The framing story is set in the 21st century and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who, using a machine known as the Animus, relives the memories of his Assassin ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, to find a way to avert the 2012 apocalypse.

Brotherhood features an open world and is played from the third-person perspective, with a primary focus on using Desmond's and Ezio's combat, climbing and stealth abilities to eliminate targets and explore the environment.

As Ezio, players can freely explore Rome to advance the narrative, or complete a variety of side missions unrelated to the main storyline.

A number of downloadable content (DLC) packs were released to support Brotherhood, including The Da Vinci Disappearance, a story expansion set during the events of the single-player campaign.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is an action-adventure,[3] stealth game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective.

The game introduces the titular Brotherhood system, which allows the player, as Ezio, to recruit new Assassin initiates after destroying any of twelve "Borgia towers" around Rome where papal troops are stationed, and then rescuing disgruntled citizens from being harassed by city guards.

The primary setting of the game is Rome, which has fallen into ruin due to the corrupt rule of the Borgia papacy and the Templars, who have concentrated all the wealth in the Vatican.

Rome is larger than any of the cities seen in Assassin's Creed II (being roughly three times bigger than Florence[6]) and is divided into five districts: Vatican (Vaticano), Central (Centro), Trans-Tiber (Trastevere), Country (Campagna) and Antique (Antico).

However, certain main and side missions take the player to various locations outside of Rome, including the harbor of Naples; the Alban Hills (Colli Albani); and part of Navarre, Spain, among others.

Horses play a larger role in Brotherhood, not only used as a means of transport (inside the city for the first time) but as a component of acrobatic sequences and advanced combat as well, allowing ranged weapons to be used while riding them.

They use the animi (plural for animus) seen at the beginning of Assassin's Creed II to access memories of old Templars and acquire their skills using the "bleeding effect".

Players are able to choose one of the 21 available characters, including: Courtesan, Barber, Priest, Noble, Prowler, Executioner, Doctor, Blacksmith, Captain, Smuggler, Engineer,[18][19] Footpad,[20][21] Thief, Hellequin (a female Harlequin, which is available through uPlay) and Mercenary.

Following the events of the previous game, Desmond Miles (Nolan North), Lucy Stillman (Kristen Bell), Rebecca Crane (Eliza Schneider), and Shaun Hastings (Danny Wallace) escape from the Templars who attacked their hideout and establish a new base in the ruins of the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni.

After restoring the electricity in the tunnels under the villa, Desmond uses the Animus 2.0 to continue reliving the genetic memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore (Roger Craig Smith).

Over the next three years, Ezio cripples the Borgias' hold in the capital, sabotaging Cesare's resources and assassinating key people close to him, while slowly restoring Rome to its former glory.

Rodrigo refuses, cautious of provoking the Assassins, and attempts to kill his son with a poisoned apple, fearing Cesare's lust for power.

Cesare is arrested by Pope Julius II's Papal Army after Ezio and the Assassins confront him and kill his remaining followers.

In 1506, during his pursuit of Cesare Borgia, Ezio visits his friend, Leonardo da Vinci (Carlos Ferro), at his workshop in Rome to ask for his help in securing a ship to take him to Spain.

In early May 2010, a GameStop employee published on the internet some images of a pre-order box featuring the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood title while Ubisoft was teasing the game on Facebook and Twitter.

[24] Brotherhood has not been numbered unlike Assassin's Creed II because players, and even developers themselves would have expected a new setting and a new ancestor while this is only the continuation of Ezio's story.

Extra content includes courier, assassination and protection missions — Ezio will be tasked with foiling the conspiracy against Copernicus and defending his philosophy.

The PC version of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was released by Akella in Russia in exclusive Collector's Edition featuring 6 metal figurines of multiplayer characters.

Its particular topography of narrow streets, high-perched bell-tower, and multi-leveled architecture are perfect for hunters and predators alike to surge from out of nowhere to execute their prey.

The Pienza Map provides a free-running playground with wide-open plaza areas, where predators and targets can quickly blend and disappear, surrounded by narrow alleys and multi-story buildings for extra verticality.

The Da Vinci Disappearance, originally available via the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, features new content for both single player and multiplayer modes.

The DLC's storyline, which is set before the final memory sequence of the base game, follows Ezio as he investigates the disappearance of his friend Leonardo da Vinci in the year 1506.

This DLC doubles as the technical Animus Project Update 3.0, with the addition of the preorder multiplayer characters, the Harlequin and Officer, as well as the preorder-only special Drachen Armor for Ezio.

[49][54] Game Informer gave the Brotherhood a 9.25/10, commenting that the ability to raise a group of followers was a significant enhancement to the previous title's gameplay, and praising the new multiplayer mode as something never before seen.

It demands a developer of poise and compassion to wield such thorny concepts deftly, and it's a measure of Ubisoft Montreal's maturity that it is more than equal to the challenge...Brotherhood builds an intriguing mystery around compelling characters, surrounds them with collectibles and secrets, and encourages play – and nothing feels out of place.

However, most praised Ubisoft's move to remove the DRM that marred the PC version of Assassin's Creed II as well as include all DLC free of charge.