A strange way to relax! A review of Assassin’s Creed: Where’s the Assassin?

It’s slender but packs a punch! Titan Books has a 40-page hardback that makes for a great gift in the shape of Where’s the Assassin?

It’s like Where’s Wally, but better. Or, if you’re in North America, the stealthy series is known as Where’s Waldo over there.

The Assassin’s Creed book is better because more than one assassin is found on each page. Sometimes those assassins are eagles, which is fantastic.

Okay, I admit it, I’ve never actually bought a Where’s Wally book, so I don’t know if they introduce each historical setting with interesting information. I don’t even know if you can find the answers at the back of the book. You get both with Where’s the Assassin.

I might be going too fast. I suppose you may have never had the frustrating joy of looking for Wally. It works like this: the book opens up to present a double-page and tightly packed illustration of dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, and Wally in his red and white striped top is one of them. He sounds easy to find, and sometimes he is, often he isn’t, and there’s a real moment of success when you see him.

And you will find him if you spend enough time and if you’re thorough enough, which helps avoid frustrations.

Where’s the Assassin works the same way but with some critical differences. The first is that you don’t know what the assassin looks like. There are no iconic red and white stripes, so each busy illustration comes with a rectangle of faces to use as a reference.

I can’t see any better way to show you the assassin you’re looking out for, but this approach has the problem of containing clues.

For example, the assassin Shay Cormac is hiding in Versailles and is so obviously a different shade from the other killers that it is trivial to work out where they must be hiding and how to find him. Thankfully 11 other assassins are hiding on that page, and as a rule, some are easy, some are hard.

To begin with, I also wondered how closely the faces had to match. Is someone in the crowd who looks a bit like the assassin in the line-up the assassin? The answer becomes apparent; the faces must match exactly. The line-up is, essentially, a cut and paste job.

I’m not going to say I had a surprising amount of fun with Where’s the Assassin because I knew it would be a lot of fun. Hidden people/item challenges are, in my experience, enjoying a bit of a boom right now. It might have been a lockdown thing, but it’s stuck, or at least sticky and kids and grown-ups both get enjoyment from them.

I like the lightweight hardback because it’s time away from the screen. The hardback is easy to hold too, firm but not heavy, and my copy opens up readily, showing the illustrations without pages trying to close on me.

One concern that the 40 or so pages wouldn’t last very long was quickly put at ease. Some of the hiding assassins are easy to spot, but not all of them, and you can spend plenty of time on just one illustration.

I came to really enjoy the details in each illustration.

But now I’m done with the book, I’m not sure what to do with it. It feels less like a book I can return to than a traditional artbook, despite the art in it, although it’s probably a better book to leave out for guests. Remember those?

Most significantly, I think Assassin’s Creed: Where’s the Assassin is a great gift. It’s the sort of thing that someone might not buy for themselves thinking it frivolous but then get a heap of enjoyment and relaxation from.

Overall? Recommended. Yeah, trying to hunt down assassins is a weird way to relax, but it works.

Quick Links

• Assassin’s Creed: Where’s the Assassin: Forbidden Planet | Amazon.

Please note: My copy of Where’s the Assassin was free and provided for review. It’s available from Titan Books and costs around £9.99.