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Assassin's Creed is one of Ubisoft's oldest franchises, with a new game being released almost every year since the franchise's inception in 2007. Needless to say, the series has come a long way. The first game was originally meant to be a Prince of Persia spinx-off where the "assassin," i.e., the player, was meant to be a bodyguard of the Prince. However, it was later decided that the game worked better as a standalone title, and the rest is history.
Over the years, Assassin's Creed has become an annual franchise almost similar to that of Call of Duty, releasing a new game almost every year. This is often not a good sign, as the developers don't get enough time to work on the game and are forced to work extra hours. However, this hasn't stopped Ubisoft from innovating, be it for good or bad.
The franchise has evolved a lot over the years, being almost unrecognizable from the first title at this point. The first entry was a stealth game that focused on assassinations and stealth, but the latest installments have more of an RPG component, focusing more on loot, skill points, and perks. We'll focus on some of these changes, comparing them to the old games and ranking each mainline entry in the Assassin's Creed series.
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Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's views.
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Assassin's Creed Mirage, Black Flag, Unity, and more ranked
13) Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is the successor to Unity, a game known for its amazing parkour mechanics, one of the series' best. What does Syndicate do with this? It guts the parkour mechanics from Unity and introduces a grappling hook. Grappling hooks are really fun to use in games like Uncharted 4, Sekiro, or Doom Eternal. However, an entry in this franchise doesn't really need such a mechanic.
Moreover, the Frye twins are one of the most boring protagonists in the franchise. While London's sprawling Victorian setting does offer some respite, it leaves a lot to be desired, eventually becoming a forgettable story with uninteresting characters.
12) Assassin's Creed
While this is definitely one of those cases where the original has to be respected since it gave birth to what came after (similar to that of Blade Runner), the first game in the series lacks a lot of the assassin charm, and the game feels dated as well. The parkour is slow, with janky combat and boring, never-ending trailing missions (a series staple that hasn't left the series ever since).
Nonetheless, the premise of a man reliving his ancestor's memories to stop an evil organization from gaining control of the Apple of Eden was definitely an innovative premise. This continued in the Ezio trilogy as well, which boasted one of the best storylines in the series.
11) Assassin's Creed 3
Assassin's Creed 3 is set during the American Revolutionary War and is definitely an interesting setting to interact with. However, the protagonist, Connor Kenway, got cast under the huge shadow of Ezio from the original trilogy, which made the former feel very mundane and boring.
Despite suffering from pacing issues, it begins in a quite unique way, as you begin the game as Haytham Kenway, believing him to be the protagonist. However, it is later revealed that you were playing as the antagonist all along. This plot twist, however, is something that you can see coming from miles away, as the real protagonist, Connor, is featured in all the trailers and posters.
10) Assassin's Creed Valhalla
This might be a controversial take as Valhalla is often hailed as one of the series' best games, and rightfully so. The visuals are some of the best, with a vast open world and one of the longest campaigns. However, this is where the problem arises. Valhalla is too big for its own sake, with the game promising a huge world but no motive to explore.
The game features a boring open world with an over-extended story, which many players didn't enjoy sitting through. It even features RPG mechanics, which are often criticized for dragging down the recent entires, a problem the next title on our list promises to fix.
9) Assassin's Creed Mirage
Assassin's Creed Mirage is the latest title in the series, and aims to hark the series back to the basics, with a more prominent focus on stealth, assassination, and parkour. This might come as a relief to those who complained about the "grindy" RPG elements of the previous titles. The combat and parkour are definitely the improvements in Mirage, with the latter feeling more fluid in comparison to Valhalla.
Mirage features Basim, who is one of the characters in Valhalla. While he is interesting, the story is bland and lackluster, and doesn't really give you a motive to keep moving forward despite its short 15-hour playtime. All in all, Mirage serves as a short, fun break while players wait for the next game to arrive in 2024.
8) Assassin's Creed Rogue
Rogue is often considered by many fans to be an okay game at best. It is synonymous with Black Flag, as it is often considered to be an expansion and not being able to stand alone on its own. However, in a series as old as Assassin's Creed, there is often a lack of innovation. This is a gap that Rogue fills by allowing you to play as the anti-hero Shay Cormac, who, after being betrayed by the Creed, joins the Templars.
It is a fun take allowing you to see the world from the morally ambiguous Shay Cormac as a templar. With a huge roster of charcters, he is an interesting addition in the series and offers something new to the players.
7) Assassin's Creed Revelations
It's difficult to improve on good quality; therefore, Ubisoft made the decision to simply include more of Brotherhood in Revelations. Although the last installment of the Ezio and Altair tale is more expansive than Brotherhood, it doesn't attempt to be better or different. Whether that's an issue, it depends on your expectations. But Ubisoft began to fall into a pattern of non-innovationmuch too frequently after this time, which can even be seen in Assassin's Creed 3.
However, Assassin's Creed Revelations' outstanding narrative established the bar for every subsequent entry's plot, with perhaps one of the series' most mature and insightful stories. While this game lacks the punch that other titles in the Ezio trilogy deliver, it provides a satisfying conclusion to Altair and Ezio's story.
6) Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Depending on how interested you are in Greek history and mythology, you may or may not love Odyssey. The game created something far greater, unlike anything the series had ever seen bore. This is both a blessing and a boon as the game suffers the same problem as its successor: being too long.
Odyssey's reliance on RPG elements forces players to grind for loot to level up, which often ends up feeling boring in the large and sprawling yet tedious open world. Similar to the image above, you end up feeling miniscule in the game's vast open world. While that can be used to a game's advantage, similar to how Red Dead Redemption 2 does it, Odyssey leaves a lot to be desired.
The game has a beautiful open world, probably the best in the series, but such games need a foundation to stand upon. That is formed by engaging side quests and activities, which is one of Odyssey's biggest shortcomings.
5) Assassin's Creed Unity
Unity has evolved significantly since its initial release. It was released with too many technical bugs and significant performance problems when it was launched. However, since its release, it has been patched and now delivers one of the best Assassin's Creed experiences ever.
Movement and parkour are the essence of any game in the series, and Unity offers just that with one of the best gameplays and animations. This game not only refines the counter-based fighting from the earlier games in the series, but it also enhances the traversal features. Additionally, this is the first game in the series to have a skill tree and fully customizable attire, each of which adds a different advantage to your stats.
It's been almost 10 years since Unity's release, and people continue to compare it to newer Assassin's Creed titles. Needless to say, no other game has come close to Unity in terms of its gameplay and parkour mechanics.
4) Assassin's Creed Origins
Origins looks and feels very different from any earlier AC game because of the excellent ancient Egyptian setting. The new combat utilizes the triggers on the controller and gives less attention to counters. While climbing is improved and allows you to scale practically anything, which is definitely a plus point in a game involving huge pyramids, the parkour significantly suffers. However, an argument can be made that Bayek is the first assassin and hence doesn't have such polished skills.
Additionally, the modern-day storyline received more attention and screentime this time around. Desmond was replaced by Layla Hassan, who is one of the best modern-day protagonists when compared to the bleak and mundane Desmond Miles. Layla, coupled with Bayek and his Aya, is one of the series' best protagonists, with legitimate motives that make you root for her till the very end.
That being said, similar to Valhalla, Origins suffers a lot of bloat owing to the RPG mechanics, which ends up making the game feel sluggish and slow. However, in contrast to Valhalla, it features an amazing story that is ought to keep you hooked.
3) Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
While every previous game in the Assassin's Creed series has centered on a different character in each installment, Ezio proved to be so loved that his story extended to two more games. Brotherhood was a solid sequel to Ezio's first trip, even though the third game (Revelations) did not achieve the same creative heights as its predecessor.
The setting, which mostly takes place in Rome, is precisely what we would expect from an Assassin's Creed game. With tightly packed streets and plenty of rooftop running, it fully utilizes the parkour traversal techniques pioneered by the series.
It also enhances the combat systems already in place to encourage aggressiveness, while also expanding on the social stealth elements. Brotherhood even introduced a new mechanic to recruit assassins and form your own brotherhood, almost similar to the gang system in GTA San Andreas.
Simply put, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is the ideal continuation of the first game in the trilogy. Even if it's far from flawless, it builds on the strengths of the franchise as a whole and offers something absolutely exceptional.
2) Assassin's Creed 2
Assassin's Creed 2 is one of the best sequels in gaming history and improves almost everything the first game offers. The fact that it often ranks at the top of lists of the best titles in the genre, despite being old, speaks much about how loved it is. The second game built on the first's framework, realized what was broken, and brought it to a whole new level.
Assassin's Creed 2 expands the series significantly. Assassinations no longer have a repetitious mission structure; instead, they are all integrated into a compelling narrative that keeps raising the stakes as it progresses.
Assassin's Creed 2 significantly elevates the stakes for the franchise by introducing Desmond to the world outside of the Animus. It puts the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and the Templar Order at center stage, making the story of this iconic series' first sequel one of the best. This is a key aspect that the majority of the future sequels lack.
1) Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
While all the series' games feature a different setting, they end up feeling very similar and monotonous. To say that Assassin's Creed 4 switches up the setting would be an understatement, as the game introduces a whole new world. Desmond Miles' story was definitively wrapped up in Assassin's Creed 3, but it wasn't immediately apparent where the franchise would go from there.
As weird as it may sound, giving the traditional formula a pirate theme and Caribbean location was just the daring new turn the franchise needed. After the previous entry's introduction of naval battles, all players wanted was more ships, and that is exactly what Black Flag provided.
Black Flag features traditional stealth-action gameplay, which is excellent and perfectly polished from the previous games, but that's not the main attraction. It places you in charge of your very own upgradeable pirate ship, where you and your crew can pillage, plunder, and sing sea shanties.
Key takeaway
The franchise has come a long way, with more than 20 titles released. With the recent release of Mirage, it seems that Ubisoft aims to harken the series back to its roots.
With Assassin's Creed Codename Red finally providing players with the setting of feudal Japan that they have been craving for years, the series seems to be treading on the right path. Assassin's Creed Codename Hex is yet another title that is set to feature a setting of the witch trials, which goes on to showcase the series' evolving nature and how distinct the newer games might be.
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