Starting in 2007, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has had its ups and downs, with Ubisoft being criticized for annualizing the games and not taking their time.
That’s understandable since a long-running series such as this needs to constantly evolve to stay relevant. Honestly, though, Ubisoft hasn’t necessarily made a “bad” Assassin’s Creed game. Even the disappointing ones are still great games in their own right. There are just ones that are better than others.
Updated January 7th, 2020 by Jack Pursey: Since the first Assassin’s Creed game hit shelves in late 2007, Ubisoft have impressively managed to keep to a schedule of releasing a main series Assassin’s Creed title almost every year. Unsurprisingly, a new game has already been released since this article was posted, so we’re updating this list to include the latest title in Ubisoft’s critically acclaimed stealth series.
12 Assassin’s Creed
When it comes to video game franchises, the first one isn’t always the best. Games build off their predecessors, figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Such is the case with 2007’s Assassin’s Creed.
Ubisoft’s first entry in the beloved series clearly had a lot of potential and was overall a good game for its time. It hasn’t aged well, though. It’s extremely repetitive and Altair, despite being important to the lore, is pretty bland compared to the protagonists that would follow. Still, it would lay the groundwork for the excellent sequels.
11 Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Revelations is where the fatigue started to become noticeable. The series had now become an annual franchise and players started to criticize Ubisoft for churning out sequel after sequel. Revelations just didn’t add anything worthwhile to the series, especially the tacked on “tower-defense” minigame.
It was essentially the same game as Brotherhood but in a different setting. Story-wise, it’s a fitting end to Ezio’s story. Old man Ezio was a welcoming change. It was great to see him grow and mature over the course of three games.
10 Assassin’s Creed 3
Fans have to give this one some credit. Assassin’s Creed 3 was bold and ambitious but was, by and large, a disappointing sequel. Ubisoft clearly wanted this game to be special with its unique narrative structure. As a video game, though, it had terrible pacing.
After all of the excellent marketing material, players couldn’t wait to step into the shoes of Connor. It turns out, they had to wait even longer once they had the game, with Connor not becoming a full-fledged assassin until a third of the game had passed. All that being said, Assassin’s Creed 3 plays great and still has a special place in fans’ hearts.
9 Assassin’s Creed: Rogue
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue definitely didn’t get the attention it deserved. It was released alongside Unity in 2014 but only for Xbox 360 and PS3, making it look like an inferior product. That is a shame because Rogue tells perhaps the best story in the series.
On top of that, Shay is one of the most interesting protagonists since he chooses to abandon the Assassin Order and become a templar. You genuinely sympathize with Shay’s motivations and why he’s conflicted. Gameplay-wise, it plays almost the same as Black Flag without many innovations.
8 Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
Syndicate had a lot to work to do to win fans back after the disastrous launch of Unity the prior year. Luckily, Ubisoft did not disappoint with this new adventure set in London during the Industrial Revolution.
The biggest change that Syndicate made was the inclusion of two protagonists, Jacob and Evie Frye, that players can switch between. The Frye twins play off each other very well, with Evie’s calm and collected demeanor complementing Jacob’s riotous personality. The recreation of 19th century London is also something to behold.
7 Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Origins is where Ubisoft finally decided to take a year off, leading to a complete overhaul of the series. They tripled down on the RPG elements with a heavy emphasis on loot similar to The Division. This is still a controversial decision since it almost feels like a new game. That being said, it still has that classic Assassin’s Creed flavor fans can expect.
Bayek is a fantastic addition to the Assassin roster and his motives are very personal. The real standout here is the open-world. There’s a constant sense of wonder when exploring Ancient Egypt. Scaling down one of the pyramids never gets old!
6 Assassin’s Creed: Unity
Considering its botched release in 2014, it may come as a shock to see Unity so high on the list. The thing is, Unity is awesome! Yes, it did release with a ton of bugs but playing it now in 2020 is a more polished experience. Despite its rocky launch, Unity is still the best looking Assassin’s Creed game.
What makes Unity one of the best is its mission and world-design. There are multiple ways to tackle each task similar to something you’d see in Hitman. Unity has also had the most fluid parkour movement to date which, for some reason, the following games seem to have downgraded.
5 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
The latest entry into the Assassin’s Creed franchise was released in November 2020 and took players to the Viking invasion of Britain in 873 AD; although this was a true historical event, the story that Ubisoft tells in Valhalla is predominantly fictional.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, like many of the series’ entries, doesn’t try to fix what isn’t broken and instead finds ways to improve upon the winning formula that Ubisoft created with 2007’s Assassin’s Creed and fine-tuned with the next release Assassin’s Creed II. In a nutshell, this makes Valhalla yet another Assassin’s Creed game that provides a solid and enjoyable experience but struggles to reach the heights of its respective year’s best releases.
The game is certainly not without its upsides though, as Valhalla’s interpretation of England provides one of the best open-worlds in the entire series. Furthermore, the game doesn’t disappoint with its brutal Viking combat, which brings the sword-fighting close to the realms of the hack and slash genre.
In terms of its critical reception, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla‘s Metascores ranged from 80 on PlayStation 4 to 84 on Xbox Series X. Furthermore, the game was nominated for the Best Action/Adventure and Innovation in Accessibility awards at The Game Awards 2020, though it lost out to The Last of Us Part II in both categories.
4 Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Odyssey follows the new RPG formula established in Origins. Odyssey took those foundations and dialed them up to one-hundred with an evolved combat and loot system. It also brings back the naval system from Black Flag, which you’ll need since the map is gigantic that you can spend dozens of hours exploring.
Being able to choose between a female and male protagonist was definitely welcome, even if they are the same person story-wise. It tells a nice family drama that, despite being a little too long, was worth it in the end. It may have deviated greatly from the original Assassin’s Creed formula but that doesn’t change the fact that it was a fantastic open-world adventure.
3 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Brotherhood shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. It seemed to be a “side-sequel” after Assassin’s Creed 2. This couldn’t have been farther from the truth as Brotherhood is a full-fledged open-world game that took everything from its predecessor and made it better.
It takes place immediately after the second game and players get another adventure with Ezio. The recreation of Rome during the Renaissance was something to behold, especially in 2010. One underrated feature that Brotherhood introduced was PvP multiplayer, which was much better than people remember.
2 Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag
Before it’s release, Black Flag wasn’t initially welcomed. Assassin’s Creed 3 was disappointing and fans weren’t too happy that Ubisoft was still annualizing the series. Boy, was everyone wrong. In terms of fun-factor, Black Flag is the best in the series.
Black Flag took the excellent naval combat system from AC3 and turned it into a huge pirate game. Exploring the Caribbean never got old, as there was always something to discover both on land and sea. Edward Kenway was also a welcoming protagonist as he was more of an antihero compared to Altair, Ezio, and Connor.
1 Assassin’s Creed 2
Even though it came out in 2009, Assassin’s Creed 2 is still the quintessential AC experience. Yes, it may not have all the innovative new mechanics that the later games would but it established the foundation that made the series what it is today. Ezio Auditore is still the best assassin of the franchise.
The free-running system had been refined as well as the combat. 15th and 16th Century Italy was a refreshingly new setting compared to the grey and grimy first game. Players were given more tools to play around with, such as the hidden gun. Ezio’s tale of vengeance drove the narrative but the modern-day storyline was a huge focus, leading to a mind-blowing ending that the series has not matched yet.
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