For many centuries, the Order of the Knights Templar has looked for the Apple of Eden because
it contains the key to free will. By decoding its secrets, they’ll have the power to control all
freedom of thought, which is why the organization known as the Brotherhood of Assassins tries to
stop them. In 1492 in Spain, the Assassins discusses the latest update: they can’t let
the sultan’s son be kidnapped or he’ll surrender the Apple. A newbie called Aguilar is accepted in
the organization and they cut his finger as part of the welcoming ritual before handing him a pair
of hidden blades. In Baja California in 1986, a young Cal is on the roof of a building trying to
make a jump with his bike, but he fails and falls. When he goes home, he’s shocked to find the body
of his dead mother with her necklace hanging in her hand. To make it worse, it was his father
Joseph that killed her. As a bunch of cars led by Rikkin approach the house, Joseph tells Cal to
run because they’ve been found. Cal immediately gets on the roofs and runs as fast as possible,
managing to escape before the men enter the house. Thirty years later, Cal is now a grown man in
a Texan jail keeping himself busy by making creepy drawings. On the day of his birthday,
he’s taken out of his cell for execution, which is the sentence he got for murder. He’s strapped to
a table before they inject the lethal fluids into him, causing him to see his entire life flashing
in his mind as he goes out. To Cal’s shock, he doesn’t die but instead wakes up in a white room
where Rikkin’s daughter Sofia is watching him. Sofia explains that officially he’s dead to the
rest of the world and he’s been brought here to help her project, but Cal immediately tries to
escape. His body is still weak from the injection so his body keeps stumbling and slowing down,
but he manages to run through the strange building and take the stairs into a room full of plants and
other people like him. Then Cal reaches the edge of a balcony and realizes he has no idea
where he is. Soon Sofia catches up to him and says he’s in Madrid in the Abstergo Foundation,
a private organization working on a way to eradicate violence. Before he can respond,
security knocks him out and takes him to a huge empty room. While holding him down, they put
hidden blades on his arms and a special belt on his waist before they connect a huge claw-like
machine called Animus to his neck. Cal screams in pain as Sofia explains this machine will help
him see the memories of his ancestor, who lived five hundred years ago. Then Animus raises Cal
and bright lights shine around him as the computer checks his DNA. Suddenly Animus pushes Cal and he
finds himself in the Spanish Inquisition, seeing everything from the point of view of his ancestor
Aguilar. The Templars have kidnapped the Sultan’s son Ahmed, and it’s the Assassin’s mission to
rescue him before he can be used to get the Apple. On the streets, the Templars put Ahmed in a cage
and get ready to kill the man who was hiding the boy. While the commander gives a speech,
Aguilar jumps on him to kill him at the same time Cal jumps still connected to the Animus.
He’s shocked because he’s truly feeling like he’s killed a guy, but Sofia asks him to stay in the
memory. The other Assassins are also attacking and a vicious fight against the Templars ensues. At
first it seems the Assassins have the upper hand with their amazing fighting skills, but soon the
Templars start killing them back. Assassin Maria steals the carriage with the cage and takes off,
but the Templars immediately start following her so Aguilar takes a horse and joins the chase. Two
Templars manage to get in the back of the vehicle, so Maria jumps to start fighting them, quickly
pushing them off with precise strikes and shooting a horse rider before returning to the front.
Aguilar decides to jump as well and lands in a Templar cart to trigger another fight at the same
time one more enemy starts harassing Maria. The fights are fast and intense, and everything gets
experienced by Cal in real time, jumping in the Animus as Aguilar jumps as well because the cart
loses track and crashes. In the other carriage, Maria almost falls and manages to hold on at
the last second. Aguilar lands on her carriage and kills the Templar before noticing they’re about to
reach a cliff, so he hurries to pick the cage lock and free the kid while Maria gets to escape by
unhooking the horses. The carriage starts falling off the bridge and Aguilar falls with the kid,
so he shoots a rope to hold onto the edge. At that moment, Cal starts falling too and Sofia orders
her technicians to pull him out of Animus while in the past, a Templar finds Aguilar. Cal lands
on the floor rather forcefully and is shocked to see a hallucination of Aguilar walking through
the room. That night, Cal has nightmares about Aguilar’s memories. When he wakes up, he’s in a
cell room surrounded by guards, and he still sees the hallucination of Aguilar walking around. It
looks like Aguilar is about to attack him, but he disappears at the last second. At that moment
Sofia comes to check on him and explains the hallucinations are called “the Bleeding effect”,
they’re images of his experience layering themselves over his field of vision. Angry,
Cal grabs Sofia and pushes her against the wall to demand an explanation, so she tells him the
machine connects him to genetic memories that allow him to relieve the lives of his ancestors.
