Assassin's Creed: Revelations Walkthrough

4. Miscellaneous and Collectibles

Animus Fragments and Ishak Pasha's Memoir Pages

For the 88 Animus Fragments and the 10 Ishak Pasha's Memoir Pages in Constantinople and the 12 Animus Fragments in Cappadocia, you can use these maps:

Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Collectibles Map (Constantinople) (download here)
Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Collectibles Map (Cappadocia) (download here)

The pictures are a bit rough since they're a mix of screenshots with different light effects; sorry about that. Anyway, imperfections aside, it's not a bad idea to save the image to your computer and manually erase the collectibles you get, as you get them (open the file with Paint or anything like that, then use the Erase or similar functions). Printing the picture would be an ideal solution.
While you go after the collectibles, remember that using Eagle Vision (press LS) with one of these items in your line of sight will instantly put the mark of that collectible on your map. The maps linked are very zoomed in, so the position of the collectibles is pretty much the same you will see on your in-game map. On YouTube you can find video guides for these collectibles too, but you would spend more time watching the videos than the time it'd take you to search them in-game with a fixed map. In particular, the Animus Fragments are so shiny that it's impossible not to see them once you've tracked them on your map; the Ishak Pasha Memoir Pages are less visible, so it might be a good idea to use this video in case you need it.

Just a note about one Animus Fragment on a platform attached to Galata Tower (the one also near an Ishak Pasha's Memoir Page): for that one, if you try to drop to reach it, the "noob protection" given by Ubisoft will make you fall in the haystack at the bottom of the tower every time. Instead of trying to drop there, which isn't possible, climb up Galata Tower; once you're high enough, jump and quickly open the parachute; then land on the wooden platform and finally get the Animus Fragment. Here's a video for it, just in case.

Speaking of your rewards, for the Animus Fragments you will get access to the "Desmond Sequences" as you get 5, 10, 15, 20 and finally 30 Animus Fragments (the first sequence is unlocked at 5 Animus Fragments, the second one at 10, and so on). We'll see about them soon.
After 25 Animus Fragments you can purchase the map of the Ishak Pasha's Memoir Pages.
After 50 Animus Fragments you can purchase the map which will automatically locate the rest of the Animus Fragments on your map.
After 100 Animus Fragments you will hear a very familiar sound - achievement unlocked:

After finding the 10 Ishak Pasha's Memoir Pages you will unlock:

After the collectibles: Desmond Sequences and Hagia Sophia

After collecting 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 Animus Fragments, you will unlock the Desmond Sequences (also known as "Desmond's Journey") in the Animus Island. To access them, open the game menu and select the Animus Island; from the portal to the world of Ezio and Altair, go up a small hill and enter the large column-portals to start these new levels.

The Desmond Sequences are first-person-view experiences which can contain some random objects for the multiplayer and information about the life of Desmond. They don't have to be played in numerical order, but it's a good idea to do so. The gameplay is simple once you understand it. After the first moment where you normally walk on the ground, you will start to have to use some "blocks" (you'll be clearly told when it's the time). There are two shapes of block that you can use: straight blocks and pyramid-shaped blocks. You can place the blocks in front of you by pressing RT; switch between the two types by pressing LB/RB; cancelling previously-placed blocks by adding more blocks (there can be a maximum amount of 3 blocks spawned at once) or by pressing X. Here's how you will move around:

- You can walk forward with LS while spawning straight blocks one after another, and they will make your floor
- If you have to rise upwards, walk forward with LS while spawning the pyramid-shaped blocks to gain height
- If you have to drop downward, fall off from where you currently are, and spawn any of the blocks (the straight ones are probably a bit more reliable) after a moment; basically, you want to land on the block you will spawn at the height you want to reach. It goes without saying that you can't fall all the way from the top to the bottom of a large room, or you will "die"; drop your height by small gaps, so you don't take damage, so to speak

Additional difficulties will come from the environment: when you see some light-blue/black blocks around you, touching them will kill you; you must avoid them to get through the areas.
Sometimes you will come across magnetic fields, which can pull your blocks up, down or towards some walls; you will notice these starting from the second Sequence, and you will always see some white "things" floating in the air, in the direction where the magnetic field will take your blocks too.
Then you will also find some orange "lasers" which will instantly destroy your blocks upon touching them: they must be avoided by coordinating your movements in space and time. You can stay perfectly under an orange laser without taking any damage.
Finally, red lasers (Sequence 4 only) can instantly kill you as well as cut your blocks.

