Assassin’s Creedis one of gaming’s biggest franchises, and the series has seen its fair share of ups and downs since its inception. The originalAssassin’s Creedprovided an immersive and detailed recreation of a historical period, which did a lot to support the fairly standard gameplay and story.
The series has kept the same gimmick of setting players loose in a historical era over the years, but franchise fatigue and the repetition of annual releases left someAssassin’s Creedfans feeling burned out, leading to vastly different entries in more recent years. The series has continually attempted to innovate its main formula, to varying degrees of success, and because of that, the reputations of each game are all over the place. These are thehighest-rated games in theAssassin’s Creedseries.
Updated June 17, 2025 by Mark Sammut:Garnering a positive but not glowing reception, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a solid but somewhat forgettable entry in Ubisoft’s series, although long-time fans craving a return to basics should check the game out. Where does it rank among thebest Assassin’s Creed games according to Metacritic?
Set during theFrench Revolutionand featuring the stunning Notre Dame Cathedral,Assassin’s Creed Unitywas a game with lots of potential. Sadly, however, the game was plagued with bugs and technical issues on release, causing it to garner an underwhelming critical reception. Even though most issues were eventually fixed, the game has never really recovered its reputation in the eyes of the community.
Unityactually boasts many features that rank among the best inAssassin’s Creedgames. First and foremost, the stealth-focused gameplay was refreshing for fans of the original games and improved upon their mechanics. The parkour inAssassin’s Creed Unityis also fantastic, leaving players, who aren’t experiencing bugs, extremely satisfied with how they traverse across the rooftops of 18th-century Paris.
Out of all theAssassin’s Creedgames,Unityis the most worthy of reassessment since its current version is so much better than its launch iteration. Out of all the post-PS3 releases, this one comes the closest to replicating the magic ofAssassin’s Creed 2; in terms of pure gameplay,Unityeven exceeds its decorated predecessor in most areas.
WhenAssassin’s Creedwas transitioning to the latest generation of consoles in 2014, Ubisoft decided that it wouldn’t leave PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 players in the dust. While PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners got the shiny newAssassin’s Creed Unity, last-generation holdouts receivedAssassin’s Creed Rogue, the first mainline game to star a Templar rather than an Assassin.
Unitywas a technical disaster at launch, whileRoguewas met with a lukewarm reception outside of the spotlight. Both games were released whenAssassin’s Creedfatigue was at an all-time high, and their reception suffered as a result.Rogueis most similar toBlack Flagand still features a great story for those who aren’t bothered about the lack of multiplayer.
Assassin’s Creed Miragecame after three games that stripped away the franchise’s stealth foundation and replaced it with RPG mechanics. While these titles are generally good, they are far removed fromAssassin’s Creed’s roots, which led to fans craving a return to basics.Miragearose from that desire, delivering an experience that is reminiscent of the PS3 era releases. Naturally,stealth takes center stage, and players are largely left to map out assassinations tactically rather than relying on stats to get the job done.
Gameplay-wise,Mirageis an enjoyable throwback that includes enough quality-of-life adjustments to not feel uninspired. Unfortunately, the game’s story falls quite flat and struggles to justify why the spotlight is on a supporting character fromValhalla. The campaign’s structure also leaves something to be desired since it is quite repetitive.
Following the release ofAssassin’s Creed Unity, many fans were skeptical of the franchise, so tons of people elected to skip out onSyndicate. This release feels similar toUnityin many ways, boasting the same impressive graphics and a reworked combat system, but it sadly flew under the radar due to its predecessor’s disastrous launch.
Syndicateis unique in that it has the most recent setting of any mainlineAssassin’s Creedtitle, being set in the Industrial Revolution during the late 1860s. As such, the game is filled with things that previous entries in the series could never include, like trains and factories. This setting wasn’t enough to saveSyndicatefrom mediocre critical reception, andAssassin’s Creedtook a gap year for the first time since the original game followingSyndicate’s release. Nevertheless, it is one ofthe best games set in the Victorian Era, bringing its UK aesthetic to life in great detail. The dual-protagonist setup also works well, with the siblings bouncing well off each other while still having well-defined personalities that set them apart from each other.
