Assassin’s Creed has been a huge success to date, so it is time to look back at what this video game series has offered over the years. And there are quite a few Assassins Creed games available right now: apart from the fourteen core games which came out since the original hit the shelves back in 2007, many spin-offs have been released to date as well, with samurai adventure Assassin’s Creed Shadows being the latest game put out by Ubisoft.
Each of these games has its merits, and since this is a wildly popular series every player is bound to have a personal favorite, even if newcomers could have trouble figuring out where to start. So without further ado, here follows a list of all the Assassin’s Creed games, in order of release.
1. Assassin’s Creed (2007)
Assassin’s Creed got many people excited in 2007. This had beautiful cities like Jerusalem, every detail shining through. You could climb to the top of buildings, Prince of Persia-style, and admire the view from the top. And of course, protagonist Altair could perform the iconic leap of faith. Altair is a good character too – a bit too serious perhaps – Ezio Auditore of Assassin’s Creed II is leagues ahead.
Also, the assassination missions are repetitive. Eavesdropping on conversations, pickpocketing and trailing characters, had to be done over and over again before killing a target. The Middle-Eastern villains sure were ruthless though, making all the chores you had to go through to kill these guys worthwhile. Overall, this Assassin’s Creed was more of a stepping stone for greater things to come though.
Came out on: PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
2. Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles (2008)
This Assassin’s Creed game was the first to hit the Nintendo DS (but was later released for other mobile devices too). It’s a prequel to the original Assassin’s Creed, but unlike the original 2007 console game, it is not a grand open-world adventure. Rather, it’s a linear side-scrolling game with a healthy dose of combat and some minor puzzle solving thrown in for good measure.
And aside from the fact that combat is just reduced to mindless button mashing and that the touch screen mini-games were hardly inspired, this Assassin’s Creed fails story wise. Actually, this just offered a generic Crusade-era story about a hunt for a mysterious artefact, without the sci-fi undertones of the console games, but was still the start of great things to come for the series though.
Came out on: iOS, Android, Nintendo DS and others.
3. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (2009)
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines was the first and last game in the series to hit Sony’s PlayStation Portable console. And it does deserve credit for bringing the open-world action of the series to a handheld console, delivering a good-looking and enjoyable Assassin’s Creed adventure for mobile gaming.
But this lacked the console outings’ focus on stealth and assassinations, as the emphasis was on combat here, while the joy of exploring was diminished by the fiddly camera controls. And the great storytelling of Assassin’s Creed was missing too, as this continuation of Altair’s tale had him travelling to Cyprus in an Indiana Jones-style adventure that wasn’t so interesting. The gameplay was still entertaining, though, and collecting coins to spend on upgrades was a mild diversion in this decent entry in the Assassin’s Creed saga.
Came out on: PSP.