In addition to all these "traps", there are "orange areas" and "white areas". White areas are those where you can place your blocks; you may consider the first Sequence as a giant white area. Sometimes there will also be orange areas though, and they are areas which destroy your blocks. Then there might be areas which are neither orange nor white; they count pretty much as orange areas. How to locate an orange area or a white area is simple. First, if you can place your block, its virtual image before placing it will be white; this means you're in a white area; viceversa, its virtual image will be orange if you're trying to place it in an orange area (seeing this in-game will clear everything up, don't worry). Second, you can see orange/white lines on the edges of the walls with orange/white areas. You will clearly experience this in Sequence 2; as for now, instead of trying to understand it without seeing it, just be aware that there are these two possible areas which will influence the possibility to place your blocks.

So, these are the basics, but the best tutorial will be the practice you will get in-game.

Desmond Sequence # 01
This is the most simple of all. You will unlock:

Desmond Sequence # 02
This is probably one of the hardest, especially for its second part, and especially because of the magnetic fields and "orange areas" where you can't place blocks. Once you're finally through, you will unlock:

Desmond Sequence # 03
Here's when you start to find the orange lasers. They are not particularly brutal, so other than some accidental mistakes you shouldn't have problems. You will unlock:

Desmond Sequence # 04
This one isn't difficult; the first part is where you find the first and only red lasers of the game. Then you will be in a room with many orange lasers to avoid, and you'll be able to place your blocks only in the "white areas". There is more than enough space to move around anyway; just pay attention to the white edges of the walls to know your limits. You will unlock:

Desmond Sequence # 05
The last one is very short and simple; the most difficult part of it is the "white areas", which are rather limited and also put inside magnetic fields. Nothing you can't handle anyway. You will unlock:

When they are all finished you will also get the Desmond Outfit.

After collecting the 10 Ishak Pasha's Memoir Pages you will also unlock a secret location. The door to this location is found on the Northwest side of Hagia Sophia, one of the "Landmarks" on the Southeast of the Imperial - North District. This video should clear the exact location. Upon completing this dungeon, you will receive Ishak Pasha's Armor. This set will not be damaged and gives you the max possible bonus of health, just like the Master Assassin Armor (refer to the General hints and tips for more info about this one). Once you're out of the dungeon, you will unlock:

While you're around Hagia Sophia you might as well complete another simple task: climb it up from the bottom to the pinnacle in under 25 seconds (you may actually be slower and still unlock it). Here's a video, but you should find the way easily. You will unlock:

Bomb-related achievements

Once Piri Reis is available (after Sequence 3 Memory 4), pay a visit to him. Inside his building, on the right wall facing his desk, you will find some paintings called "Bomb Boards". There are four of them, and each of them is a commitment to two subsequential "tutorial missions". Once you complete all the eight of them, you will unlock:

Then you have one achievement for poisoning 10 guards at the same time. Here's a video; below will follow a text explanation.
How to - You want to use the Lethal Bomb "Datura"; to craft an ideal bomb you will use an Impact Shell, a British Gunpowder (for maximum range) and the Datura Powder (that is what adds the Poison effect). In addition to this, you want to gather guards with any common Cherry Bomb (among the Diversion Bombs); create a couple of them just to be sure.
Where to - The easiest place to do so is from the top of a certain "building" in Constantine - North District; here. The building looks like an open square, and it's guarded on the ground by many groups of guards. Because of this, it will be easy to throw a couple of Cherry Bombs to gather etogether, throw the Datura Bomb on them. You will unlock:

