How to Play the Assassin's Creed Games in Chronological Order

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has covered a batch of crushed successful its 18 years. The Assassin-Templar struggle has taken players crossed 5 continents, from Ancient Greece to Victorian London, spanning 2,300 years of past implicit the people of 13 mainline games.

With the upcoming merchandise of Assassin's Creed Shadows, we’ve enactment unneurotic this chronology of the Assassin’s Creed timeline truthful far. This chronology lone includes mainline Assassin’s Creed games; spinoff games aren’t included connected this database fixed their deficiency of value to the ongoing Assassin’s Creed narrative.

Jump to:

• How to play successful chronological order
• How to play successful merchandise order

How Many Assassin's Creed Games Are There?

There are presently 14 Assassin's Creed games successful the main bid and 17 further spinoff games. Outside of video games, determination is besides an Assassin's Creed committee crippled and an Assassin's Creed TV bid supposedly successful the works astatine Netflix.

Which Assassin's Creed Game Should You Play First?

There's rather a fewer places you could commencement successful the Assassin's Creed timeline, and I personally urge picking the crippled acceptable successful an epoch that you find astir interesting. That said, it's hard to contradict that the archetypal Ezio trilogy (Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations) has immoderate of the champion penning successful the series. If you're funny successful much caller games, Black Flag is simply a coagulated introduction constituent with seafaring pirate gameplay, portion Assassin's Creed Odyssey lets you dive into satellite of past Greece.

How to Play the Assassin’s Creed Game In Order

There are 2 ways to look astatine the Assassin’s Creed chronology. First: In the bid of the games’ modern-day storylines. This enactment makes consciousness considering the connective communicative of each mainline crippled is told done the contiguous day. The present-day communicative progresses chronologically with each release, truthful if you’d similar to play the games this way, simply scroll down to the conception however to play the Assassin’s Creed games by merchandise date. If you’re committed to playing done the entirety of the franchise, this is the bid we recommend, arsenic it’s the champion mode to travel the overarching communicative and acquisition the franchise’s improvement from stealth-action games to open-world RPGs.

The 2nd enactment (detailed below) presents the games successful bid by their historical settings. These stories aren’t arsenic intertwined arsenic their modern-day counterparts, but they’re wherever you’ll walk the immense bulk of your clip successful Assassin’s Creed. This is much utile arsenic a substance of involvement than a applicable playing guide.

The Assassin’s Creed Games successful Chronological Order

With bid newcomers successful mind, the little crippled synopses beneath incorporate lone mild spoilers such arsenic wide crippled points, humanities settings, and quality introductions.

1. Assassin's Creed Odyssey (431 B.C.–422 B.C.)

• Primary setting: Ancient Greece
• Historic Protagonist: Cassandra oregon Alexios
• Modern Protagonist: Layla Hassan

Set astir 400 years earlier than immoderate different mainline game, Assassin's Creed Odyssey expanded connected the RPG elements introduced successful Origins to implicit its genre-turn from stealth-based enactment to open-world RPG.

You play arsenic Cassandra oregon Alexios, the grandchildren of Sparta's King Leonidas I. Odyssey is acceptable during the Peloponnesian War betwixt Sparta and Athens, and features cardinal humanities figures from that period, including Hippocrates, Socrates, and Plato. It weaves the period's past with its mythology, introducing creatures specified arsenic the Sphinx, Cyclops, and Medusa.

Odyssey is acceptable earlier the enactment of the Assassin and Templar orders, though it does diagnostic a cardinal Piece of Eden* successful the Spear of Leonidas.

*Pieces of Eden are almighty technological artifacts created by a precursor contention of beings known arsenic The First Civilization. The pieces of Eden and the First Civilization are constants passim the mainline games that link the past and modern storylines.

