Ranking the Assassin's Creed games.

[Connor Kenway]

 

 

 

With Assassin's Creed Origins released and me writing this I have not received my copy so Origins will not be included in this list it'll still be another like 5 days before I get mine probs gg Postal system </3.

 

ALSO SPOILERS AHEAD (dur)

 

Alright so before I get into this list, I figured I'd begin with my personal tale of my experience with Assassin's Creed, growing up I was only really into Halo I didn't get an Xbox 360 until Christmas 2010 so I had bugger all knowledge of the (then) current generation of games outside of Halo 3,Reach etc. Then I saw the Assassin's Creed Brotherhood trailer and I was like woah a game set in Italy in a historical time period?? (growing up I had a major interest in history and Ancient Greece/Rome) So once I got my 360 I got Assassin's Creed (1) to try the series out, I didn't enjoy it.. at all the gameplay felt really clunky etc heck when I first popped the disc in and the modern day stuff occurs i was EXTREMELY confused, as in I ejected my disc to make sure it actually was Assassin's Creed I was playing (I had no idea modern day was even a part of the franchise xD). I decided to give the series a second shot after all I wasn't even at the game that had garnered my interest and so I decided to try Assassin's Creed II and from that point I fell in love with the series, so this list is going to have some decent(ish) explanations for my choices etc and it'll be more organised than this giant wall of text for my intro paragraph.

 

 

9. Assassin's Creed. (2007)

 

Despite Assassin's Creed being what literally started the series it is my least favourite due to numerous things. Voice acting (other than Nolan North as Desmond) felt really flat, Altair was an uninteresting character (during AC 1) The combat didn't feel very fluid which led to me not overly enjoying the game.

 

 

8. Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)

 

I don't hate AC Unity it had some cool features which I wish we could have seen brought in Syndicate or Origins but they didn't unfortunately, the co-op was a blast with friends and oh my god the customisation in AC Unity was superb it was amazing those are my two biggest pro's for Unity unfortunately. Arno was an okay character, the overall story was alright and the setting of the French Revolution was neat but the way Paris  looked it was just a lot of light greys you know? it was visually impressive but from a colour perspective very bland which made going around the game world for me a bit of a drag. The building interiors however were well designed.

 

7. Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)

 

This was difficult for me to put Syndicate here but I compiled this list from the top to the bottom so I could figure out where to put Syndicate. When Syndicate released I was suffering a bit from Sequel fatigue with AC. Like Unity's rendition of Paris, Syndicates Victorian-era London was visually just a lot of browns and so the game world was uninteresting to look at, however the way the two protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye (They're twins) played off each other was excellent Evie is one of my favourite AC characters as a result. Syndicate also had a Jack the Ripper dlc  (this is the only dlc worth mentioning in this list imo) which was really neat to see Jack in an AC game. the story was alright for Syndicate despite none of the Templars actually existing irl due to Ubi not wanting to offend descendants of anyone they made a villain in the game. 

 

6. Assassin's Creed III (2012)

 

AC III is my guilty pleasure Assassin's Creed, regarded by many as a terrible game coming off of the amazing Ezio Trilogy of games it wasn't received anywhere near as well as the previous 3 games by critics and the fans. Assassin's Creed III was my first Assassin's Creed game I got on launch and the first game I got a Collectors Edition of. leading up to release it was the one you know? like Mass Effect 3 was to the ME trilogy it was the big kahuna. AC III's protagonist Ratonhnhaké:ton aka Connor Kenway was the son of a  British Templar (Haytham Kenway aka an amazing character if you read the AC III novel Forsaken) and a Native American woman Connor is quite stoic and can get angry quite easily, my reasoning for liking him so much is from a design view (yes I accept Connor and AC III have flaws) Connor has my favourite visual design of any Assassin in the franchise to date (including Origins) the setting of the American Revolution was really neat but did take too much of a main focus away from the Assassins and Templar conflict also, the Templars in this game weren't necessarily evil unlike previous Templars, some of the Templars actually had noble intentions and Haytham, Connor's father is extremely likeable for being an antagonist in the game. However the execution of AC III was  a bit mixed, the combat was really awesome and there was some really cool missions in terms of gameplay etc BUT for me personally my largest (and main) issue with AC III was how bland the locations were Boston and New York were basically the same location and there was so much brown in the game that I didn't need to go toilet for 3 years (Rogues version of New York was a major improvement). Assassin's Creed III also served as the finale to the story of Desmond Miles our modern day protagonist and this game has the best modern day moments in the entire franchise.

