The Assassin’s Creed games can be considered an alternative version of Grand Theft Auto for players who love pieces of history and to play as righteous characters in the quest for good. The series replaced Prince of Persia as Ubisoft’s go-to franchise and has sold over 100 million units worldwide.
Its popularity has been possible due to the quality gameplay it has offered when the series has been at its best. This has allowed the games that aren’t so great to hide away as the best games in the franchise are too great to ignore. Here are the 5 Best and 5 Worst Assassin’s Creed games.
Worst - Assassin’s Creed
The first game was also among the worst ever released. The only good thing about Assassin’s Creed was the concept it introduced. It was this concept that was perfect in later games, but the first was ruined by terrible levels.
The main missions were nothing more than a chore as players had to take ages just to pickpocket or overhear conversations. Fighting was the absolute worst as all it was was waiting for someone to attack so the player could counter it. Map exploration was awful because the cities weren’t engaging at all, and travelling from one city to another took forever.
Best - Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
This game introduced the fine-tuned method of fighting and the series has been better because of it. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s story was too convoluted for many people’s liking, but it made up for it by giving us the first true open-world feel in an Assassin’s Creed game.
Rome was massive and had so much to do that players would spend hours trying to unlock every aspect of it. It also felt great to increase Assassin presence around the city and see the fruits of that labor pay off. The side missions also had more depth than before, giving us a reason to play longer.
Worst - Assassin’s Creed III
When you start mixing patriotism in games then it’s always going to be a recipe for disaster. As was expected, the Americans were made to look like the good guys, despite many questionable actions on their part; this made Connor look like a tool for going along their plans.
The story was a far cry from the Ezio games as it could never decide who was supposed to be good and who was bad. Connor was basically an angry young man and there was no satisfaction in gameplay.
Best - Assassin’s Creed Origins
Assassin’s Creed Origins finally brought the series back to form as Ancient Egypt brought us so much to explore. Although the story was once again rather humdrum, it was the open-world that captured our hearts.
Origins was so expansive that you would always find something to do. The best part would be the abundance of side missions, as these were made with such care that they were as good as playing the main storyline. The gameplay was also simplified rather than adding all those options the previous games had that would only confuse the gamer rather than have substance.
Worst - Assassin’s Creed Rogue
This was the time Assassin’s Creed didn’t have a clear direction and the developers’ hubris was starting to show. Rogue was a totally unneeded entry as it had a cheapened storyline where the protagonist was supposed to be a Templar.
Shay Cormac was insufferable to play as and the only hope was that he’d meet his end in Assassin’s Creed Unity, which didn’t happen. The gameplay was a toned-down version of Assassin’s Creed III, and there wasn’t any interest either because who wants to play as a Templar? Its lack of success Ubisoft to stop releasing simultaneous Assassin’s Creed games in the future.
Best - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
After the sorry affair that was Assassin’s Creed III, the next installment injected new life into the series and we got the splendid Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The game made being a pirate so much darn fun that having to sail most of the map was the most fun aspect of the game.
Black Flag also made the storyline better by focusing more on the pirate aspect than the assassin theme. This made Edward stand as a character on his own and we loved every bit of exploration we made in that beautiful map that was at our disposal.
Worst - Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
Looks like solo Altair games are fated to be mediocre. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines is the only option for PSP owners, but it’s better they stay away from it. Like Assassin’s Creed, this game has nothing for the player to do, both in the story and in side missions.
This game is even more boring, though, as it doesn’t even have bystanders to make the cities feel real. The gameplay comprises of empty cities, where taking out enemies is way too easy; they don’t mind if you stab their friend right in front of them. Even the story was boring at best.
Best - Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Altair finally got a good game his character deserved in the form of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. While this game was almost a carbon copy of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in gameplay style, it made that feeling even better as Constantinople was a city more vibrant than Rome.
Brotherhood also cleansed the palate as far as storyline was concerned, and brought both Altair and Ezio together beautifully. The side missions this time around were better than Brotherhood, and Revelations felt like an upgrade for the former game. It’s a shame this feel and style was the last we saw in an Assassin’s Creed game.
Worst - Assassin’s Creed Unity
This game was just all kinds of bad and it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. For a game that debuted on next-generation consoles, the graphics plain sucked. Not only that, but the game had horrifying glitches that destroyed both gameplay and the experience.
You were bound to find cutscenes where the faces of the characters were reduced to veins and eyeballs only, and even if that weren’t the case, why would French people speak with English accents? Gameplay literally comprised of the player scouting a location and attempting to infiltrate; this process repeated itself throughout the game. Stay far away from Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Best - Assassin’s Creed II
Truth be told, Assassin’s Creed series would never have taken off had Assassin’s Creed II not have blown everybody away. The game was a masterpiece for its time, and it still holds up for replaying. Assassin’s Creed II introduced an amazing, sprawling story that gave us a character to deeply care about.
It brought with it revolutionary gameplay that has been used to this day in the series. This game made being an assassin fun, and there were so many options to go about that the replay value was incredible. Exploration and innovation were brought to new heights thanks to Assassin’s Creed II.
