The “Assassin’s Creed” franchise has been around since 2007 and has seen more releases than we can count since then. I have played every single game and 100 %ed most of them since they came out, with the only exception being the first “Assassin’s Creed,” so what’s better than to rank them all? As mentioned, the first game won’t be included here, and this is my personal opinion or preference, so don’t get upset if your favorite from the series isn’t ranked higher. I am sure everyone will have a different list of this series with their favorites and not-so-favorites since there are so many games that have been released since the inception of this franchise. I’ll be ranking them in order of my absolute favorites and going down with the ones I like less and less, so without any further delays, let’s get right into it. Just to reiterate once again, this is my personal opinion, and the first three here are pretty much on equal footing for me, as picking one for the number one spot is nigh impossible for me personally.
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
Starting this list off with a bang, “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag” was the first game that deviated from the assassin’s story and gave us a protagonist who wasn’t an assassin, to begin with. Captain Edward Kenway, a pirate of the high seas on the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy and one of the most endearing and enigmatic characters this series has ever seen (yes, that includes Ezio as well), It was the first ever cross-gen “Assassin’s Creed” game and was released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 alongside the new consoles back then, the PS4 and Xbox One. Did that make a difference? Not really, but this game was massive, and folks were eager to see what a fully “next-gen” (at that time) “Assassin’s Creed” would look like. Ubisoft gave us a massive and gorgeous open world to explore alongside incredible ship-to-ship combat and faster parkour and combat. All of that works in tandem with the more adventure-themed tone of the game, a really good story and cast of characters, and a loveable and charming protagonist. The modern-day sections also saw big changes, and I never liked them anyway, so I guess I’ll be skipping that aspect entirely for this entire list. There were tons to see and do, and the game was and still is incredibly gorgeous. I have always believed that Ubisoft makes the best “Assassin’s Creed” games when they don’t make the protagonist an assassin from the get-go, and this game, alongside the next two, justifies my statement. “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag” is a banger of a video game, and whether you are a fan of this series or not, this is the ONE game from this franchise that you should definitely play if you haven’t already.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Next up, we have “Assassin’s Creed: Origins,” probably the most divisive game for the franchise and the first one that I sank upwards of a hundred hours into. This was the turning point for the series—the reboot, the switch to full-blown RPG—and while the games that came after this fully adopted that philosophy, this one laid the foundations. If you ask me, this game did a better job with the foundation than the games that came after and built on top of it. We play as Bayek of Siwa here, a medjay and the man who started the brotherhood (known as the “hidden ones” back then). The game gave us one of the most requested locations that fans were asking for: Ancient Egypt, and boy was it one to explore! Gone was the time when Ubisoft segmented the worlds with loading screens, as this was the first game in the series that gave us a full one-to-one recreation of the country that we were free to explore from end to end with no loading screens interrupting us. Everything from the gameplay to the combat to the structure of the game was revamped here as they moved from a simple action-adventure game to an RPG with this one, and while these changes weren’t accepted by the whole community, I welcomed them with open arms and loved them. Sure, these games from this point became bloated affairs with content that was copied and pasted a hundred times over, but at the same time, it’s fun, so I don’t care. The story here was memorable, and the characters were fantastic. The visuals are stunning and the gameplay is refreshing. This was also the first time Ubisoft tried mixing the mythological stuff within these games with their DLCs, and once again, I like it. It’s far from what “Assassin’s Creed” is, but that doesn’t take away from how welcoming all of that is. Besides, it’s Ubisoft’s franchise, and they’re free to do what they want with it. All things considered, “Assassin’s Creed: Origins” is a fantastic and memorable Creed game, and I love this one dearly too.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
The grand finale of the three “Assassin’s Creed” games that I love equally and put in first place, this is a controversial one, but again, this is my list, and I love “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.” The game begins in Norway and gives us charge of Eivor (male or female, the choice is yours) of the Raven Clan. Okay, a Viking assassin—you can’t tell me that’s not cool. The game soon takes us to England (the Dark Ages), where Eivor and her clan settle down and call it their new home. The story that follows isn’t too memorable or exceptional or anything, but it works. “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” is the only game in this series that I would say is multiple seasons of a show and not a movie, if that makes sense. This game is long, super-duper long and introduces so many characters along with it that it’s hard to keep track sometimes. While I enjoyed the story, it was the gameplay that kept bringing me back. I know this game gets a bad rap for being too long, boring, bloated, and unnecessary, and while I agree with all of that, I don’t see it that way. You paid $60 for the first “Assassin’s Creed” game in 2007, which was like 30 hours in length total, and you are paying the same amount of money today for a game in the same franchise that literally gives you content that’ll take you 10x longer to complete. That’s insanity. Sure, you can make the argument that “it’s not good content” or “it’s the same copy-paste Ubisoft fare,” and you are right. I won’t argue, but I like that content. I like giant open-worlds with camps to clear and tick boxes to check off so for me this game is a great offering. The world is massive and gorgeous. The combat is fun and gets better and better with all the skills you unlock. The RPG systems are much more streamlined, with loot that actually matters (unlike the garbage that was “Odyssey”; more on that later), and a long but engaging story with characters I gave a damn about. The DLCs here are also decent to good and give us more of the base game but across different locations, and as I said, I am into that. There are two groups when it comes to this game and the RPG “Assassin’s Creed” games in general. people who love them while recognizing the problems and the unnecessary grins and repetition of content. Then you have people who just hate them for their own personal reasons. I fall into the former camp, and I love “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.”
