Assassin’s Creed has become one of the most beloved franchises of all time, with loads of titles brimming with varied historical backgrounds, so here’s a rundown of every Assassin’s Creed game in chronological order.
Fans’ relationship with Assassin’s Creed has been mostly good but that doesn’t rule out the fact that it’s been a bit rocky in recent times. Despite that, the franchise still managed to garner an audience even for the games that are arguably not the top earners of the series.
One of the biggest selling points is that each game takes place in a different time period. So, if you’re interested in knowing where each game falls in history, we’re going to walk you through all of the Assassin’s Creed games in chronological order.
How many Assassin’s Creed mainline games are there
Since 2007, Ubisoft has released a total of 13 Assassin’s Creed titles for fans to enjoy.
While the first five games focus on Desmond Miles, a bartender who learns he is a descendant of iconic Assassins like Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad and fan favorite Ezio Auditore, the rest of them explore smaller arcs about the past lives of different characters like Layla Hassan and Basim Ibn Ishaq.
Whether or not they keep following the open-world structure or bring in a whole new concept in the future, the end product can be expected to be a one-of-a-kind experience.
All Assassin’s Creed mainline games in chronological order
If you’re looking for the chronological order of all the released Assassin’s Creed games, we’ve got that sorted:
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (431 – 422 BC)
- Period/Era: Peloponnesian War
- Year of release: 2018
- Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / Xbox One / Nintendo Switch / Windows / Stadia
Set in Ancient Greece, the story of Odyssey focuses on the elder of two siblings (Alexios or Kassandra, depending on your choice), a legendary mercenary known as the Eagle Bearer who got exiled from Sparta after trying to save the younger sibling from being killed.
The game takes you on a journey to reunite the character’s family while uncovering plenty of interesting secrets. As it is set in the middle of the conflict between Athens and Sparta, you’re allowed to fight for any side, the Delian League or the Peloponnesian League.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey also features a number of historical characters like Euripides and Socrates, and many mythological creatures such as Medusa, the Cyclops, and the Minotaur.
Assassin’s Creed Origins (49 – 38 BC)
- Period/Era: Ptolemaic Egypt
- Year of release: 2017
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / Xbox One / Windows / Stadia
Origins is Ubisoft’s retake of the franchise, as it marked a new formula for the following mainline titles including Odyssey and Valhalla.
In this story, you play as Bayek of Siwa, a Nubian Medjay looking to avenge the murder of his son while uncovering a conspiracy involving a secretive and manipulative force known as the Order of the Ancients, a precursor of the Templar Order.
The game also explores the origins of the Assassin Brotherhood, known as the Hidden Ones.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage (861 AD)
- Period/Era: Islamic Golden Age
- Year of release: 2023
- Developer: Ubisoft Bordeaux
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / PlayStation 5 / Xbox One / Xbox Series S|X / Windows / iOS
The latest AC game, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, takes place in Baghdad during the Anarchy at Samarra and follows the story of Basim Ibn Ishaq.
Basim is a street thief who under the tutelage of his mentor, becomes a fully-fledged member of the Hidden Ones to fight for peace and liberty against the Order of the Ancients while uncovering a disturbing past.
The game also features historical characters like Ali Ibn Muhammad, the Banu Musa brothers, Muhammad Ibn Tahir, and many more.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (872 – 878 AD)
- Period/Era: Viking invasion of England & Isu Era
- Year of release: 2020
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / PlayStation 5 / Xbox One / Xbox Series S|X / Windows /Stadia
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla tells a fictional story that takes place during the Viking expansion into the British Isles and focuses on Eivor and his adoptive older brother, Sigurd.
Eivor is a Viking raider who wants to establish a new Viking clan in England because of the political pressures happening in Norway, but in doing so becomes entangled in the ongoing conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Order of the Ancients
The game allows you to explore Winchester, London, and York, while also introducing important characters like the sons of the iconic Ragnar Lothbrok.
Assassin’s Creed (1191 AD)
- Period/Era: Third Crusade
- Year of release: 2007
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Windows
Set in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade, the first installment of the Assassin’s franchise puts players in the shoes of Desmond Miles, a bartender who relieves the genetic memories of his ancestor Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad with a machine called Animus.
Altaïr, a skilled assassin, is tasked with eliminating 9 key figures of the Crusades to regain his honor after botching a mission. In doing so, he will uncover important details about the conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order.
Assassin’s Creed II (1476 – 1499 AD)
- Period/Era: Italian Renaissance
- Year of release: 2009
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Nintendo Switch / Windows / OS X
As in the previous installment, Desmond relieves the memories of yet another ancestor, this time a nobleman called Ezio Auditore da Firenze during the Italian Renaissance.
Ezio is set to uncover the mysteries left by an ancient race known as the First Civilization to hopefully end the millennia-old struggle between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order, while also seeking revenge for his father and brother’s deaths.
The game includes historical characters like Leonardo Da Vinci, Lorenzo de’ Medici, Caterina Sforza, and Rodrigo Borgia.