Much likeAssassin’s Creed 3,Assassin’s Creed: Revelationswas hyped up prior to launch as the culmination of Ezio’s story. Not only would fans get to see the conclusion to a story they’d been following for two games, but they’d also get to see theirfavoriteAssassin’s Creedprotagonistwork alongside Altair, the protagonist from the firstAssassin’s Creedgame.
It attempted to do a lot of things, but it ultimately failed to resonate with fans as much as Ezio’s earlier outings, netting it a lower Metacritic score than some previous releases. Nevertheless, the game looked good for its time and while it can no longer compete withthe best graphical games, players also relished the opportunity to explore and soak in the beauty of Constantinople.
While it may be dated by today’s standards, the originalAssassin’s Creedbroke new ground by providing a well-researched andhistorically accurate playground for players to run around in. Being able to climb any building or structure opened up tons of gameplay possibilities, and the social stealth mechanics of hiding in plain sight echoed the best parts ofHitman.
Still, it was an awkward first outing even by the standards of the time, and the formula wouldn’t be perfected until the sequel. For all of its flaws that make it hard to revisit in this day and age, the 2007 release laid the groundwork for everything that came after it, delivering essentially a proof of concept.
Assassin’s Creed Valhallathrows players headfirst into the 9th-century Viking invasion of the British Isles. The game is huge and even those who fall in love with the game will struggle to run out of content. However, the size of the game and in particular the length of the story is also a downside that can lead to burnout since the campaign follows a fairly strict structure that forces players to engage in uneven side quests to continue the main story. There is such a thing as “too much of a good thing,” andValhallafits into the descriptor.
Out of all the games in Ubisoft’s franchise,Valhalla’s reputation has arguably declined the most over the years, even if it is still ultimately a good action-adventure game with RPG elements. Furthermore,Valhalladid bring back some of the stealth that was noticeably missing fromOriginsandOdyssey, and it is by far the best-lookingAssassin’s Creedgame.
Assassin’s Creed 3had an incredibly high bar to reach, and it ultimately failed to reach the heights of its predecessors. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, but it was a lackluster follow-up to the Ezio trilogy.
Assassin’s Creed 3had a lot on its plate. It was the conclusion to the modern-day storyline featuring Desmond Miles that the series had been building up since the first game, and it jumped way further into recent history than the franchise had ever gone before. The hype leading up to launch also hurt the game, as fans had incredibly high expectations for the first numberedAssassin’s Creedgame in a few years.
Following the gap year afterAssassin’s Creed Syndicate,the series turned in a drastically new direction withAssassin’s Creed Origins. It ditched the crowded urban environments of the games that came before it in favor of the wide-open deserts and elegant cities of Ancient Egypt, making it easily one ofthe best games set in Africa.
The different setting was matched with equally different gameplay, asOriginsdoubled down on the RPG aspects of the series, allowing players to level up, build their character, and accept tons of quests in a non-linear fashion. The result was anAssassin’s Creedgame that felt incredibly fresh, and the protagonist, Bayek, has gone on to become one of the franchise’s more memorable leads.
Much likeAssassin’s Creed 2,Assassin’s Creed Odysseytook the foundation laid by its predecessor and expanded upon it in new ways.Originsintroduced heavy RPG elements to the series, butOdysseytook those elements and ran with them, resulting in a game that feels more likeThe WitcherthanAssassin’s Creed.
Being the earliest game in the timeline,Odysseyis lacking series staples like the hidden blade or even the Assassin Order, but everything eventually ties into the main series once the finer plot points are revealed.Odysseyis a departure from the other games in the series, but the changes paid off in the end. With beautifully recreated historical structures such as the Parthenon, it is also a great game for history lovers to check out and explore.