2. Assassin's Creed Origins (49 B.C.–44 B.C.)

• Primary setting: Ancient Egypt
• Historic Protagonist: Bayek of Siwa
• Modern Protagonist: Layla Hassan

After releasing a caller Assassin's Creed crippled each twelvemonth from 2009-2015, Ubisoft took a twelvemonth disconnected and returned successful 2017 with Assassin's Creed Origins, a brushed reboot of the franchise and the series' archetypal crippled to present RPG mechanics.

Origins is chiefly acceptable successful Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra, though its historical inspiration extends to Rome and the regularisation of Julius Caesar. Many Assassin's Creed stories footwear disconnected arsenic tales of vengeance, lone to unfurl into larger-scale tales of governmental conspiracy. Origins follows this pattern: The decease of Bayek and Aya's lad serves arsenic the impetus for their journey, though arsenic the communicative progresses, the duo uncover a proto-Templar enactment called the Order of the Ancients and yet signifier the Hidden Ones, the archetypal incarnation of the Assassins.

The modern story, meanwhile, introduces Layla Hassan, who serves arsenic the present-day protagonist for Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.

3. Assassin's Creed Mirage (861–???)

• Primary setting: 9th Century Baghdad
• Historic Protagonist: Basim Ibn Ishaq
• Modern Protagonist: N/A

Released successful 2023, Assassin's Creed Mirage is the series' astir caller installment. Rather than a full-priced open-world RPG, Mirage is simply a $50 USD stealth-focused escapade designed arsenic "an homage to the archetypal Assassin's Creed games." Ubisoft describes it arsenic "a shorter, much narrative-driven crippled than caller entries successful the series.”

Assassin's Creed Mirage stars a 17-year-old Basim Ibn Ishaq, a thoroughfare thief with "nightmarish visions" who'd spell connected to play a captious relation successful Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Mirage volition archer the communicative of Basim, with the guidance of his mentor Roshan, escaping Baghdad en way to the Hidden Ones' fortress of Alamut.

Unlike the different entries connected this list, Mirage doesn't prominently diagnostic the present-day storyline. You tin work our afloat reappraisal of Assassin's Creed Mirage for much details.

4. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (872–878)

• Primary setting: 9th Century England and Norway
• Historic Protagonist: Eivor Varinsson/Varinsdottir
• Modern Protagonist: Layla Hassan

Assassin's Creed's Valhalla is the series' task into Norse past and mythology. It's easy the series' biggest game; the mean clip to implicit its main communicative is 60 hours, according to How Long to Beat (15 hours longer than the adjacent biggest, Odyssey). Like Odyssey, Valhalla integrates its setting's past with its mythology, introducing real-life characters — King Harald Fairhair, King Aelfred the Great, Rollo — and mythological figures specified arsenic Fenrir and Odin.

It continues the struggle betwixt the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients portion balancing the much idiosyncratic communicative of Eivor and their clan's pilgrimage from a resource-barren Norway to the much fertile lands of England.

The modern-day communicative seemingly concludes the three-game arc of Layla Hassan.

5. Assassin's Creed (1191)

• Primary setting: 12th Century Holy Land (Acre, Damascus, Jerusalem)
• Historic Protagonist: Altair Ibn'La-Ahad
• Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles

The archetypal Assassin's Creed takes spot 300 years aft Valhalla and introduces america to the series' archetypal protagonist, Altair Ibn'La-Ahad. Assassin's Creed laid the groundwork for the franchise's adjacent 15 years of success, introducing foundational gameplay elements similar climbing and assassinations portion besides laying the groundwork for the time-hopping Assassin-Templar narrative.

It introduces cardinal communicative concepts similar the Pieces of Eden and the Animus, the in-universe instrumentality that allows each game's modern-day protagonist to relive the memories of their historical counterparts done DNA.

The past communicative sees Altair hunting down 9 Templars during the Third Crusade, portion the present-day communicative introduces Desmond Miles and the modern Assassin-Templar struggle that runs done AC III.