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Let’s go back to the basics for a bit and appreciate how great “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” was. The middle game in the Ezio trilogy, “Brotherhood,” took us to Rome and gave us a massive single city to explore. Fans of the series love Ezio, myself included, and this game is the reason for me to fall in love with that character. He was more mature in this game and was practically a master assassin without losing his charm and wit, and the story here, which was all about revenge, was fantastic throughout. The game also expanded on a lot of things and was the first game that gave us the counter-killing combat this series was known for back in the day. The city of Rome was also fun to run around in, with tons of side content, including paying a lot of money to improve the architecture all across the city for some reason. A memorable location, a good plot, and beloved characters make “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” my favorite in the Ezio trilogy and a game that fans of the series fondly remember even to this day.
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
“Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate” has to be the most underrated game in this entire series. Everyone pretty much ignored it after the disaster that was “Unity” (more on that later), and I feel bad for the game and the developers. This game was fun. It was fantastic and the most “modern” game in the series that took us to Industrial Revolution-era London. There are two playable characters here: a brash and quick witted guy named Jacob Frye and his twin sister, a more calm and calculated Evie Frye. The setting of this game is fantastic, and the city of London is rich in detail and covered in so much smoke that you could practically choke on it. The narrative here was also pretty well done with characters, including the protagonists, that were loveable and incredibly charming. The DLC allowed you to play as Jack the Ripper, and I have a question based on that. What more can you ask for from a game? If you haven’t played this one (which is most likely the case), then please, please, please give it a shot. You won’t come out disappointed.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity
Next, we have “Assassin’s Creed: Unity,” the first “AC” game exclusive to the PS4 and Xbox One, and man, was this game a disaster and acted as the first nail in the coffin for the franchise. Bugs and game-breaking glitches were the norm, and the game was borderline unplayable for some people with the horrible technical state it was released in. Fun fact: I got it on launch, played through it, and didn’t encounter a single bug or glitch across my playthrough. I kid you not. Forget about the technical state, how was the game? From a gameplay and visual standpoint, this game might as well be the best the series has ever seen, even to this day. Everything else was hit or miss, with a charming yet boring protagonist in Arno Victor Dorian, a very emotional story at times yet an incredibly forgettable story, and so on. This game features the best parkour system the series has ever seen and the single densest and most detailed city in French Revolution-era Paris. There is a lot to love about “Assassin’s Creed: Unity,” including its fantastic and free DLC, “Dead Kings,” despite it being the black sheep of the franchise.
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Remastered
I cannot fit this game anywhere on this list because it’s literally “Black Flag” 2.0 with next to no changes, so it’s equally as good, but at the same time, I wouldn’t put it above any of the games I mentioned above, so bear with me. I skipped “Assassin’s Creed: Rogue” when it originally came out as it didn’t interest me and was last-gen only, so I was glad to see Ubisoft remastering it, which gave me a chance to finally play it. Across the North Atlantic, “Assassin’s Creed: Rogue” gave us control of another protagonist I love from this series, Shay Patrick Cormac. The twist here was that he was an assassin who turned into a templar, thus the name “Rogue.” This game is exactly, and I mean EXACTLY, like “Black Flag,” with nothing but the location separating them, so I don’t have much to say here. I loved “Black Flag” gameplay, so I obviously loved the gameplay of this game as well. The protagonist was endearing and very well written and acted, and the story here was a good one and tied directly to “Assassin’s Creed: Unity.” It’s a solid “AC” game, and I know many people skipped this one, so hey, now’s the time to play it.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
We are at the bottom four, and trust me when I say this: “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations’ ‘ doesn’t belong this low on the list, but at the same time, I don’t know where else to put it. This is the final game in the Ezio trilogy that takes us to Constantinople (Istanbul) and gives us the oldest and most mature version of Ezio we have seen in any game. He still has his charm, so don’t worry about that. The game also ties directly into the first “Assassin’s Creed” game, and there are missions and sequences where you play as the protagonist of that game, Altair Ibn La Ahd. The combat is fun, the story is actually really good, and the setting is fantastic. They added a new tower defense gameplay mode with “Den Defense,” and that is perhaps the most hated aspect of this game; other than that, everything is solid here, and this is one hell of an “Assassin’s Creed” game.
