Assassin's Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence's most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin.

In a vast open world environment, the game invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio's subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into a captivating and epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new gameplay elements, diverse weapons and a profound character progression that will appeal to fans of the original Assassin's Creed as well as entice players new to the brand.

Assassin's Creed 2 retains the core gameplay experience that made the first opus a resounding success and features new experiences that will surprise and challenge players.

Ace Books and Ubisoft announced a partnership that will bring together the worlds of gaming and publishing in a unique collaboration to develop Assassin’s Creed Renaissance, a new book based on Ubisoft‘s blockbuster video game Assassin's Creed II. Following the recent release of the book in the United Kingdom, this partnership marks the first time that the book will be available in the US. Assassin’s Creed Renaissance is based on the characters, setting and actions of the game, and it expands on them to provide a standalone adventure novel which will appeal to players of the game and newcomers alike.

“We’re excited to be working with Penguin Group,” said Andy Swanson, senior director of consumer products at Ubisoft. “Assassin’s Creed Renaissance will offer the public a new and exciting way to experience the narrative world of Assassin’s Creed II. The book deal with Penguin, along with the recent Assassin’s Creed Lineage short film Ubisoft produced, is part of an ambitious strategy to bring the Assassin’s Creed franchise to multiple entertainment media. We believe that these projects developed in tandem with the games themselves provide the player with a truly immersive experience into the Assassin’s Creed world.”

“We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Ubisoft on a tie-in novel to Assassin’s Creed II,” said Leslie Gelbman, president of Mass Market Paperbacks at Penguin Group (USA). “Our previous collaborations on novels based on several of Ubisoft’s video game franchises under the Tom Clancy’s umbrella have all been New York Times bestsellers. We’re sure that Assassin’s Creed Renaissance will be equally successful.”

Assassin’s Creed Renaissance will be released in premium mass market format on February 23rd.

Key Features

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a young Italian noble who will learn the ways of the assassins after his family was betrayed and he looks to seek vengeance. He is a lady's man, a free soul with panache yet has a very human side to his personality. Through him, you become a master assassin.
• Italy in the 15th century was less a country and more a collection of city-states where families with political and economic strength began to take leadership roles in cities like Florence and Venice. This journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world takes place in a time in history where culture and art were born alongside some of the most auspicious stories of corruption, greed and murder.
• You will be able to perform missions when you want and how you want in this open-ended world that brings back free-running and adds elements such as swimming and even flying to the adventure. The variety in gameplay adds another layer for you to truly play through the game any way you choose.
• Discover a living, breathing world where every character is an opportunity for the player. Blending in with the crowd is easier, working with in-game characters provide ample rewards but can also lead to surprising consequences.
• Perfect your skills to become a master assassin where you brandish new weapons, learn to disarm enemies then use their weapons against them and assassinate enemies using both hidden blades.