It is 2026, and the list of assassin's creed games in release order is honestly getting a little ridiculous to look at. If you’re trying to keep track of every hidden blade and historical conspiracy since 2007, you basically need a spreadsheet and a very strong cup of coffee.
Most people think it’s just a straight line from Altaïr to the latest RPG, but the franchise has mutated so many times it's hard to recognize the original DNA. We’ve gone from social stealth in the Holy Land to sailing pirate ships in the Caribbean, then full-blown mythical RPGs, and now a weird, hybrid future where Ubisoft is juggling remakes and multiplayer experiments.
Honestly, the "release order" isn't just a list; it’s a history of how AAA gaming has changed over two decades.
The Foundations (2007–2011)
Everything started with a game that was actually supposed to be a Prince of Persia spin-off. Assassin's Creed (2007) dropped us into the Third Crusade as Altaïr. It was clunky. It was repetitive. But man, that parkour was something else back then. You spent half your time sitting on benches and the other half stabbing guards in the neck.
Then came the Ezio era. This is where the money was made.
Assassin's Creed II (2009) fixed basically everything. It gave us Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, and a protagonist people actually liked. Ezio Auditore da Firenze didn't just have one game; he had a trilogy. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) brought in the recruit system where you could literally whistle and have a squad of assassins rain down from the rooftops. It felt like cheating, but in the best way possible. By the time Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) came out, we were in Constantinople, Ezio was getting old, and the fatigue was starting to set in.
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The Experimental Middle Child (2012–2015)
Ubisoft decided to blow everything up in 2012. Assassin's Creed III took us to the American Revolution. It was polarizing. Some people loved the tree-climbing and the brutal combat; others hated Connor for not being as charismatic as Ezio. It also killed off Desmond Miles, the modern-day protagonist, which honestly left the overarching plot in a bit of a mess for years.
Then, out of nowhere, they gave us the best pirate game ever made.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) is barely an assassin game. You’re Edward Kenway, a pirate who steals an assassin's outfit and spends 90% of the game on a ship singing sea shanties. It was a massive hit. Naturally, Ubisoft tried to capitalize on that with Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014), which let you play as a Templar hunting assassins. It was basically a "greatest hits" of Black Flag's mechanics, released on older consoles while the "next-gen" was getting something else entirely.
That "something else" was Assassin's Creed Unity (2014).
If you were there for the launch, you remember the faces. Or rather, the lack of faces. The glitches were legendary. It’s a shame, too, because Unity’s version of Paris is still arguably the most impressive city Ubisoft ever built. The parkour was fluid—maybe too fluid—and the social stealth actually felt like it mattered again. They tried to course-correct a year later with Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015) in Victorian London. It added a grapple hook (Batman-style) and dual protagonists, Jacob and Evie Frye. It was fun, but the formula was clearly running out of steam.
The RPG Pivot and the "Infinity" Era (2017–2026)
After a much-needed year off, the series came back as a full-blown RPG. Assassin's Creed Origins (2017) took us to Ancient Egypt. Gone were the one-hit hidden blade kills. Now, you had levels, loot drops, and a massive map that took forever to cross. Bayek of Siwa was a fantastic lead, though, and the world was stunning.
Then things got even bigger. Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) went to Ancient Greece. It was enormous. You could pick your gender, make dialogue choices, and fight Medusa. It was a great game, but the "assassin" part of the title felt like a suggestion at best. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020) followed this up with Vikings in England. It was gritty, long—seriously, like 100 hours long—and introduced the settlement building that people either loved or ignored.
Moving Back to Basics and Beyond
Recently, we’ve seen a weird split in the series' identity:
- Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023): A smaller, tighter game set in 9th-century Baghdad. It was a love letter to the original game, focusing on stealth over stats.
- Assassin's Creed Nexus VR (2023): A surprisingly decent first-person VR experience that let you play as Ezio, Connor, and Kassandra.
- Assassin's Creed Shadows (2025): The long-awaited Japan entry. After a delay to polish things up, it finally gave us the dual-playstyle system with Naoe (stealth) and Yasuke (brute force).
As we sit here in 2026, the landscape is shifting again. We have Assassin's Creed Jade on mobile, taking the RPG formula to Ancient China. And then there's the big one everyone is talking about: Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, which is rumored to be the darkest, most linear game in years, set during the witch trials of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Timeline of Assassin's Creed Games in Release Order
If you're looking for the quick-and-dirty list to see what you missed, here is the path the series took. No fluff, just the main entries and the major milestones.
- Assassin's Creed (2007) – The Holy Land. The one that started it all.
- Assassin's Creed II (2009) – Renaissance Italy. The gold standard.
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) – Rome. The peak of the Ezio era.
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) – Constantinople. The end of the trilogy.
- Assassin's Creed III (2012) – Colonial America. The end of the Desmond saga.
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) – The Caribbean. Pirates, ships, and shanties.
- Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014) – North Atlantic. The "flip the script" Templar story.
- Assassin's Creed Unity (2014) – Paris. The technical marvel (and disaster).
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015) – London. Industrial Revolution and top hats.
- Assassin's Creed Origins (2017) – Ancient Egypt. The birth of the RPG era.
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) – Ancient Greece. Peloponnesian War and myths.
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020) – England/Norway. Viking raids and longships.
- Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023) – Baghdad. The return to stealth roots.
- Assassin's Creed Shadows (2025) – Feudal Japan. Shinobi and Samurai.
- Assassin's Creed Hexe (Upcoming/2026) – Central Europe. Witch hunts and horror elements.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Order
A lot of players think you have to play these in order to understand the story. Honestly? You don't. Not really.
The modern-day plot—the stuff with the Animus and Abstergo—has become so convoluted that even die-hard fans struggle to explain it. If you want to jump into assassin's creed games in release order just for the history, you can pretty much start anywhere.
However, if you skip the early games, you miss the evolution of the parkour. Going from the weightless, "climb-anything" style of Valhalla back to the methodical, "find-a-handhold" style of the 2007 original is a massive culture shock. You actually had to think about where your hands were going back then. Now, you just hold a button and pray.
There is also a huge misconception that the "side" games don't matter. Assassin's Creed: Revelations is often skipped, but it has the most emotional ending in the entire franchise. Seeing Altaïr’s final moments through Ezio’s eyes is gaming history. Don't skip it.
Your Next Steps: Where to Start?
If you’re looking to dive back into the series or start fresh in 2026, don't feel obligated to play all 15+ games. That's a recipe for burnout.
Instead, pick your "flavor." If you love massive open worlds and stats, start with Origins. If you want a tight, 20-hour stealth experience, go for Mirage. But if you want the "true" Assassin's Creed experience—the one that defined a generation—grab the Ezio Collection and start with Assassin's Creed II. It’s still the heart of the series for a reason.
For those looking ahead, keep an eye on the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Remake (Project Obsidian), which is heavily rumored to be the next big release after the Shadows DLC cycle finishes. It’s a great time to be a fan, even if the timeline is a total mess.
Check your platform's store for "Legacy Bundles." Often, buying the Ezio Trilogy or the RPG Mythology pack is significantly cheaper than picking them up individually, especially during seasonal sales. Just make sure your hardware can handle the later entries—Shadows and the upcoming Hexe are strictly current-gen and demand a lot from your GPU.