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Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (1499 – 1507 AD)
- Period/Era: Italian Renaissance
- Year of release: 2010
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Nintendo Switch / Windows / OS X
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood continues Ezio Auditore’s story, as he tries to rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood to free Rome from the control of the very powerful Borgia family.
To do so, Ezio will have to cripple Borgia’s hold in Rome by sabotaging and assassinating key people close to Cesare Borgia, the leader of the family in the capital.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations (1511 – 1512 AD)
- Period/Era: Ottoman Civil War, Third Crusade & Mongol invasion of the Levant
- Year of release: 2011
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Nintendo Switch / Windows
After falling into a coma during the events of Brotherhood, Desmond relieves Ezio Auditore’s memories once again, this time during his travels to Constantinople.
In Revelations, an aged Ezio must retrieve five keys to open a library built by Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad (Demond’s other ancestor and protagonist of the first AC game). However, while doing so, Ezio is caught in the middle of the war of succession for the Ottoman throne and a conspiracy by the Byzantine Templars.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (1715 – 1722 AD)
- Period/Era: Golden Age of Piracy
- Year of release: 2013
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Wii U / Nintendo Switch / Windows / Stadia
The game takes you to the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy and follows Welsh pirate, Edward Kenway, who also happens to be Connor’s grandfather (protagonist of Assassin’s Creed III).
While searching for riches in the Caribbean and trying to forge his legend as a pirate captain, Edward is embroiled in the conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and Templar Order over a mythical location called the Observatory, sought by both factions.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue (1752 – 1776 AD)
- Period/Era: French and Indian War
- Year of release: 2014
- Developer: Ubisoft Sofia
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Nintendo Switch / Windows / Stadia
The story of Assassin’s Creed Rogue is set before and during the French and Indian War with an Irish American called Shay Patrick Cormac as its main character.
Cormac is a privateer and former assassin of the Brotherhood who sides with the Templars to hunt down his ex-companions after becoming disillusioned with their tactics and motives.
The game includes historical characters such as Benjamin Franklin, Colonel George Monro, and explorer Christopher Gist.
Assassin’s Creed III (1754 – 1783 AD)
- Period/Era: French and Indian War & American Revolution
- Year of release: 2012
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Wii U / Nintendo Switch / Windows / Stadia
Desmond’s travels end with Assassin’s Creed III, where he becomes Connor, a half-native American who happens to be Edward Kenway’s (Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag) grandson.
The story takes place in the middle of the French and Indian War where Connor becomes an assassin to avenge his mother’s death while also protecting his people’s land from the British Templar, Haytham Kenway, his father.
Assassin’s Creed Unity (1789 – 1794 AD)
- Period/Era: French Revolution
- Year of release: 2014
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / Xbox One / Windows / Stadia
Unity picks up right after the events of Rogue. It is set in Paris, during the French Revolution, and follows an assassin called Arno Dorian.
An orphaned Arno is adopted and raised by Templars, but later on joins the Assassin Brotherhood to uncover the truth behind his adoptive father’s murder and his involvement in the assassination of his real-life father at the hands of fellow Templar, Shay Patrick Cormac (Assassin’s Creed Rogue).
The game includes iconic figures like Napoleon, Françoise-Thomas Germain, Jacques de Molay, the Marquis de Sade, and Maximilien Robespierre.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (1868 AD)
- Period/Era: Victorian England & World War I
- Year of release: 2015
- Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 / Xbox One / Windows / Stadia
The most modern Assassin’s Creed yet is Syndicate, which takes place in the 19th century, before the Second Industrial Revolution.
The story follows twin assassins, Jacob and Evie Frye, who are determined to free London from the control of the Templars led by Crawford Starrick now that the London Brotherhood has fallen.
While brother and sister infiltrate and unite London’s criminal underworld, plenty of historical figures such as Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, Karl Marx, Queen Victoria, and more, will have a turn in the spotlight.
New and upcoming Assassin’s Creed games
While Valhalla and Mirage are some of the latest releases in the series, Ubisoft already has plans for several new titles.
The first new Assassin’s product to be released will be Animus Hub (previously known as Assassin’s Creed Infinity), a mobile app that will offer players a new gaming experience for free while also working as a hub for a mobile game, two main titles and a standalone story.
The mobile game is called Assassin’s Creed Jade and it will take place in China in the year 215 BCE. It is said to be the first game in the franchise that will allow players to create their own assassins from scratch.
As for the next mainline games, one is Assassin’s Creed Shadows (coming on November 15, 2024), set in Japan during the Sengoku period, and the other is called Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, rumored to be set in 16th-century Central Europe during the witch trials.
The standalone has the codename Assassin’s Creed Invictus and will focus on exploring multiplayer mode like in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and the co-op experience that appeared in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Those are all the Assassin’s Creed mainline games in chronological order. Don’t forget to check our ranking for the Best Assassin’s Creed games. You can also see the return of Ezio & Kassandra in AC Nexus or learn about the AC 4: Black Flag remake.
