize your target with a brief glance at his or her picture.

The outline around the portrait becomes blue when your target is in your line of sight – but this may also mean that your victim can see you as well. The background of the portrait becomes blue when you are close to your target.

The players hunting your target appear as blue markers below the picture. One arrow means that you are the only pursuer on this target.

The Approach Meter shows your level of discretion and directly affects your kill bonus. The more careful the approach, the greater the bonus. Subtle, Low Profile actions (such as walking or hiding) gradually fill up the Approach Meter – from Discreet, to Silent and then Incognito. Conversely, performing High Profile actions (such as running) will cause your Approach Meter to empty to the Reckless level. A Chase sequence will ensue when your Approach Meter is fully depleted.

Compass:3...