Over more than a decade, Ubisoft has gone through different historical eras and explored diverse characters to configure its star franchise.
From the Crusades to Renaissance Italy; from Renaissance Italy to Constantinople. From there, to the War of Independence, the America of the pirates and the France of the French Revolution. Smoke in the English factories of the 19th century; also child and labor exploitation. Much further back in time, the cradle of humanity, Greece and Egypt. Past, present and future. Assassin's Creed, the Ubisoft saga, will release a new chapter at the end of the year, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which will invite us to play Eivor, a Viking warrior (or warrior because you can choose the sex) who guides his people to a new destiny, a home to return to.
Norway in the 9th century is a harsh place, eroded by decades of unfinished war. Tired of the situation, Eivor and the other clan members embark on their ships to head for England. However, far from escaping violence, they will soon discover that in the Christian kingdoms the struggle for power is a constant. King Alfredo the Great struggles to secure his position and sees newcomers as a threat, declaring war on them. Faced with that enemy, the Vikings will build settlements and seek a new future.
Eivor, protagonist of Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Assassin's Creed Valhalla continues the path of Origins and Odyssey, who opted for the open world and a playable RPG scheme, all without giving up many of the characteristic elements of the series. To reach this point of maturity, the Ubisoft teams have worked for years. Since the franchise premiered back in 2007, more than a decade has passed. Under the annual game model, there came a time when the saga began to feel exhausted, which is why it was decided to reformulate the playable scheme.
With more than 10 main titles on the market, it is worth asking which are the best video games in the series, a difficult exercise to carry out because there are many factors to consider. For example, Assassin's Creed 2 boosted the saga by adding new elements that polished the gameplay in subsequent installments. Assassin's Creed 3, on the other hand, was widely criticized, although it established several of the crucial mechanics for the development of the series: parkour and boats, among other things. Therefore, when configuring the Top 10, the photography of the time and some aspects such as those previously exposed will be taken into account.
In search of new lands.
1. Assassins Creed Odyssey, a step forward
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Based on Assassin's Creed Origins, Ubisoft Quebec knew how to take advantage of what was working and improve different aspects of production: more interesting side missions, a system of dialogues with decisions, romances (still to be exploited, somewhat superficial), naval battles and a vast world to explore. The French developer also established a service model that has expanded the story with new story arcs, both paid and free. The creator of stories and Discovery Mode: Greece, the educational aspect, also started in Origins, put the gold chip on the product.
Another novelty in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is that we are allowed to choose between a female or male character, two twin brothers, Kassandra and Alexios. These two mercenaries, inheritors of a powerful lineage, live in the Greece of the Peloponnesian Wars. Sparta and Athens, the two powers of those times, engage in a battle without quarter, which is mixed with the usual fiction of the saga. A dark organization manages the threads of war and of the figures participating in the war. Only Kassandra or Alexios can unravel all the mysteries behind the veil of lies.
Brothers Kassandra and Alexios.
2. Assassin's Creed 2, the most esteemed
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A year after the first installment went on sale, Ubisoft took the playable foundation of the original title and improved many of the aspects that had been criticized. The result was a video game with much more packaging at all levels. Altaïr's charisma, protagonist of Assassin's Creed, was transferred to Ezio Auditore di Firanze, a character with a completely different profile: womanizer, somewhat irreverent and quite immature. The young man will learn as the adventure progresses, but unlike Altaïr, he was able to evolve over three video games and become a true master killer.
Assassin's Creed 2 starts with a carefree Ezio who is dedicated to playing with his brothers and flirting with women. His life will turn upside down when family tragedy looms over him. The most powerful families of the time are vying for power in a context in which the war between Assassins and Templars continues. From one day to the next, Ezio must embrace the creed and learn the ins and outs of a centuries-old brotherhood. In the playable, Assassin's Creed 2 takes the pieces from the first installment and assembles them more successfully. The setting in Renaissance Italy reflects this golden period in the arts. Patrons finance artistic products and surround themselves with beauty. Furthermore, the genius Leonardo da Vinci is one of Ezio's friends and allies.
Ezio Auditore on the roofs … as always.
3. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, no need to do things alone
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A few years have passed since the end of Assassin's Creed 2. We are still in the Renaissance and Ezio Auditore continues to be just as womanizing. Despite everything, his learning process continues and the character has begun to mature. His rank as Assassin is higher and he will soon be ready to be a true master. After the events of the second installment, his destination is in Rome, the great capital of the world, the home of Christendom.