As Cal’s head hurts with the visions, Sofia convinces him to let her go by pointing out he’ll
learn more if he cooperates. Then Sofia takes him to a lab where they’ve been keeping track
of all his life, explaining they found him by following Aguilar’s DNA. All the test subjects are
murderers like their Assassin ancestors, and Sofia points out they were born with a predisposition
to violence. Cal corrects her, saying he doesn’t like violence for the sake of it, he just killed
a man who was hurting women. Sofia and Rikkin are with the Templars, and they’re looking for
the Apple of Eden because it’s supposed to have the seed of man’s first disobedience and could
help them learn why it makes people violent. They think violence is a disease that can be
cured and Cal is here to help them find that cure. Once their research is complete, Cal
gets to leave and start a new life. Afterward Cal goes to have lunch with the other test subjects.
Everyone keeps staring at him and Moussa reminds him that they’re supposed to protect the Apple,
so he advises Cal not to make the wrong choice. While he eats, Cal keeps having flashbacks to his
mother’s death and sees Aguilar’s hallucination everywhere. Meanwhile Rikkin wants to send Cal
back into the Animus immediately. It turns out the Templars want to shoot his project down because he
hasn’t found the Apple, so he wants to speed up the process. Sofia disagrees because Cal needs
to get used to everything or he’ll lose his life in the process. Later in his cell room, Cal sees
Aguilar attacking him again, and this time he’s capable of channeling his ancestor’s abilities
to defend himself. After successfully exchanging a few hits, the hallucination disappears and two
technicians come in, so Cal beats them up as well. However soon the guards come and manage
to overpower him before they drag him out by force. Cal thinks he’s slowly going crazy,
so he starts laughing and singing like a maniac. The guards take Cal to connect him
back to the Animus by force, and Sofia asks the technicians to pull Cal out if it gets too bad,
ignoring Rikkin’s orders. Cal stops singing when he appears back in the past, discovering Aguilar,
Maria, and their mentor are chained up in a cell while the Templars have Ahmed. The trio
is taken out to be executed in public, and in the present Cal suffers the pain of a Templar
punching Aguilar. While the mentor is burned to death, Aguilar struggles against his shackles
and manages to get them off. Then he climbs up the pole to make a jump and break his chains,
causing the Templars to come for him. He fights them off and by stealing a sword,
he frees Maria as well. Cal sees hallucinations of the Templars attacking in the present and pulls
all of Aguilar’s moves, making Sofia notice that they’re synchronizing. Working together,
Aguilar and Maria defeat every incoming guard one by one, and Aguilar has to push the other
pole off to save Maria before she gets burned too. When the executor comes after them, they trick him
to make his axe break Maria’s chains, which they use to kill him. Next they break the barrels and
the oil spills, touching the execution flames and causing an explosion that allows them to
escape while everyone panics. The Templars begin chasing the duo as they climb to the rooftops,
where they have to fight off a few more guards that keep approaching. They quickly fight them
off or even kill them by throwing them off the roof before they keep running, using fast moves
to jump off the walls and dodge the incoming arrows. Eventually they’re surrounded, and Maria
and Aguilar accidentally split to fight. They defeat all the Templars as fast as possible, but
the soldiers just keep coming with more arrows. The duo keeps on running as they jump on walls,
walk through rooms, and slide down clotheslines, while Cal continues to match every move in the
present. A Templar cuts the ropes to make them fall through a window and another fight starts,
but this time they manage to grab a few weapons to defend themselves. After lots of running and
climbing, Aguilar makes it to the top of a structure and dodges one last arrow before
deciding to do a Leap of Faith. When Cal tries the same in the present, he gets caught in a sudden
desynchronization and his body can’t stop shaking. The medical team rushes to assist him and Cal is
submerged in a special pool for recovery. Cal panics when he realizes he can’t feel his legs,
but Sofia explains is temporary. She also points out that if he goes into the Animus by choice,
he won’t suffer these problems. Afterward, Cal is put in a wheelchair and Sofia reveals that Rikkin
retrieved his mother’s necklace after he left the house. When Cal starts feeling his legs again,
he starts practicing Aguilar’s moves. Fearing Cal’s getting too powerful, Rikkin visits him
to explain the consequences of not collaborating with the project. Cal is taken to see the test
subjects that didn’t connect with Animus willingly and now they’re sick or mentally unstable. Rikkin
also reveals he has the blade Cal’s father used to kill his mom, saying that Joseph is here too
and leaving the blade for Cal in a clear attempt at manipulating him. Hungry for revenge, Cal grabs
the blade and goes looking for his father, who is now old and out of shape. Cal threatens him
with the blade as he demands answers, and Joseph explains he did it because Cal’s mom asked him to
in order to avoid being connected to Animus and to protect the Assassins. Joseph was supposed