There is one achievement for crafting 30 Bombs. If you don't want to hunt for components, remember that you're given free samples of 3x Impact Shell, 3x Arabic Gunpowder, 3x Phosphorus every time you access a bomb crafting box after being in a different area. For instance, exit/enter Piri Reis's place, where a bomb crafting box is, to get the free samples and create three Tactical Bomb "Smoke Screen" for free; exit, drop them outside, enter again and repeat. Or, if you don't care much about bombs, just use all the ingredients you have to create random bombs when you can. It might be worth taking a look at the "Bomb Challenges" (reported at the end of this page, but also found in-game), if you care about completion beyond the achievements, as you may not want to use too much "random" to complete those challenges either. Either way, the achievement will pop up once you quit the crafting menu. You will unlock:

Speaking of Smoke Screen bombs, you also want to use them to kill five guards too: drop the bomb, let the fog cause the guards to cough (that's the signal to know when they've been affected by it), and kill them in the fog. You can use Eagle Vision to find them in the fog, although tapping X for random kills works just as well. It doesn't have to be five guards at once, just five in total. You will unlock:

Finally, there's one more achievement involving the Tactical Bomb - Caltrop Bomb (it can be purchased at the random bomb sellers in the streets ("Black Market Dealer"), if you don't want to craft them). You want to lure guards near a scaffold; then use the Caltrop Bomb to "trap" them near the scaffold; while they're "trapped", destroy the scaffold by running towards it with RT+B (the typical move with the Hook); remember to keep Ezio without targets locked on while doing this last step, or he won't run to destroy the scaffold. You can find scaffolds just about everywhere after running around for a few seconds, so there is not a special place to suggest. If you need one, I would go for the same place indicated for Mosh Pit; near that area, there's a Tunnel, and just Northwest of it there is a scaffold. Destroy it to kill some guards, then engage a fight with the other Janissaries; let them kill you, so you respawn with the scaffold available again, and then repeat the process. Here or somewhere else, do this to kill a total of five guards to unlock:

Other achievements

Assign your projectile button (Y) to the Throwing Knives weapon; if necessary, buy more of them at the Blacksmith. You will need to throw more than a throwing knife at once (three) to kill three guards at once with them. At the end of the game you won't find weaker enemies easily, so it's a good idea to attempt this in earlier sequences. As suggested by Rasterloda among the solutions for the achievement, load Sequence 1 Memory 5 and you'll be facing three enemies to easily get the achievement. You will unlock:

For the next two achievements you will need a Parachute; you can buy more of them at the Tailors. You need to land with your Parachute on a zipline; any high tower can be a good starting point, and any zipline can be a good destination. Do it on the first place where you find it to unlock:

The other achievement related to the Parachute requires you to parachute yourself from the top of the Galata Tower into the "Golden Horn". The link should clarify it, but anyway, the Golden Horn is the course of water between (in-game) Galata District and the rest of Constantinople. Galata Tower is located here, and jumping from its pinnacle will give you enough height to land in the water many meters South of it. You will unlock:

Every now and then you may find a red icon on your mini-map (about like this:

). It's a "Tax Collector", a guy running away from you. As soon as you find one, stop doing whatever you're doing, and chase after him. If he's outrunning you, just shoot him down, but don't let him escape. Once you "get" him one way or another, you will unlock an achievement.
Many people have problems because this guy won't show up. There have been many theories about it; although it's not sure what makes him spawn yet, what is sure is that you don't have to wait for a money deposit at your Bank for him to spawn. You don't have to have a lot of coins either; being at the beginning of the game is already enough, theoretically. There might be areas where he can spawn more easily than others; the most common found and used so far is a spot South of the map (see this video), just a bit West of the Mercenaries settlement. Also, he can spawn at any time; during missions, during your first visit to Constantinople, or just in the post-game. You can also do this after locking all the Dens, in case you wonder whether his presence is linked to the Templar influence or not. It's probably something very random, and you may or may not have the luck of finding him as you go for other things. But then again, when you're finally lucky, get him at all costs to unlock:

There is one other achievement which does involve coins this time, and it's doable only from Sequence 7 onward, when Cappadocia is available. It's an achievement for completing all the "Book Quest" tasks and purchasing all the 18 "Books" of the game. The second group of books are available for sale in any "Bookstore" (look for them on your in-game map; the icon is pretty obvious), but four books in particular are only available for sale in the store located in Cappadocia. The grand total you will spend on them is 478,541 coins (possibly 459,605 coins with some discount). As far as the Book Quests are concerned, the icon on their map is also obvious; complete them all (they are very short, anyway; you can check the progression towards these from one of the sub-menus of the DNA menu of the game).
The books you can buy in Constantinople are: The Odyssey (201 coins), Aeneid (242 coins), Mu'Allaqat (334 coins), Geography (483 coins), The History of the Kings of Britain (529 coins), Heimskringla (1,840 coins), The Book of Prophecies (3,220 coins), The Golden Ass (3,588 coins), Parallel Lives (9,085 coins), Metamorphoses (9,315 coins), Opus Majus (9,775 coins), The Secret History of the Mongols (24,725 coins), Anabasis Alexandri (27,600 coins), Record of the Grand Historian (44,505 coins); total of 126,238 coins (you can save 15% on these).
The four books you can buy in Cappadocia are: Bibliotheca (107,525 coins), Cronica (84,123 coins), Tirant Lo Blanch (94,875 coins), Digenes Akritas (65,780 coins); total of 352,303 (you can't save 15% on these ones).
You will unlock:

There are two simple and self-explanatory achievements which require you to kill 50+ guards with the Hidden Blade, and kill five of them within five seconds (with the Hidden Blade). If you're having problems with the former, try to lure the guards like you've done for Mosh Pit, but instead of throwing the "poison" bomb (Datura Bomb), use the "Smoke Screen" bomb instead; while the smoke is on, you should be able to safely kill five or more guards within five seconds (double assassinations count as two guards of course. You will unlock:

One achievement requires you to cause a guard to knock down three civilians because of his "poison dance". Poisoning a guard is simple, just use poisonous darts if you prefer them to the poisonous blade. Luring civilians near the guard should also be simple, since you'll be picking one of the guards in the streets. You can throw coins (equip this "weapon" from your right weapon-wheel) to lure the civilians near the poisoned guard, as well as the usual Cherry Bombs. You will unlock:

Then there is an achievement requiring the "special ability" of the Thieves. To unlock this "special ability" you will need to complete a Set of their "Challenges". You can view the state of the challenges on some black boards in the guild's quarters, but it's easier to look at them in your DNA menu (the second-to-last sub-menu is the one with the Challenges). This particular set (Set 2) requires you to:
- Perform 40 Leaps of Faith (when you jump from somewhere to a haystack/bush of flowers; you hear the eagle cry when doing this)
- Climb a total distance of 1 km; this is cumulative, and will eventually be acquired without really trying for it
- Steal a total of 250 coins with the Counter Steal ability (RT+Y when an enemy is attacking you)

Since they are all requirements on which you will work automatically as you play, it's better to leave this achievement as one of the last.
Anyway, once you have unlocked the "Thief Loot" ability, you want to engage a group of thieves (they're usually found on the rooftops; go around their HQ if you can't find them randomly elsewhere) and have a walk on the streets; kill a total of 50 guards and let the thieves loot their bodies for you (this is possible with the Thief Loot ability). Make sure you don't send your thieves to attack the guards for you, because otherwise they may be un-engaged after the fight; should that happen, just engage another group (it doesn't have to be fifty guards looted with the same group). At the 50th plundered corpse you will unlock:

As you progress through the story, you will gradually unlock the "faction challenges". For instance, after Sequence 3 Memory 1, the Assassins Challenges and the Mercenary Challenges become available. These challenges can be viewed inside the typical building of the faction you want, and they'll be written on a black board which you can examine; it's actually possible to check these challenges at any time from your DNA menu (the challenges are the second to last voice of the DNA menu). You'll have to complete all the challenges of a single faction to unlock one achievement. You will most likely have all or almost all the requirements for the challenges of the Assassins faction, since the tasks required are things you would normally do. You're free to focus on other factions' challenges anyway, or simply complete them all to also get the rewards they offer. The rewards are given both upon completion of all the challenges of a faction, and upon completion of a "set" (group) of challenges for that faction. You can find the weapons given as reward in the "Hideout" (in Galata District); there will be a room with all your collected items, where you can find and choose these, once unlocked.