6. Assassin's Creed II (1476–1499)

• Primary setting: 15th Century Italy
• Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
• Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles

Assassin's Creed 2 introduced the series’ longest-lasting protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. A favourite among Assassin's Creed fans, Ezio's communicative ran from 2009's AC II done 2011's AC: Revelations.

Ezio seeks to avenge the decease of his begetter and brother, though his hunt for vengeance leads him to uncover a bigger conspiracy and places him astatine the halfway of the combat betwixt the Assassins and Templars. Assassin's Creed II takes players passim Italy, from Florence to the Vatican, and introduces Ezio to humanities figures similar Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Pope Alexander VI.

In the contiguous day, Desmond begins his enactment with the Assassins.

7. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (1499–1507)

• Primary setting: 15th-16th Century Italy
• Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
• Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is simply a continuation of AC II successful some the past and modern-day storylines. The fallout from AC II creates a caller antagonist for Ezio, who embarks connected different revenge quest portion moving to rebuild Rome's weakened Assassins Guild and retrieve the Apple of Eden.

In the contiguous day, Desmond and the modern Assassins caput to Italy successful hunt of that aforesaid Apple of Eden, a Piece of Eden that whitethorn assistance them forestall the prophesized extremity of the world.

8. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (1511–1512)

• Primary setting: 16th Century Constantinople
• Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
• Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles

The decision of the Ezio trilogy unites the communicative of the Italian assassin with his predecessor, Altair. An older Ezio travels to Constantinople successful hunt of Altair’s hidden library, which was thought to incorporate invaluable wisdom. In Constantinople, Ezio searches for the keys needed to unfastened the room — each of which possesses a cardinal representation successful Altair’s life. Assassin's Creed Revelations yet reveals Ezio's relation successful the wider AC narrative.

In the present, a comatose Desmond is trapped successful the Animus, wherever helium works with a past Animus idiosyncratic to flight "the Black Room" and instrumentality to consciousness.

Revelations besides features 1 of the series' champion trailers (above) archetypal shown astatine E3 2011.

9. Assassin's Creed Shadows (1581)

• Primary setting: Feudal Japan
• Historic protagonist: Naoe and Yasuke
• Modern protagonist: N/A

The newest Assassin's Creed crippled heads to Feudal Japan during the civilian wars successful the precocious Sengoku period. Assassin's Creed Shadows features dual protagonists, each with unsocial gameplay, though Ubisoft has emphasized that players won't beryllium missing retired by lone playing 1 route. Yasuke is an African mercenary who becomes a samurai successful work of Oda Nobunaga. That work leads him to the Iga province, location of shinobi-in-training Naoe, and calamity brings the 2 unneurotic successful a quest for vengeance.

Like Mirage, Shadows doesn't person its ain modern-day protagonist. Instead, the caller crippled coincides with the merchandise of the Animus Hub, which brings the Assassin's Creed franchise into a azygous level and adds further "modern-day subplots" arsenic good arsenic a reward strategy to the game.

10. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (1715–1722)

• Primary setting: 18th Century Caribbean Islands
• Historic Protagonist: Edward Kenway
• Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Abstergo Employee

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is champion remembered for introducing the series' naval gameplay. It's acceptable 2 centuries aft Ezio's trilogy and astir 40 years earlier the antecedently released Assassin's Creed III.

Black Flag stars Edward Kenway, an 18th-century pirate and the gramps of AC III protagonist Connor Kenway. It features notorious real-life pirates of the era, specified arsenic Edward Thatch (Blackbeard), Benjamin Hornigold, and Mary Read. It besides introduces Adéwalé, the protagonist of the DLC-turned-standalone-spinoff Freedom Cry. After unknowingly sidesplitting an Assassin, Edward finds himself embroiled successful the Assassin-Templar struggle and connected the hunt for a concealed First Civilization tract known arsenic The Observatory.

The modern-day communicative stars an unnamed Abstergo worker tasked with reliving Connor’s beingness successful bid to make a movie (though, unsurprisingly, Abstergo’s existent intentions are much nefarious).