Unfortunately, the person sitting on the throne of Saint Peter is none other than Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. In Italy at the time, a few aristocratic families managed the fate of towns and cities. The pope's Templar status places Ezio as one of his main enemies. And along the way, César Borgia is also willing to do whatever it takes to keep the Fruit of Eden. The Brotherhood introduces a whole new system where we can recruit and use Assassins to assist us during missions. In parallel, Desmond's story continues with new revelations about the mythology of the First Civilization.
Whistle and work done.
4. Assassin's Creed Origins, a new beginning
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Following the release of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Ubisoft detected a drop in sales. Since the failure of Unity's launch, wear has begun to show. Thus, for the first time since the first installment, the saga took a break in 2017. At Ubisoft, however, they have always defended that they commercialize the games when they think they are ready. They are not products that are developed in a year. In fact, rumors of an Assassin's Creed in Egypt dated back a long time. Ubisoft Montreal, who started working on this proposal after finishing Black Flag, placed the pillars that have allowed the saga to evolve.
In Assassin's Creed Origins, we handle Bayek of Siwa, the last of the Medjays, an elite corps linked to the figure of the pharaoh. That was the way it was in the old days, until the foreign dynasty of the Lágidas seized power. Ptolemy XIII, brother of Cleopatra, maintains a fraternal dispute. In this historical context, Julius Caesar and Marco Antonio's Rome draws the final years of independent Egypt before joining the superpower as a province. Bayek, forerunner of the Assassins alongside Amunet, lays the foundation stone for the creation of the creed. At the playable level it stands out for the RPG approach, which is reflected in the dialogue system and the construction of the missions. Ubisoft Montreal redesigned the entire combat system: sword, shield and parry, defense and attack, as well as special abilities.
An ancestral land.
5. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, the pirate game
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The formula started in Assassin's Creed 4 unfolds here in all its glory. Boat trips are one of the playable cores of the product as they exploit previous learning to implement naval battles. In fact, it is the central theme of the video game. We moved back a few years back in time, specifically to the time when Edward Kenway, Haytham's father and Connor's grandfather, traveled the world on his ship. Unlike the third installment, Ubisoft Montreal published a fairly polished video game since its launch, which also took place on current-generation consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One).
It is not an Assassin's Creed that stands out for its contribution to the lore of the saga. Rather the opposite, since after the end of the Desmond story (the protagonist of the present of all video games until that date), Ubisoft left that aspect of the plot quite aside. Despite everything, Edward's past story doesn't add too much either. Many then said that Assassin's Creed 4 was a good pirate video game, but that it had little of Assassin's Creed. Some reason they did.
Corsairs, pirates and assassins.
6. Assassin's Creed Rogue, sailing through sharp ice
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If Assassin's Creed 4 evolved the mechanics of the saga to levels never seen before, Assassin's Creed Rogue went one step further and perfected everything that had been done before. The closing of the Americas trilogy was a project by Ubisoft Sofia, a title that focused attention on the Seven Years' War, with icy locations including frozen seas and sturdy ships capable of breaking ice. The game provides the player with a novel perspective, as he is not starring a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins. It is true that Shay Patrick Cormack was one in the past, but he joined the Templars in being betrayed by the creed.
The feeling of handling a Templar is no different than that of an Assassin. They basically have the same skills, although at the plot level it does provide a different vision. Until this installment, a Manichean profile had been drawn for both sects, so that the Assassins were always positioned as "the good" and the Templars as "the bad", the cruel despots who want to destroy the world. When Assassin's Creed Rogue went on sale, it was somewhat relegated before the launch of Assassin's Creed Unity, the product for the new generation. It should be noted that both maintain connections and overlap through their argument.
If the enemy does not kill you, the cold will kill you.
7. Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Victorian England
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Everything that goes up must come down, even the great powers. The British Empire was still resisting the onslaught of crisis when Queen Victoria ascended the throne. With the industrial revolution, mills multiplied, but workers suffered the ravages of a leonine working day in the service of unscrupulous employers. Assassin's Creed Syndicate, as its name symbolizes, reproduces that photograph from history. A world of inequalities that brings out the worst in human beings.