Also, be aware that for some of the Challenges you may need to download a patch, or else the progress will not be recorded -- you're automatically asked to download a patch when you launch the game, if you're signed into Xbox Live, but in case you're playing offline, be aware that this problem may occur.

Anyway, here they are:

Assassins Guild

Set 1

- 25x Call assassins during a fight
- 20x Call assassins on a target
Reward: Assassins will be more effective when sent on missions. In particular, you get a boost by +10% by default on the success rate of every Mediterranean Defense mission.

Set 2

- 20x Use Arrow Storm
- 5x Call your Assassins within a story mission
Reward: Assassin Signal recharges at an increased speed.

Set 3

- 12x Recruit assassins. You can rescue more citizens to recruit them as Assassins if you set the Dens free from the influence of the Templars. Each freed Den lets you recruit two more assassins. If necessary, playing again the "Recruit Assassins" missions should also count to boost the amount of assassins recruited
- 7x Train recruits to the rank of Master Assassin. This is the same requirement as "The Mentor" achievement
- 3x Successfully perform a Den Defense. If you've already locked the Dens, you can replay Sequence 2 Memory 6
Reward: Unlocks the Assassin faction weapon. The weapon is the Altair's Sword.

Mercenaries Guild

Set 1

- 10x Use mercenaries on guards
- 5x Destroy scaffolds by throwing someone into it
- 5x Kill an enemy using a thrown weapon. The "Heavy Weapons" (those with the icon of an hammer) are the ones you want to throw; throwing knives do not count as a weapon
Reward: Cost of hiring Mercenaries decreases.

Set 2

- 5x Disarm and kill a guard with his own weapon (to disarm and get the weapon of an enemy, perform a counter with your bare hands)
- 25x Kill a Byzantine Almogavar. They are the guards with a partially red armor, wielding axes; you can find them easily during the Master Assassin mission "The Guardian, Part 1", all around the residence of "the rich man"
- 10x Perform a Hook and Throw. Hook and Throw is a Hook and Run made on soldiers in open conflict (don't lock on the targets): run towards them with RT held, and press/tap B without having A held too. You know if it's a Hook and Throw when you throw the guard on the ground and lock automatically the target on him
Reward: Unlocks Mercenary Faction ability. The ability will make them able to push away the beggars harassing you.

Set 3

- 10x Perform a Double Assassination
- Kill 5 guards in under 10 seconds in melee
- 10x Perform a combo kill streak of at least 5 kills. Best done earlier in the game; otherwise, Cappadocia has the weakest enemies of the game; you can attempt this on Sequence 4 Memory 3 too
- 25x Kill an Ottoman Janissary. They can be found in great numbers during Sequence 6 Memory 2
Reward: Unlocks Mercenary Faction Weapon. The weapon is the Broadsword.

Romanies Guild

Set 1

- 10x Use Romanies on guards
- 10x Evade using stealth (crowd/hiding spots). "Evade" here refers to escaping from guards chasing after you after triggering an open conflict
- 20x Kill guards using the crossbow without being detected. The Crossbow is a weapon on sale for 22,080 coins at the Blacksmiths
Reward: Cost of hiring Romanies decreases.

Set 2

- 10x Use Tactical bombs to escape guards
- 5x Kill a Stalker without getting stabbed. Stalkers are rogues which occasionally try to kill you, spawning from nowhere. Standing still in the same place is the only thing you can do; you know when they're coming because a sound will alert you. Stay in the streets, not on the rooftops
- 15x Kill guards using poison
Reward: Unlocks Romani Faction ability. The ability will make them being able to poison the guards.