11. Assassin's Creed Rogue (1752–1760)

• Primary setting: 18th Century American Northeast
• Historic Protagonist: Shay Patrick Cormac
• Modern Protagonist: Abstergo Employee "Numbskull"

Assassin's Creed Rogue serves arsenic a communicative span betwixt AC III and AC IV. It stars Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish-American Assassin turned Templar hunting down a Piece of Eden. Templar Grand Master Haytham Kenway, the lad of AC 4 protagonist Edward and begetter of AC III protagonist Connor, appears passim the story.

In the present, you play arsenic different Abstergo employee, referred to arsenic "Numbskull," doing the bidding of the modern-day Templars.

12. Assassin's Creed III (1754–1783)

• Primary setting: 18th Century Colonial America
• Historic Protagonist: Ratonhnhaké "Connor" Kenway
• Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles

Following a 1754-set series during which you play arsenic Haythem Kenway, Assassin's Creed 3 begins successful earnest with Haythem's lad Ratonhnhaké:ton, a.k.a Connor. Set mostly during the American Revolution, Connor seeks to support his people from the warfare and the First Civilization's Grand Temple from the Templars.

AC III is loaded with humanities figures, including George Washington, Sam Adams, Charles Lee, and Benjamin Franklin.

The present-day communicative concludes Desmond's arc, arsenic helium and the different modern-day Assassins stitchery successful the aforementioned Grand Temple to forestall the prophesized extremity of the satellite connected December 21, 2012.

13. Assassins Creed Unity (1789–1794)

• Primary setting: 18th Century France
• Historic Protagonist: Shay Patrick Cormac
• Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Helix Player

While Assassin's Creed Unity features scenes that span from 1307 to the mid-1900s, it's chiefly acceptable during the tallness of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1794. It stars French Assassin Arno Dorian, who becomes progressive successful the Assassin-Templar struggle portion embarking connected yet different quest for vengeance.

Historical figures see Napoléon Bonaparte, Marquis de Sade, and King Louis XVI.

Unity's modern-day communicative is among the slightest memorable, arsenic it removed gameplay wholly successful favour of cutscenes and yet proved inconsequential to the ongoing narrative. You play arsenic a gamer playing Helix, Abstergo's Animus-powered gaming bundle created to propulsion Templar propaganda and cod unsuspecting users' DNA.

14. Assassin's Creed Syndicate (1868)

• Primary setting: Victorian London
• Historic Protagonists: Jacob and Evie Frye
• Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Helix Player

Assassin's Creed Syndicate stars dual protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye, duplicate Assassins clearing London of Templar power portion seeking a Piece of Eden. While a definite broadside ngo extends the timeline to WWI, the bulk of Syndicate is acceptable successful 1868. Notable humanities figures see Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin, and successful the aboriginal sequence, Winston Churchill.

Syndicate stars the aforesaid modern-day quality arsenic Unity, who's moving with the Assassins to find different Piece of Eden successful London.

How to Play The Assassin’s Creed Games By Release Date

• Assassin's Creed (2007)
• Assassin's Creed II (2009)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011)
• Assassin's Creed III / Liberation (2012)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag / Freedom Cry (2013)
• Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014)
• Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)
• Assassin's Creed Origins (2017)
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020)
• Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023)
• Assassin's Creed Nexus VR (2023)
• Assassin's Creed Shadows (2024)

Upcoming Assassin's Creed Games

Ubisoft's newest AC crippled is Assassin's Creed Shadows, which releases connected March 20. We person nary accusation astir aboriginal mainline games, but respective remakes of older Assassin's Creed games are successful development, according to Ubisoft's CEO.

As acold arsenic we know, a unrecorded enactment Assassin's Creed amusement is inactive successful the works astatine Netflix, portion Tencent's mobile-exclusive title, Assassin's Creed Jade, was delayed to 2025.

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies arsenic a freelance writer for IGN.