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The long-running Assassin’s Creed series can be daunting to get into for newcomers, but you can get the full experience from just a handful of games.
The popular Assassin’s Creed games has been around since 2007, with Ubisoft releasing twelve mainline titles and a handful of spin-off titles that add even more to the franchise’s world. As such, a new fan may be greatly intimidated by the sheer number of games to play through, never knowing which game would give them a good feel for the series and its history.
Still, there’s no need to fret when there’s a good amount of essential titles that will give players a good gist of what Assassin’s Creed as a whole is like. These games also show a fantastic evolution of the franchise’s constantly evolving gameplay while simultaneously providing fantastic recreations of real-world locations during major historical eras.
Assassin’s Creed II
While the first Assassin’s Creed received mixed reviews, it was praised for its original storyline and setting while also introducing fluid traversal and combat mechanics inspired by Ubisoft’s other famous work, Prince of Persia. Its immediate sequel, Assassin’s Creed II, was praised as a massive improvement over the original in almost every way. It streamlined the free-running controls of the previous game to be much more precise and snappy while giving the player a believable recreation of Renaissance Italy to fully explore and immerse themselves in.
Assassin’s Creed II‘s historical plot follows the life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an Italian noble from Florence who follows the footsteps of his Assassin ancestor Altair after his family is slain during the historical Pazzi conspiracy. He eventually embarks on a quest for vengeance against Rodrigo Borgia and the Borgia family while growing and learning as a character. Assassin’s Creed II is a fantastic start for new fans, as not only is Ezio’s debut one of the most iconic storylines in the franchise’s history, but it also tightly recaps the modern plot of the first game for newcomers to easily digest.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
For some people, the modern-day storyline comes off as dragging down the overall mood and atmosphere of the otherwise fun and engaging historical Assassin campaign. Even during the primary Assassin storyline, there are a wide variety of railroading segments bogging down the pace of the action and trying the player’s patience. With Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, it seems as though fan complaints were heeded, as the modern-day storyline has been cut down to be much shorter and less intrusive while also increasing player freedom and open-world options as a Caribbean pirate.
Marking a major twist for the series, the protagonist is the privateer Edward Kenway, the most morally ambiguous protagonist to date. Kenway doesn’t even start as an Assassin; he’s a pirate who ends up killing a rogue Assassin, then taking his gear and identity in search of a profit. Refining the main Assassin gameplay even further, Assassin’s Creed IV also gives ship travel and combat a heavy focus after positive reception from Assassin’s Creed III‘s ship segments. With the increased focus on open-ended gameplay and a more streamlined story, Assassin’s Creed IV is also a great jumping-on point for new fans.
Assassin’s Creed Origins
By 2015, the Assassin’s Creed series was accused of becoming stale, leading to a need for a major shake-up in the series’ identity. With Ubisoft giving the development team more time and eschewing annual releases for once, Assassin’s Creed: Origins marks a fresh start for the franchise by going to the very beginning of the Order of Assassins in Ancient Egypt. Not only is the setting of Ancient Egypt a very fresh and new location for the series to follow, but Ubisoft also revamped the gameplay–to the point where some diehard fans decry this game as not being “Assassin’s Creed” anymore.
Freerunning and stealth mechanics are more or less the same as they were, with some changes and refinements. Combat has been completely overhauled from a simple timing and parry animation to something more akin to traditional action games like God of War or Dark Souls. RPG elements were also introduced, with protagonist Bayek gaining experience points that can unlock a wide variety of new skills to aid him as the game progresses. A borderline soft reboot of the entire series, with brand new gameplay elements and a new arc in the modern-day segments, Origins is a perfect point for new players to jump into the current era of Assassin’s Creed.
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