The framing story is set in the 21st century and follows Desmond Miles as he relives the genetic memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze to uncover the mysteries left behind by an ancient race known as the First Civilization in the hope of ending the Assassin-Templar conflict. The plot is set in a fictional history of real-world events and follows the millennia-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight to preserve peace and free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through control. Several minor game-related features could be redeemed on Uplay and three downloadable expansion packs were released on Xbox Live.
The game was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in March 2010 and OS X in October 2010. It is the second major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the sequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed II is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montréal and published by Ubisoft.
