Let’s be honest. Keeping track of every Assassin's Creed game in order is a nightmare. Ubisoft has pumped these out faster than most people can finish a single 100-hour RPG. Since Altaïr first took a leap of faith back in 2007, we’ve seen the series transform from a clunky social stealth experiment into a massive, gear-heavy RPG machine.
It’s been a wild ride. You’ve got your legendary Italian Renaissance romps and your weird, experimental side-scrollers. Some games redefined the open-world genre. Others? Well, they launched with so many bugs that characters literally didn't have faces.
The Foundation: Where the Creed Began
The original Assassin's Creed (2007) is kind of a tough play today. Honestly, it’s repetitive. You eavesdrop, you pickpocket, you stab, you repeat. But man, seeing Damascus and Jerusalem for the first time was something else. It established the whole "Animus" conceit—the idea that we’re just playing through genetic memories of Desmond Miles. It was ambitious. It was moody. It also had some of the most frustrating water mechanics in gaming history because Altaïr apparently couldn't swim.
Then everything changed. Assassin's Creed II (2009) didn't just improve on the formula; it blew the doors off. We met Ezio Auditore da Firenze. We spent years with this guy. He started as a cocky teenager in Florence and we watched him grow into a Mentor. This game introduced the economy system, the villa upgrades, and that Da Vinci glider. It’s the reason the franchise survived.
The Ezio Trilogy Expansion
Ubisoft realized they had a goldmine with Ezio. So, we got Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (2010) and Assassin's Creed Revelations (2011). Brotherhood is arguably the peak of the "old school" style. Managing a literal guild of assassins and calling them in for a rain of arrows felt incredibly empowering. Revelations was the bittersweet goodbye. Seeing an older, tired Ezio in Constantinople searching for Altaïr’s library remains one of the most emotional beats in the series. It’s a lot of Ezio, sure, but the storytelling was tight.
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The Colonial Era and the Great Identity Crisis
By 2012, people were getting a bit tired of the same old parkour. Enter Assassin's Creed III. This one is polarizing. Connor Kenway isn't as charming as Ezio. He’s stoic, angry, and honestly, a bit of a downer. The frontier was huge, but the city traversal in Boston and New York felt slower because the buildings were shorter. However, it gave us naval combat.
That naval seed grew into Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013). Ask any fan about every Assassin's Creed game in order and they'll likely point to this as their favorite. Is it a good Assassin game? Maybe not. You barely wear the hood. But is it the best pirate simulator ever made? Absolutely. Singing sea shanties while raiding Spanish galleons never gets old. It felt like a vacation from the heavy lore.
The Forgotten Links
We also had Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014). It basically took the Black Flag engine and flipped the script. You play as Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin who defects to the Templars. It’s short, but it’s the only time we really get to see the "villains" as the ones trying to save the world from the Assassins' unintentional destruction. Then there was Assassin's Creed Unity (2014). It was a disaster at launch. The glitches were legendary. But if you play it now on modern hardware? The parkour is the smoothest it’s ever been, and the 1:1 scale of Paris is genuinely breathtaking.
Moving Toward the RPG Horizon
Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015) was the last "traditional" game for a long time. Victorian London. Two protagonists. A grappling hook that basically turned the game into Spider-Man with top hats. It was fun, lighthearted, and very polished, but the fatigue was real. Sales were slipping. Ubisoft knew they had to pivot.
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After a year off, they came back with Assassin's Creed Origins (2017). This wasn't just a new setting; it was a total genre shift. We went to Ancient Egypt. We got hitboxes instead of canned animations. We got loot levels. Bayek of Siwa is easily the best protagonist since Ezio, and the story of how the Hidden Ones actually started gave the series its heart back.
The Massive Scale of Odyssey and Valhalla
If Origins was a shift, Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) was a total transformation. It leaned fully into being a Greek epic. You could play as Kassandra or Alexios. There were dialogue choices, multiple endings, and literal mythological monsters like the Minotaur. Some fans hated it because social stealth was basically gone. Others loved the 100+ hours of content.
Then came Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020). Vikings. England. Raiding monasteries. It tried to bridge the gap by bringing back the hidden blade (and making it an instant kill again), but the game was gargantuan. Maybe too big. It’s a massive saga about Eivor and the Isu lore—the "First Civilization" stuff that usually confuses everyone who hasn't been paying attention for fifteen years.
The Modern Shift and Side Projects
Recently, we saw a bit of a course correction. Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023) was marketed as a "return to roots." It’s shorter, set in Baghdad, and focuses heavily on stealth. It’s basically a love letter to the 2007 original. It doesn't have the sprawling maps of Valhalla, and for a lot of people, that was a huge relief.
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We can't talk about the list without mentioning the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles trilogy (China, India, Russia). These are 2.5D side-scrollers. They’re niche. If you’re a lore nerd, they’re worth a look, but they play nothing like the main entries. There was also Assassin's Creed Liberation, which started on the Vita and eventually moved to consoles. Aveline is a great character, but the game always felt a bit "small" compared to its big brothers.
The Roadmap Ahead: Shadows and Beyond
As we look at the timeline today, the next big step is Assassin's Creed Shadows. We're finally going to Feudal Japan. Fans have been screaming for this for over a decade. It features dual protagonists—Naoe, a shinobi focusing on traditional stealth, and Yasuke, the historical African samurai who focuses on heavy combat. This is supposedly the start of "Infinity," a hub that will connect all future experiences.
Actionable Insights for Navigating the Series
If you're looking to dive into the franchise now, don't feel pressured to play every single entry. The "bloat" is real, and burnout happens fast.
- The "Must-Play" Starter Pack: Start with Assassin's Creed II for the story, Black Flag for the fun, and Origins if you want the modern RPG feel.
- Skip the Filler: Unless you're a completionist, the Chronicles games and Liberation can be safely skipped without losing much context.
- Watch the Lore Summaries: The modern-day story (Desmond, Layla, and the Isu) gets extremely convoluted. If you're jumping in at Valhalla, do yourself a favor and watch a 10-minute recap of the "First Civilization" on YouTube. It’ll make the ending actually mean something.
- Check Performance Patches: Games like Unity and Syndicate have received 60fps patches for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S recently. They feel like completely different games at a higher frame rate.
The beauty of the Assassin's Creed franchise is that it’s essentially a digital tourism machine. Whether you want to climb the Great Pyramid, sail the Caribbean, or run across the rooftops of London, there’s a game in this list that fits that vibe. Just don't try to play them all back-to-back—your brain (and your thumbs) will thank you.
To get the most out of your next playthrough, try disabling the HUD (heads-up display). Ubisoft's worlds are incredibly detailed, and removing the mini-map forces you to actually look at the landmarks and architecture, turning the game into a much more immersive historical experience.