Assassin's Creed: Lineage (Season 1)

Assassin's Creed: Lineage (2009) is the short-film prequel to the game Assassin's Creed II, and you can watch online on iFILM. Across three episodes it drops you into Renaissance Italy and follows Giovanni Auditore — an Assassin and the father of Ezio, the game's hero.

The Duke of Milan is murdered, and Giovanni is sent to find out who ordered it. The trail implicates Italy's most powerful families and reaches as far as the Vatican. The closer he gets to the truth, the harder he is hunted in turn — and he has little time to expose the plotters before he ends up on their list of victims.

Directed by Yves Simoneau and starring Romano Orzari, the series blends live costumed performances with Ubisoft's CGI. For fans of the franchise it is one of those rare cases where a game world makes the jump to film without losing its edge. Stream Assassin's Creed: Lineage (2009) online on iFILM.