In the graphical aspect, Syndicate is a step back compared to Assassin's Creed Unity. Ubisoft learned from past experience and preferred to downgrade some visuals to avoid the bugs that were so widely criticized in Unity. On the other hand, removing Assasin's Creed Liberation, it was the first title in the main saga in which we were able to handle a woman. The twins Evie and Jacob Frye are two young members of the creed, both with quite different personalities. It is not possible to complete it with one of these protagonists, but we alternate between the two to complete different parts of the story.
Brothers against the system.
8. Assassin's Creed: Revelations, in the footsteps of Altaïr
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Gradually, Ezio Auditore became a respected master of the Order of Assassins. Years after the events of Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the old man directed his steps towards Constantinople, the current city of Istanbul. Among its old streets, hidden in the city, are the keys necessary to unravel one of the best kept secrets. Therefore, you must get hold of them and open the Masyaf library to discover the mysteries buried with Altaïr, one of his former predecessors and protagonist of the original game.
It is true that the jump to playable level is practically non-existent. Revelations maintains all of the above, so it is a very continuous experience. All in all, the script has a series of surprises that makes it very special, especially in the final stretch, without a doubt one of the best outcomes in the entire franchise. Instead, Desmond still has one more adventure left in Assassin's Creed 3.
Ezio hung over Constantinople.
9. Assassin's Creed 3, future foundation
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The first of the trilogy of the Americas is a product that did not quite materialize. After the three video games starring Ezio Auditore, which came out annually, the game mechanics already felt somewhat repetitive. Ubisoft set out to introduce weighty new features, which in perspective served as the basis for some of the more important features that were implemented in subsequent installments. Among all of them, two in particular should be highlighted: first, parkour, which made the ride smoother and more organic. Naval battles were introduced in Assassin's Creed 3, although their presence was still greatly reduced.
Ratonhnhaké: ton, better known as Connor Kenway, is the mongrel son of Haytham Kenway. The story is set in the 18th century United States, a time of friction between the colonists and the British Empire. In addition to the initial bugs, the complaints revolved around the beginning of the game, which narrates the protagonist's construction process from his childhood until he becomes an Assassin. Beyond the rhythm problems, the title poses an interesting dichotomy between father and son, Templar and Assassin respectively. Both come from two different worlds, even if they share surnames.
War weather.
10. Assassin's Creed, the beginning of everything
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Jade Raymond, producer of the Assassin's Creed saga at the time, was one of the visible faces of the project. The direction, however, was borne by Patrice Désilets, now out of Ubisoft after long disputes between the two parties (with a bizarre story in between). The developers hinted at a concept that felt very fresh, like a kind of natural evolution of Prince of Persia. What caught the eye, however, was the impressive setting.
Desmond Miles is a boy whom the Abstergo company loves at all costs. It is a descendant of several of the most powerful Assassins in history. Through a device known as Animus, it is possible to access genetic memories of the past to relive the history of these ancient warriors. The kidnappers' goal is to seize the Fruit of Eden, a powerful artifact lost in time. Reconstructing that timeline is possible through Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a member of the creed who, after being degraded, begins his ascending journey again. We are at the beginning of the 12th century, in the era of the Christian Crusades against the infidel. All the mechanics that were introduced in Assassin's Creed served to advance in the following chapters, but at the time it became somewhat repetitive.
The Templars still dressed like Templars.
It has been difficult to leave Assassin's Creed Unity out of the top, a game that was not easy at the beginning, but that after the patches, came to work quite well.
Bonus track: Assassin's Creed Unity, a nice stumble
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The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One may not have been the leap many expected, but Ubisoft went to great lengths to squeeze the hardware out of the consoles. The French company put all the meat on the grill with Assassin's Creed Unity, one of the most visually stunning video games of the generation. Paris is represented in all its splendor, with interiors that still surprise. However, this ambition and the need to go out on a very specific date ended up spoiling the gaming experience at launch. It came out accompanied by numerous graphic errors, which soon leaked through social networks. That damaged the image of the video game, which despite being updated, never managed to recover.
Paris, French Revolution. The breeding ground of the rebellion is already underway. Arno Dorian, the new protagonist, shares a somewhat irreverent profile with Ezio. His father, a member of the Brotherhood, was killed during a visit to the Palace of Versailles. Then, it is welcomed by the De la Sérre. On his way to the creed, the young man will discover many of the truths that remained hidden. As for gameplay, it stands out especially for the combat, something more complex than the previous ones. Unfortunately, the plot fails to connect too well with the great events that are narrated in the background. We are distant spectators, so to speak.
The smell of revolution.