to kill Cal too, but he couldn’t hurt his son. Cal asks him to finish his mission but Joseph refuses,
telling him to get his revenge if he wants but not to go back to the machine because the Templars
want the Apple to control the world. Instead of killing him, Cal gives Joseph the necklace and the
blade before leaving. On his way back, the other test subjects bring down the guard and lock the
doors before jumping on Cal to try to kill him. Cal immediately defends himself, managing to hit
the guy and buy time until the guards arrive to take everyone away. Next, Cal connects to
the Animus willingly and he discovers that Maria gifted Aguilas the necklace. The Templars meet
with the Sultan, telling him the Assassins were defeated so they want to exchange Ahmed for the
Apple. The Sultan reluctantly makes the exchange and a priest working for the Templars celebrates
that the Apple is theirs now, confirming that they’ll use it to control the world. Suddenly
a few smoke bombs fall from above and Maria and Aguilar jump into the room to start a fight. They
start killing Templars without hesitation and after killing a few outside as well,
Maria closes the doors to stop backup from coming in. Thanks to the smoke, Aguilar sneaks behind the
priest and steals the apple, but at the same time the Templar commander captures Maria. He wants to
exchange her for the Apple, so Maria reminds Aguilar that Assassins always put the mission
first. Ignoring her, Aguilar takes his blade back because he loves her, however Maria refuses
to give the Apple up and forces the commander to move his blade. As Maria’s dead body falls,
a furious Aguilar pushes the priest and goes after the commander, starting another vicious fight that
Cal keeps on copying in the present. At first it looks like the commander is overpowering him,
especially when he kicks Aguilar down to the floor. When the commander is about to finish
him with a sword, Aguilar sees Maria’s body who tells him to run, so he turns just in time and
shoots his blade at the commander. Then he fights him again and since the commander is weak now,
Aguilar easily kills him at last. The priest runs to open the door and let the backup inside,
so Aguilar jumps into a tunnel to escape. The Templars follow him, so he begins fighting them
off as he continues to run and jump on the walls. After killing a few soldiers, Aguilar steals a
torch and starts a fire in the middle of the tunnel to block the enemy off. He manages to
make it to the entrance and comes out on a bridge, only to find himself surrounded by crossbows.
Refusing to give up, Aguilar makes another Leap of Faith and lands in the water. In the present,
Cal jumps as well and the Animus breaks down, but this time Cal is fine. The memories continue to
appear around him and he sees Aguilar giving the Apple to Christopher Columbus to hide. Meanwhile
Moussa steals ancient smoke bombs from the lab and activates them in the common room, where all the
test subjects start beating the guards up. As the alarm begins ringing in the building, they make
their way through the corridors and labs while beating down or even killing anyone who tries to
stop them. At the same time, Cal is surrounded by ghosts of the Assassins, including Aguilar,
Joseph, and his mom, who tells him he isn’t alone. The technicians confirm it isn’t a memory,
and Rikkin announces he and Sofia are leaving so the team can purge the facility. Sofia doesn’t
want to go because she sees an Assassin who looks like herself, but Rikkin’s men drag her out. The
guards go after every test subject and Joseph tries to defend himself, but sadly he’s quickly
killed. The others move as fast as possible because the guards are trying to lock the doors,
but one of the guys manages to reach the computer and opens enough gates so the team can reach Cal.
His mom confirms that the Templars are evil, causing Cal to finally accept his destiny as
an Assassin. The ghosts disappear and Cal joins the others to fight against the guards. The group
steals a bunch of old Assassin weapons from the labs and opens the last door to let the guards in,
causing a vicious fight to ensue while Rikkin escapes with Sofia in a helicopter. A young man is
sadly killed in the fight, but all the other test subjects perfectly synced with their ancestors and
now expertly use their skills to beat all the enemies down. At that moment Cal notices the
helicopter leaving and climbs the Animus to reach the roof, but unfortunately he isn’t fast enough.
Sometime later, Rikkin goes to Colombus’ grave and retrieves the Apple, taking all the glory even if
Sofia designed the entire project. In the evening, the Templars gather to celebrate their victory,
unaware that the new Assassins are sneaking into the building. While Rikkin steps onto the main
stage to give a speech, Sofia sees Cal arrive through the main door, but she doesn’t alert
anyone because she’s finally realized that Rikkin has been using her and he doesn’t want peace. On
the stage, Rikkin takes out the Apple of Eden to show it off. As the Apple starts glowing,
Cal appears behind Rikkin and kills him. People run away in the panic and the Assassins use the
chance to escape secretly by mixing with the crowd while Sofia checks on her father,
noticing Cal left a real apple in exchange for the mythical one. Later the Assassins can be
seen on top of a building, promising to take care of the Apple in modern times no matter the cost.