Assassin’s Creed 2
Unlike the previous game, these last three are where they belong, in my opinion, and I hate to be harsh on games or be negative, so I apologize in advance if I say bad things about these games. I agree that for the time, “Assassin’s Creed 2” is a fantastic game. If you play it now, however, big yikes. This game is sluggish, boring, and terrible, and it did not age well. The setting is Renaissance Italy, and yes, that is awesome, even though the visuals are extremely dated now. The same can be said for the protagonist, as this was the game that introduced Ezio to us, and we all love him. Everything else about this game is just alright at best(from today’s standards, keep that in mind). The combat in this game is the one thing that really throws me off, and I simply hate it. I cannot even begin to tell you how much rage it induced in me, and I usually don’t get angry for any reason. The story was fine; I liked it, but at the same time, it was boring. If it wasn’t for Ezio, this story would have been unbearable. The missions also deserve special praise as they tried to be bombastic and give us the element of theatricality, but once again, poor controls are the biggest detriment of this game as a whole. But if you can somehow look past that, you’ll have a blast with this. I can’t recommend this game, I am sorry and call me a tasteless casual but it is what it is for me.Â
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
How it started so well with “Origins” and they went like five steps backwards with “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” is beyond my understanding. What most people feel for “Valhalla,” I feel for this game. a terrible story that has nothing to do with the assassin’s (not a problem for me personally). The combat here just sucked. I, for the life of me, can’t understand why they made the combat here the way it was. What was the need for enemies to have massive health pools that you kept stabbing for a few minutes straight? That’s a choice that blows my mind. Bosses, I can understand. Standard grunts that were bullet-sponges and took more damage than necessary is just plain stupid. The gear system also, simply put, sucked here, and why they turned it into a “Destiny”-like rarity-based loot grind is once again a choice I do not understand. The dialogue choices had no impact on the story either, minus the ending cutscene, which was once again terrible regardless of whether you got the good or bad ending, if you ask me. This game gave me a headache, and keep in mind that I have pretty much 100%ed all of these games on this list, and despite “Valhalla’s” length, I enjoyed that a lot more than this. Despite all of that, there are three saving graces here, and despite me not liking the game as a whole, those three are reasons enough to check this game out. The first is the stellar performance by actress Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, the lead protagonist. The second is the massive map of ancient Greece that you get to explore here, which is drop-dead gorgeous and huge and is a technical achievement. Third and last is the “Fate of Atlantis” DLC. That DLC expansion is better than the base game both in terms of the story and the gameplay (at least it makes sense why the enemies take so much damage), and the sights there are somehow even more gorgeous than the base game. Let me be a little kinder to this game in the final statement here: “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” is a good enough game on its own but is by far one of the worst “Assassin’s Creed” games ever made.
Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation
Finally, we have not one but two games, “Assassin’s Creed 3” and “Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation,” and I want to keep this short and sweet and say that both of these games are terrible and I hate them. The setting of the American Revolution is fantastic, and it’s a shame they misused it in such a poor way. Connor has to be the most boring protagonist I have ever seen in any video game. A sheet of wet cardboard has more personality than that man ever could, and I couldn’t care less for his story or the game as a whole. The DLC for the game titled “Tyranny of King Washington” has such a cool premise, but once again, it has to be one of the worst DLCs they have ever made. The same can be said for “liberation,” and frankly, I don’t even remember enough about that game to say anything of substance here. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, so I’ll just end by saying that this game, its setting, and its characters had so much potential, and it’s a shame that Ubisoft squandered it all. I am sorry if this is your favorite game, but alas, for me, there can’t be a worse “Assassin’s Creed” game that can ever come out.
I reckon this list will be a bit controversial, but as I said in the beginning, this is my personal opinion, and just like me, you have every right to have your own, so please try and don’t get mad if any of these games aren’t in the order you were expecting them to be. I love the “Assassin’s Creed” series, and while I don’t share the views of the purists of this franchise, I do believe that this franchise is special and incredibly fun. For me, I care more about how they transport us to different locations from different eras of history and let us explore them and not so much about the story of the game or the assassins vs. templar conflict. You now know what kind of “Assassin’s Creed” fan I am personally, and I’d once again like to apologize for talking negatively about some of these games. They are all great in their own rights.
