The best Assassin’s Creed games give you amazing historical action experiences. But they also offer much more: a hero you’ll love, lots of mystery, beautiful places to explore, big or small settings, and great stealth or RPG combat.
The series takes us to different places around the world. With Ubisoft’s new Assassin’s Creed Infinity platform, it will be easier to switch between games. This includes new multiplayer games, the VR title Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, and upcoming codenamed games.
Most of the series is available on current game platforms, so you can play some of the best Assassin’s Creed games no matter what console you have. If you haven’t played yet or want to replay your favorites, check out our list of the best Assassin’s Creed games.
We’ve ranked every game in the series. They are all high-quality, but life is short, so see which ones we recommend and which ones to skip. Let’s get started!
Assassin’s Creed 2 (2009)
The second game in the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed 2, is very special to many fans. Released two years after the first game, it added more excitement and mystery by moving the story to Renaissance Italy and introducing a charming new main character, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
This new adventure was a big improvement over the first game. It made the first game look like just a rough draft. Stealthy killings became a favorite way to defeat enemies, and the story of assassins and templars really came to life with Ezio’s tale of revenge.
There are some fun and crazy parts too, like having Leonardo da Vinci in the game. He creates new weapons and gadgets for the player, including a flying machine (which the real Leonardo da Vinci designed). But what made this game great were new gameplay features like using two hidden blades and being able to take weapons from enemies.
More than anything, Assassin’s Creed 2 showed that it was easy to take the series to new places and times. It set the stage for future games to explore different eras and locations. Even many years later, it is still considered one of the best Assassin’s Creed games ever made.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018)
Taking place in Ancient Greece, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey gives players a huge open world to explore. This game combines some of the best parts of the series and feels more like a full-action RPG. Many consider it the best game in the recent Assassin’s Creed RPG trio.
You play as a mercenary involved in the war between Athens and Sparta, visiting famous landmarks. The game has a strong story, choices in dialogue, and multiple endings, making it one of the most engaging Assassin’s Creed games. You even get to fight mythical creatures like the Minotaur.
While the combat might not be the best part, the game’s large world and beautiful environment offer many hours of fun exploration. It’s a very big game, and some might find it too big to finish.
However, it gives players a lot of freedom, which is why it was often listed among the best games for PS4 and Xbox One.
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag (2013)
Pirates! Assassins! Pirate assassins! “Black Flag” was an exciting change for the Assassin’s Creed series, setting the action on the high seas in the 1700s. You play as the grandfather of the main character from Assassin’s Creed 3.
As a rugged pirate, you spend a lot of time sailing and sneaking around. There’s still plenty of the usual land action, but you also get to battleships, invade coastal forts, dive deep underwater, hunt whales, and even meet famous pirates like Blackbeard.
This game is one of the best in the series, mainly because of the charming character, Edward Kenway.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2010)
The game’s title, “Brotherhood,” highlights its main feature: you can recruit other assassins, send them on missions, or call them to fight with you. Who said being an assassin had to be lonely?
Importantly, “Brotherhood” also introduced the first online multiplayer mode in the series, where players could run and jump across rooftops to hunt each other down.
“Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood” showed how quickly Ubisoft could make great games, but returning to the same world so soon only made sense if you were a big fan of the main character, Ezio.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023)
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the game that fans have been hoping for over the past 5 years. It brings the series back to its original style, focusing on stealth and action. The game has an interesting main character, Basim Ibn Is’Haq, and a city full of details. Mirage is everything that makes Assassin’s Creed games great.
The missions in Mirage encourage you to be patient, quiet, and clever. They are some of the best in the series, feeling like a mix of assassinations and detective work. Each mission becomes more exciting and mysterious as you find clues until it’s time to strike one of Baghdad’s Order of the Ancients members.
Unlike the recent games, Mirage is not an open-world game but focuses on one city, Baghdad, and its surroundings. This choice works well. Baghdad is a fantastic and beautiful setting, filled with activities and discoveries, making it a great place for parkour.
Basim is one of the most interesting assassins in recent games, combining the best qualities of the series’ favorite characters. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is an excellent addition to the series and one of the best games in years.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins (2017)
After taking a sensible break from releasing games, Ubisoft delighted players with Assassin’s Creed: Origins in 2017.
In this game, you play as a desert nomad in ancient Egypt, during the rule of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Your mission is to bring peace and safety to the people as the kingdom falls apart. This game tells the epic origin story of the very first assassins, so you won’t find any Assassin’s Creed games set earlier than this.
