Assassin’s Creed is an amazing series. Absolutely amazing. I played every single one of them, from one all the way down to the most recent. Even went back and replayed parts of Mirage when they added that random update out of nowhere a while back. Handled all of them.
I love them all, some more than others. Some are better than others. But the series itself is groundbreaking. It’s probably one of the best of its kind.
You can break the series down into eras by the characters carrying the modern-day story. The historical characters change, but there’s another story going on outside the Animus that connects those games. Here’s how that breaks down across the main games.
Desmond’s era: Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, Revelations, and Assassin’s Creed III.
The first game starts with Desmond being held by Abstergo and reliving Altaïr’s memories during the Third Crusade. Then AC II brings in Ezio in Renaissance Italy, and Brotherhood and Revelations keep following him as he gets older. Brotherhood takes him to Rome, and Revelations takes him to Constantinople, where his story connects back to Altaïr’s. So even within Desmond’s era, you have that whole Ezio trilogy sitting in the middle of it.
Then AC III brings in Connor during the American Revolution and closes out Desmond’s main story. Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor are different people living in completely different times, but Desmond is the connection between all of them. That’s the first big stretch of the series.
The Abstergo and Helix era: the original Black Flag, Rogue, Unity, and Syndicate.
After Desmond, the series changes how it handles the present. Black Flag puts you in the position of an Abstergo Entertainment employee exploring Edward Kenway’s memories. Edward is the pirate in the Caribbean, and that’s where sailing and naval combat become such a huge part of the game. Rogue follows Shay Cormac, an Assassin who turns against the Brotherhood and joins the Templars. It also brings back people connected to the other games, including Haytham Kenway, Achilles, and Adéwalé.
Unity and Syndicate move further into the idea of you being a Helix user drawn into the Assassin and Templar conflict, rather than following another named lead like Desmond. Historically, Unity follows Arno in Revolutionary Paris, while Syndicate follows Jacob and Evie Frye in Victorian London. So you have Edward, Shay, Arno, and the Frye twins across that stretch, with the modern-day side moving through Abstergo and the player’s involvement.
Layla’s era: Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.
Origins introduces Layla Hassan as the new modern-day lead. She’s the connection across these three games, even though the historical stories go from Bayek in Egypt, back further to Kassandra or Alexios in Ancient Greece, and then forward to Eivor in the Viking age. That’s worth separating out, because release order and the order those historical lives happened in are two different things.
These are also the games where the series really leans into its larger RPG direction. More character progression, equipment, abilities, and huge places to explore. They share Layla’s story, but Bayek’s, the Eagle Bearer’s, and Eivor’s lives are very different from one another.
Basim is where that story takes another turn. He’s introduced in Valhalla and becomes important to the present-day side as well. Mirage then goes back to his younger years in ninth-century Baghdad, with Roshan as his mentor and the Hidden Ones still using the name they had before becoming the Assassins. Mirage is about how Basim became the person we met in Valhalla. It isn’t another Desmond-style run of modern-day chapters.
Then there’s the newer Animus Hub setup, starting with Shadows.
Shadows follows Naoe and Yasuke in sixteenth-century Japan. Naoe is the shinobi Assassin, while Yasuke brings the samurai side, and they have different tools and approaches to fighting. The connecting modern-day material now also lives in the Animus Hub and its Dark Animus setup, alongside material in the game itself. That’s another change in how the series carries its bigger story from one game to the next.
I loved all the games, but I like some of them more than others. My favorite character in the whole series is Connor. Hands down. He’s the one from AC III with the animal-spirit powers in The Tyranny of King Washington DLC. He’s got the best fighting style, the best weapon usage. To me, he is the best character in the series.
Now, going back to the individual games, there are certain ones that are just so many levels above the others for me. It may not be a popular opinion, but I’m going to put it out there anyway. Origins, Valhalla, and Odyssey. To me, they’re the best.
Origins is the one in Egypt with Bayek. Bayek and Aya’s story starts with the loss of their son, and their search for the people responsible leads into something much bigger: the Order of the Ancients and the beginnings of the Hidden Ones. You’re seeing where so much of the Brotherhood’s history comes from, before it becomes the organization we knew in the earlier games.
And there’s a lot to that world beyond the main story. Cities, deserts, the Nile, tombs, different weapons and shields, bows, and Senu helping you scout from above. Origins really opens up how you explore and fight. It’s the start of that big RPG shift, and Bayek’s personal story is right in the middle of it.
Odyssey takes you further back into Ancient Greece, before the Brotherhood exists. You choose Kassandra or Alexios, and the story gets into their family, the Cult of Kosmos, and the older First Civilization history running underneath the series. You’ve got islands to explore, your ship and crew, naval battles, mercenaries, and the war between Athens and Sparta happening around you.
It goes further with choices too. Dialogue, decisions, and how you build your character all get more attention. You can lean into Hunter, Warrior, or Assassin abilities, and the Spear of Leonidas gives that combat its own identity. There’s a lot more going on there than just moving from one assassination target to the next.
Then Valhalla gives you Eivor, leaving Norway with the clan and building a home in England. The settlement is a big part of it. You’re building it up while making alliances across different kingdoms, going on raids, and getting involved in the people and conflicts around you. Sigurd, Basim, and Hytham are part of that story too, with the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients running alongside Eivor’s journey.
The combat has that different Viking feel, with dual-wielding, different weapon combinations, raids, and larger battles. And it goes deep into Norse mythology and how that connects with the older history behind Assassin’s Creed. Between the settlement, the alliances, the exploration, and everything surrounding Eivor, there’s a lot there to get absorbed in.
Those three are my favorite games. Those are the three that meant the most to me. Those are the three I put the most time into, the ones I got the most absorbed into. They’re just amazing games.
Assassin’s Creed is an amazing series. Absolutely amazing. I played every single one of them, from one all the way down to the most recent. Even went back and replayed parts of…
· Games / Assassin’s Creed