Digging Into Assassin’s Creed Unity’s Cooperative Brotherhood Contracts

Now that Assassin’s Creed Unity is here, we took the opportunity to don our cloaks and experience the game’s new Brotherhood Contracts. These two-to-four-player team-ups nicely blend narrative-driven objectives with cooperative strategizing – and, of course, blade-bearing action.

Separated into three acts, each with its own goals and Templar-silencing opportunities, our most recent co-op contract session saw us rendezvousing with an intel-gathering spy. Of course, plenty of blood needed to be spilled before we could have our little meeting; we were first tasked with stealing back our spy’s secret notebook from some assassin-hating guards. After surveying the area – the outskirts of a military prison – with eagle vision, we incorporated a stealthy strategy of tossing smoke bombs and systematically dropping distracted guards. With the field cleared (save for some unconscious guards), we looted the targets and found the journal.

This first act was just a warm-up, though, to the challenges act two would present. As it turns out, our spy friend was scheduled to be executed in front of a riotous crowd of onlookers and a handful of Templar generals. Complicate that with a sniper patrol watching the action from surrounding balconies, and it was clear it would take more than a choking cloud of smoke to complete this layered objective. While we took to the rooftops to silently snuff out the snipers one by one, our teammate waded into the crowd to identify the generals with eagle vision. With our valuable asset’s date with death growing ever nearer, we needed to act quickly.

Working individually (with one player silencing the snipers, while the other thinned the crowd of Templar threats) worked well, but we panicked when our spy stepped up to the guillotine. Acting a bit hastily benefited us, however, as our actions caused all hell to break loose: Fights erupted in the crowd, guards were occupied, and the distraction allowed us to hightail it to temporary safety.

While we both managed to evade the enemy patrols (and the spy got to keep his head), the two of us were separated during the ensuing chaos. The contract’s concluding chapter would ultimately see us making our meeting, but not before having to track our sneaky asset to a graveyard crawling with more guards. Thankfully, our teammate had a berserk dart, which he effectively incorporated to turn many of the patrolling foes against each other. Coupled with a few stealth takedowns, this strategy allowed us to find the catacomb entrance the spy had slipped into. Of course, the gate was secured, so one of us needed to keep one last round of baddies at bay while the other worked some lock-picking magic.

With the last of the enemies incapacitated, the catacomb entrance breached, and our meeting made, the mission ended. The promise of 10 more Brotherhood Contracts – each lasting between 30-45 minutes – has us excited. Toss in the fact that these team-based missions are organically woven into the title’s larger narrative tapestry and often reward players with rare, character-customizing loot, and we’re already looking forward to diving back in for more cooperative action.

Want in? Pick up your copy of Assassin’s Creed Unity for Xbox One today, or grab the Xbox One Assassin’s Creed Unity Bundle if you haven’t already!