Assassin's Creed II DLC drops Jan. 28

The week after it announced a stand-alone, multiplayer-enabled installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise, Ubisoft has dated the first single-player downloadable add-on for the sextuple-platinum Assassin's Creed II. The publisher today announced that the Battle of Forli will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 28 (that is, next Thursday). The DLC pack will be available for $4/MSP320 on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Battle of Forli sees the stealthy assassin Ezio teaming up with Niccolo Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza in an effort to withstand the Templars' siege of Forli. The DLC pack includes six new memories, and players will also be able to pilot Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine over Romagna.

As previously announced, the Battle of Forli add-on pack will be followed by the Bonfire of the Vanities expansion in February. Coming in slightly more expensive at $5 (MSP400), the second round of DLC sees Ezio teaming with Machiavelli as they work to subvert the evil machinations of the monk Savonarola. Bonfire of the Vanities includes 10 memories to work through and a spring-jump ability for Ezio, and it also unlocks a new district in Florence.