Set 3

- 20x Kill guards using bombs without being spotted
- 10x Assassinate a guard from behind
- 5x Assassinate a guard from a blend spot (haystacks and similar)
- Kill 3 enemies dazed by a single smoke bomb before it dissipates
Reward: Unlocks Romani Faction weapon. The weapon is the Romani Stiletto.

Thieves Guild

Set 1

- 10x Use Thieves on Guards
- Sprint uninterrupted for 300 meters. There are some open areas in the Southwest part of the map
- 15x Perform a Hook and Run. Run towards a guard when you're not in open conflict (doing this from their back is the best option) and keep B held along with RT. It's the analogue of Shove, only that a Shove is done on civilians while the Hook and Run is done on guards
Reward: Cost of hiring the Thief Faction decreases.

Set 2

- 40x Perform a Leap of Faith. There are already 22 "Synchronization Points"; the rest will come naturally
- Climb a total distance of 1 km
- Steal money with a Counter Steal (a total of 250 coins is required). Counter Steal is a counter where you press Y instead of X
Reward: Unlocks the Thief Faction ability. The ability here is "Thief Looting", which is also involved and required for the "Fast Finger" achievement. It will make the thieves loot automatically for you.

Set 3

- Perform a dive of at least 30 meters. Use the high masts of the ships to accomplish this (for instance, the mast from the ship in Cappadocia). Remember that after jumping off, you need to press A again for Ezio to "Dive" and not simply fall in the water
- 25x Kill a guard using throwing knives
- 5x Perform an air assassination on guards from a beam
- 10x Perform a zipline assassination
Reward: Unlocks the Thief Faction weapon. The weapon is the Ottoman Mace.

Bomb Challenges

Not quite a guild, but these can also be the ones you complete for the achievement. For most of them, the most advisable position to grind the challenges will be near the location indicated for Mosh Pit. Around that area there's a Black Market Dealer who can sell you Tripwire Datura Bombs for the "tripwire" challenge (Set 1), Sticky Splinter Bomb for the "stick" challenge (Set 1) Impact Caltrop Bomb for the kills on guards incapacitated (Set 2), and also other bombs which may come in handy. In that place you have plenty of guards, and you can simply let a group of them kill you when you've "used" all the other groups to make the challenges; dying = respawning in that area again, with fresh new enemies to bomb down.

Set 1

- 10x Stick a bomb on a guard
- Kill a mission target with a bomb (there's a mission by Piri Reis which should earn you this; otherwise, Sequence 5 Memory 1 has a quick and easy target)
- 20x Distract a guard using bombs (use Cherry Bombs; for sale at Black Market Dealer)
- Kill 5 guards with a single bomb (you'll get this along with Mosh Pit)
- 20x Kill guards with Tripwire bombs (use Tripwire Datura Bombs if you don't want to craft other of this type)
Reward: Extra bomb ingredients found within Dens.

Set 2

- Craft a bomb with every shell type (there's only four shell types, just use them all at least once)
- 50x Use a bomb (it will be obtained while doing other things; otherwise, buy and use bombs randomly until you hit 50)
- 25x Kill a guard incapacitated by a bomb (drop Impact Caltrop Bombs to hurt the feet of guards, and kill them then)
- Craft one bomb of each effect type (this basically means: use every Effect at least once; there are ten of them)
- Use every bomb effect at least twice (the best thing to do is going to Piri Reis; enter his place and access the Bomb Crafting box to get free Impact Shell and free Arabic Gunpowder items; at that point, you'll have to create two bombs for every possible "Effect", using any shell/gunpowder - the Impact Shell and Arabic Gunpowder are for free, so you should use them. Then exit Piri Reis's residence and drop the bombs outside; then enter his building again to get more free shells and gunpowder, craft two bombs with the next Effect, and so on until you have made and used 20 bombs - 10 effects timed two uses of them)
Reward: Bomb capacity upgrade. For every type of bomb you will be able to carry 4 (instead of 3) bombs.

When you complete one of these five sets, you will unlock: