Assassin's Creed 2's Ezio actor says getting to play the iconic assassin remains "the single coolest thing I've done in my career"

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Roger Craig Smith reminisces about the game on its 15th anniversary

Ezio
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Altaïr may be the first face of the Assassin's Creed series, but Ezio is the fan favorite by a mile. The man behind the voice, Roger Craig Smith, featured in a Ubisoft video celebrating the 15th anniversary of Assassin's Creed 2.

"Getting to be the voice of Ezio Auditore da Firenze was the single coolest thing I've done in my career," says Smith in an impeccable Italian accent. He's not lost his touch.

Ezio was a stark contrast to the self-serious Altaïr. Over the course of three games we got to see Ezio grow from a young, rich, Italian playboy to a master assassin. He befriended historical figures Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Caterina Sforza, even made an enemy of the Pope, and, if I'm being honest, never really grew out of his playboy habits.

"To this day, one of my fondest memories of working on Assassin's Creed 2 is the fact that what was created then has not ended, and that is this sense of community around people who love the stories, the music, the gameplay, the characters," Smiths says.

Whenever I hear that chorial voice singing the theme song I'm activated like a sleeper agent, and all I want to do is roam the streets of Florence and Venice again.

"It's just getting to be a part of something like that. It is the best. May it never change", he adds, slipping back into his Ezio voice to redo a line he says to his brother shortly before he, his other brother, and father are hanged for trying to reveal a conspiracy.

Assassin's Creed 2 was the entry that made me fall in love with the series. It was a huge improvement over the first in just about every way possible, but I still don't understand why it didn't have a mission replay, something almost every other game in the franchise had.

If you want to revisit the series, check out our list of the best Assassin's Creed games. My favorites are 2 and Black Flag – I just love pirates so much.

Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.