With appearances by Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and many historical references, Origins is a fantastic entry in the series. It’s now considered an underrated gem and marked the beginning of the series’ shift to RPG-style gameplay. A brilliant game.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (2020)
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, released in 2020, is similar to previous games Origins and Odyssey because it focuses less on stealth and more on action. This time, you play as a Viking raider exploring and raiding England.
Like in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, you can choose between two main characters. However, it’s hard to prefer one over the other. The game world is beautiful and the depiction of the British Isles is stunning.
Even though Valhalla had more development time than earlier Assassin’s Creed games, it didn’t bring major changes to the series. The story wasn’t very exciting, so it didn’t rank among the best Assassin’s Creed games.
Despite this, it stayed on the best PS5 and Xbox Series X games lists for a long time and was a popular choice for many players when these consoles launched.
Assassin’s Creed (2007)
The game that started it all. When the first Assassin’s Creed came out, it was amazing. We hadn’t seen a game with such big dreams before. Even though the graphics and fighting might seem old now, it’s still an important game.
The first Assassin’s Creed introduced a cool sci-fi idea called the Animus. This machine lets the main character, Desmond (a kidnapped bartender), relive his ancestors’ memories. The game takes place in the 12th-century Holy Land, with players visiting Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus during the Third Crusade.
Players control Altaïr, an assassin working for a secret group. Altaïr’s mission involves discovering more about a mysterious object called the Apple of Eden, which appears in later games too.
While later games improved and changed the formula, the 2007 Assassin’s Creed started our love for sneaky, parkour-loving assassins and is one of the best in the series.
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (2015)
An Assassin’s Creed game set in Old England? We’re excited! Syndicate takes the action to Victorian London, complete with British accents, cozy pubs, and funny hats.
For the first time, players can choose to play as either a male or female character, Jacob or Evie Frye, twin assassins who aim to free London from the control of the Templars. This was a welcome change, especially after one Ubisoft developer claimed that animating women was too expensive.
Players can use a grappling hook to climb buildings quickly, brass knuckles for fighting in the streets, and horse-drawn carriages to get around the Victorian city. It’s a creative and interesting setting that shows Ubisoft is keeping up with modern times. However, like always, some technical issues prevented the game from being perfect.
Assassin’s Creed 3 (2012)
Ubisoft needed a new setting for the Assassin’s Creed game after Revelations, and they made one. Assassin’s Creed 3 takes place during the American Revolution in the 18th century. Players play as Connor, a character who is half-English and half-Mohawk, exploring colonial America.
With a new Anvil engine, the graphics got a big improvement. The American Frontier was a great change from the mostly European settings of the previous games. This new setting used more natural environments like forests for sneaking and hiding, instead of the usual city buildings.
However, some of the missions weren’t very exciting, which made the game less impressive than it could have been.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (2011)
Just one year after the 2010 game Brotherhood, Revelations came out. It felt like Ubisoft was rushing things this time. It was familiar, with players again being Desmond, the 21st-century character, as well as Altaïr from the original game and Ezio from Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood. This showed that the franchise needed something new.
But there was one cool new thing: the ‘hookblade’. It is attached to your assassin’s blade and lets you climb and jump on roofs more easily. You could even use it to pull enemies in for a quick kill.
Even though Ezio was getting old by now, the game still wrapped up his story well. The city of Constantinople also got the usual excellent treatment from Ubisoft.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity (2014)
During the French Revolution in Paris, Assassin’s Creed Unity brought the game back to Europe after being in America and the Caribbean for a while.
But, there were problems. Like another game called Rogue that came out at the same time, Unity had lots of bugs. This was especially disappointing because it came out on new game consoles. They did fix most of the bugs later, but Unity still has a bad reputation because of it. But now, if you play it, it’s smooth and looks nice. The graphics, especially the lighting, are great.
Unity also introduced playing with friends. You and up to three friends can do missions together. That’s unity in action! It also connects well with the rest of the series, especially with Rogue.
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (2014)
Unfortunately, Rogue had a lot of potential but ended up being a disappointing Assassin’s Creed game. It let you play as a Templar, which was a fresh change from the usual Assassin role. The naval warfare, expanded from Black Flag, was also a great addition. But the game had some big issues – especially game-breaking bugs.
Ubisoft rushed the game to meet its annual release schedule, and it launched with lots of bugs and glitches. This made it hard for players to stay immersed, and many quit the story early. The campaign wasn’t very long either. Rogue also used the same old engine as previous games, which was getting boring for fans.
However, Shay, the main character, is one of the series’ most interesting characters. And the wintry North East Atlantic setting was a nice change. If you’re curious, it’s still worth playing in 2023 – you can even play it on Nintendo Switch now and also read more these types articles, you can also read these articles Top 15+ Best Pokemon Games, Skyrim: Top 9 Heavy Armor Sets.