 

5. Assassin's Creed Revelations (2011)

 

The end of Altair and Ezio's stories, Revelations primarily followed Ezio as a much older, and wiser main after all his life experiences and finally finishing his personal quest for vengeance he decided to finish what his father could not, gain access to Altairs library as a result we get to play as Altair who with a new voice actor and better writing became much more likeable than how he was in AC I the game did do a really good job of bringing Ezio and Altairs stories to a close and making Desmond ready for AC III which would be his toughest time.

The setting of Constantinople (Istanbul) was pretty cool and Revelations had the best Multiplayer of all the AC games with some really neat characters to play as.

 

 

4. Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (2013)

 

After the negative reception of Assassin's Creed III, AC IV being as good as it was came as quite a surprise, you play as Edward Kenway (Haytham Kenways father) a Welshman who becomes a privateer (later a pirate) to make an income for him and his first wife so that they could have an enjoyable life as Edward was the son of a farmer and didn't live a rich life compared to what his wife had. Edward was brash and  a bit of a dbag early on in the game and he was extremely cocky and well, a Pirate Edwards journey became that of redemption and he lost a lot to get to where he was at the end of the game, a father and a wise man as well as an Assassin. the setting of the Golden Age of Piracy allowed for a lot of unique gameplay such as naval warfare, being a pirate boarding ships hunting treasure and the like as well as a beautiful setting of the islands in the Caribbean such as Cuba and Jamaica. 

 

 

3. Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014)

 

Undoubtedly the most underrated game in the franchise, Rogue is like Black Flag 2.0 however it has the setting of Assassin's Creed III and instead of an Assassin you play the majority of the game from the point of view of a Templar, Assassin's Creed Rogue connected III and IV together like the jelly in a peanut butter sandwich y'know? Shay Cormac the protagonists views were in my opinion easily relatable as he did what he felt was the right thing to do, he wasn't "evil" because he defected from the Assassin's to the Templars, he did it because the Assassin's were unintentionally causing large loss of civilian lives one of these events Shay himself caused and after witnessing the destruction first hand he tried to warn the Assassin's and they refused to listen so he had to take measures to stop it from happening again. Also, the AC Rogue main menu theme mmm so good <3 

 

 

2. Assassin's Creed II (2009)

 

Ah, the beginning of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze's story this game won GOTY for 2009 and rightly so,it was a massive improvement over Assassin's Creed it brought a much more charismatic character in Ezio and the supporting cast was also well done, the story was much more engaging than AC I the setting of Renaissance Italy was superb, the music for me personally would easily rival that of Halo's for its quality. The gameplay whilst quite similar in how it functioned to AC I felt more fluid and responsive this time around. All in all Assassin's Creed II was what I decided to give AC  a second chance with and the moment I played I fell in love with the franchise.

 

1. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (2010)

 

Brotherhood is the game that got me interested in the franchise. It builds on everything AC II did right and improves it, it is one of the best sequels to a game I've played, it added new gameplay mechanics (i.e Assassin Recruits) took place in Rome and continued Ezio's story after that cliffhanger ending of Assassin's Creed II the Voice acting was superb, music like Assassins Creed II was downright amazing. the missions were fun and there were some really unique ones and there was quite a lot to do in the game world after you finish the main story compared to Assassin's Creed II. It also introduced PvP Multiplayer to the franchise where you could hunt other players in a variety of maps and different playable characters.

 

 

 

 

Also as an added bonus I figured I would talk a little bit specifically about the music (mostly in the Ezio Trilogy). The music conveyed alot of emotions with some songs becoming meaningful as say MJOLNIR Mix for Halo or the Imperial March to Star Wars, the greatest example for Assassin's Creed being Ezio's Family from Assassin's Creed II take a listen for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

These are just my opinions on the Assassin's Creed franchise and where I rank the games let me know your thoughts and if you'd place them differently to mine and if you actually did read everything I wrote, well thanks!